You run a small marketing shop. Over six months you worked out a routine with your AI helper. It pulls a client's top rivals, checks their prices, and writes a two-page brief. The job used to take a day. Now it takes twenty minutes.
The problem
You shared the routine with a friend. She shared it with her team. A month later, three people you have never met are using it. One of them posted it online. Nobody paid you a cent.
You are not even sure the routine is a product. It is a text file. It has a name, a short note on when to use it, and the steps. Anyone who opens it can read it and copy it.
That is not a flaw in your routine. It is how the format was designed, as one well-known independent developer noted the week it launched.
"Skills are Markdown with a tiny bit of YAML metadata and some optional scripts in whatever you can make executable in the environment."
So you have two questions. Is this worth anything? And if it is, how do you get paid without a legal fight over a text file?
Why this keeps happening
An AI routine is a recipe. If you have written Claude Code skills, you have written one. The file tells the helper what the job is, when to do it, and how. People search for "what is skill.md" because that is the common name for the file. There is an agent skills open standard that says what goes in it. Nothing in it is secret.
A text file cannot be locked. No store can stop a buyer from copying what they downloaded. Any store that promises this is overselling. The same is true for prompts, templates and scripts. The file cannot even count its own use. As of September 2026, Anthropic's own docs say a routine running on its service has no internet access, so it cannot phone home or bill anyone.
That sounds like bad news. It is only half the story. Look at what copies and what does not.
| Copies in a second | Does not copy |
|---|---|
| The steps in the file | Keeping the steps current as tools change |
| The scripts and templates | Your name, and the trust behind it |
| The examples | Help when the routine breaks in someone's setup |
| The wording | The paid services the routine calls while it runs |
| The layout | The licence a business needs before it can use your work |
The last two rows matter most. Many routines call a paid service partway through: a records lookup, a price feed, a checker. That call happens where someone can count it. And a real business will not use a file with no licence on it. Their lawyer will ask.
What does copying cost you? Every copy that spreads without your name is a customer you never meet. Every copy that breaks is a bad review with your routine's name on it. And every copy that drives paid work earns you nothing, unless someone records that your routine sent it.
How to fix it
- Put your name and a licence in the file. One line each. Say who wrote it and what people may do with it.
- Decide what stays with you. The part that changes every month, the data, the checks. Keep those out of the file and behind a service you control or partner with.
- Keep a current version. Tools change. A six-month-old copy is worse than none. Charge for the version that works today.
- List every paid service the routine uses. Buyers need to know before they run it. So do you, because that list is where your referral money comes from.
- Pick how you earn. Sell it once. Charge for updates. Take a share of the paid work it drives. Or use it to win setup jobs. Most people mix two of these.
- Offer help. The buyer who needs your routine fitted to their business will pay for a day of your time.
Some developers say a routine is too thin to be a product at all, since it only adds text to a prompt. They are right about the file. That thinness is exactly why the money sits in keeping it current and in the paid services it calls.
Here are the four ways to earn, and when each fits.
| Way to earn | Fits when | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Sell it once | The know-how is hard to rebuild and buyers want it now | Every buyer can share it after |
| Charge for the current version | The routine tracks something that changes monthly | You must keep updating it |
| Share of paid work it drives | The routine calls paid services often | Someone has to record that your routine sent the work |
| Setup help | Buyers need it fitted to their systems | Your time does not scale |
Now the honest part about where to sell. As of September 2026, most places you can post a routine pay nothing. Anthropic's plugin and connector lists have no revenue share. OpenAI's app store approves paid transactions only for physical goods, through the seller's own checkout. The stores that do pay are general file stores. PromptBase keeps 20 percent on sales through its site. Gumroad charges 10 percent plus 50 cents per sale. None of them records what your routine calls or who it sent work to.
People are looking, though. Search for "how to sell claude skills" and you will find many questions and few answers. Demand for claude code skills is real. Pay for the people who write routines is mostly missing.
One more thing people ask: skills vs hooks vs subagents vs mcp. In plain words, a skill is the recipe. A hook is a rule that fires at a set moment, such as before a file is saved. A subagent is a second helper the main helper hands a task to. MCP is a standard way for AI helpers to use tools that live elsewhere. Only that last one runs where its use can be counted. That is why it matters for getting paid. This short primer for business owners explains it without code.
What BlueBear's marketplace does about it
BlueBear runs a marketplace for AI work. A routine like yours can be listed there as an offer. It gets a public page and a stable link. The page shows your name, the version, the licence and the price. The price is in credits, where 1 credit is $1, or the routine can be free.
The part a file store cannot do is the record. When a buyer's AI helper runs your routine and it calls a paid service, that paid job gets a receipt. The receipt can name your routine as the one that sent the work. Your earnings are then worked out from those receipts, not from a spreadsheet you have to argue about. This guide shows how those tool calls are limited and logged on the buyer's side.
Some plain limits. The marketplace is a pilot, and listing is by invitation. BlueBear lists the routine for you; there is no form you fill in yourself. Payouts are done by hand during the pilot. BlueBear does not sort or promote listings, so your routine spreads because you spread it. The receipt link between a routine and paid work has been proven during the pilot, in the pilot setup.
What to do next
So, can you sell it? Yes. Should the file be the only thing you sell? Almost never. This week, add your name and a licence to the file. Then write down every paid service it calls. That list is the start of your income.
Next, read how a free routine can still earn when it drives paid work. Or look at the public offers on the BlueBear marketplace to see what a listed routine looks like.
Questions people actually search for
- can someone copy my ai routine and resell it
Yes. A routine is a text file plus a few scripts. Anyone who installs it can read it, change it and post it again. No store can lock a downloaded file, and any store that says it can is overselling. What protects you is a clear licence in the file, a current version people pay for, help buyers cannot get elsewhere, and a record that names your routine when it drives paid work.
- how do i sell claude skills without running a store
You have three options. Post the file on a general store such as PromptBase or Gumroad, which take a cut and record nothing about use. Sell setup help directly and give the file away as your calling card. Or list it on a marketplace that publishes it for you, tracks the version and licence, and records when your routine sends work to a paid service. During BlueBear's pilot, listing is by invitation and BlueBear lists the routine on your behalf.
- what is skill.md in plain words
It is the file name most AI helpers look for when they load a routine. The file starts with a name and a short note on when to use the routine. Then it lists the steps in plain writing, with examples. It can point to extra folders for scripts and templates. There is an open standard for the format, so a routine written once can be used by more than one AI helper.
- do skill stores pay the people who write them
Mostly no, as of September 2026. Anthropic's plugin and connector lists have no revenue share. OpenAI's app rules do not allow selling digital goods inside ChatGPT. The tool directories list for free and pay nothing. The stores that do pay are general file stores: PromptBase keeps 20 percent on sales through its site, and Gumroad charges 10 percent plus 50 cents per sale. None of them records what your routine calls while it runs.