Is Skylos free or paid?

Skylos has a freemium model. The CLI (local scanner) is free forever with no login required. A Cloud Workspace ($9/month, 50 credits) adds shared triage, history, and PR evidence. The free CLI includes all core features like dead code detection, secrets scanning, and AI defect detection.

Does Skylos have a free trial?

Yes, Skylos offers a free forever CLI that requires no sign-up. The Cloud Workspace, which provides shared triage and history, has a free trial tier (likely limited credits). Check the official site for current trial details.

Skylos vs Vulture: which is better for dead code detection?

Skylos achieves 98.1% recall on popular Python repos with 21× fewer false positives than Vulture, making it more accurate and less noisy. It also covers security, secrets, and AI defects, while Vulture focuses solely on dead code. Skylos is ideal for AI-heavy codebases; Vulture is simpler but noisier.

Who should use Skylos?

Skylos is best for Python developers using AI coding agents (Claude Code, Cursor) to catch hallucinated imports and removed controls, open source maintainers cleaning dead code, security-conscious devs detecting hardcoded secrets, and DevOps engineers setting up PR quality gates with a lightweight CLI.

Who should avoid Skylos?

Teams that need real-time cloud analysis without uploading code, require a multi-language SAST tool, prefer a fully managed GUI platform without CLI, need Jira integration, or have no AI-generated code issues should avoid Skylos. It is Python-focused and CLI-first.

What are the limitations of Skylos?

Skylos is Python-focused (other languages limited), local scans require CLI usage, cloud features need code uploads, and it lacks integrations with Jira or other issue trackers. It complements but does not replace comprehensive tools like SonarQube or Semgrep.

Does Skylos integrate with GitHub Actions?

Yes, Skylos integrates with CI/CD via GitHub Actions, tokenless CI, VS Code extension, and MCP server support. It can gate PRs on high-confidence regressions.

Is Skylos difficult to set up?

No, Skylos is a local-first CLI tool requiring no login. You can run it with a single command (e.g., `npx skylos` or pip install). The learning curve is low for developers familiar with CLI tools.

Is Skylos good for detecting secrets in code?

Yes, Skylos detects hardcoded secrets like AWS keys, Stripe tokens, and other credentials. It is particularly useful for catching accidental commits of credentials from AI-generated code.

Is Skylos good for catching AI code mistakes?

Yes, Skylos detects AI-specific defects such as hallucinated imports, phantom function calls, insecure defaults, and removed security controls. It provides confidence scores to prioritize fixes.

Can Skylos detect SQL injection?

Yes, Skylos includes security vulnerability scanning for SQL injection, command injection, and other common vulnerabilities.

Is Skylos better than mypy for type checking?

Skylos focuses on dead code, security, secrets, and AI defects, not type checking. Mypy is a type checker; they serve different purposes. Skylos can be used alongside mypy for broader coverage.

Skylos

Freemium

Open source CLI to catch dead code, secrets, and AI-code mistakes before PR merge.

By Tanmay Verma, Founder · Last verified 03 Jul 2026

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Added 7d ago

77/100Safe Bet

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In short

Skylos — Open source CLI to catch dead code, secrets, and AI-code mistakes before PR merge. Best for Python developers using AI coding agents (Claude Code, Cursor) who want to catch hallucinated imports and removed security controls before merge, Open source maintainers cleaning up dead code and tech debt in Python repos with low false positives, Teams needing a low-noise static analysis tool that complements Semgrep or CodeQL for AI-heavy code. Free to start; paid plans from $950/mo.

Compared withvs Sublime Security vs Push Security vs Audioeye

Is Skylos actually worth it?

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Editorial Verdict

Best for

Python developers using AI coding agents (Claude Code, Cursor) who want to catch hallucinated imports and removed security controls before mergeOpen source maintainers cleaning up dead code and tech debt in Python repos with low false positivesTeams needing a low-noise static analysis tool that complements Semgrep or CodeQL for AI-heavy codeSecurity-conscious developers wanting to detect hardcoded secrets and weakened assertions from AI-generated codeDevOps engineers setting up PR quality gates for Python projects with a lightweight CLI-first tool

Not ideal for

Teams needing real-time cloud analysis without uploading code (local scans are fine, but cloud features require uploads)Developers looking for a comprehensive SAST tool covering many languages (Python-focused; other languages limited)Organizations that require a fully managed, GUI-based security platform without CLI usageTeams needing extensive integration with Jira or other issue trackers (not documented)Projects that already have deep security tooling and don't have AI-generated code issues

A sharp, low-noise dead-code and AI-defect scanner for Python teams. The local-first approach and generous free tier make it easy to try, while the cloud layer adds team workflow affordably. A strong complement to existing SAST tools.

Compare with: Skylos vs Chrome DevTools MCP, Skylos vs Bito, Skylos vs Marvin

Last verified: July 2026

What's new in Skylos

Checked 7 days ago

Across the latest 1 update: 1 feature update.

FeatureBlog·May 21Newest

GitHub Actions PR Gate for AI-Generated Code: A Practical Security Workflow

Practical GitHub Actions gate for AI-generated code: scan changed code, avoid pull_request_target traps, limit token permissions, catch secrets, block removed auth.

Viability Score

77/100

Safe Bet

How likely is Skylos to still be operational in 12 months? Based on 4 signals — momentum (how recently it shipped), wrapper dependency, revenue model, and web presence.

momentum

funding runway

website health

wrapper dependency

100

Last calculated: July 2026

How we score →

Key Features

Dead code detection (unused functions, imports, classes, variables)
Security vulnerability scanning (SQL injection, command injection)
Secrets detection for hardcoded credentials (AWS, Stripe, etc.)
Quality checks (complexity, nesting, duplicate literals)
AI defect detection: hallucinated imports, phantom calls, insecure defaults, removed controls
Confidence scoring for findings
CI/CD integration: GitHub Actions, tokenless CI
VS Code extension
MCP server support
PR gate for blocking high-confidence regressions
Cloud workspace for shared triage and history
Real repo benchmarks: 98.1% recall, 21× fewer false positives than Vulture
Built-in Python framework coverage (Django, Flask, FastAPI, Pydantic)
Agent workflow detection (Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, Copilot)

About Skylos

FreemiumIntermediateNo APICLI · Plugin

Skylos is an open source, local-first static analysis tool that catches dead code, security bugs, secrets, quality regressions, and AI-generated code mistakes before they reach production. Built for Python developers using AI coding agents like Claude Code and Cursor, it runs as a CLI with no login required for local scans. Skylos detects hallucinated imports, phantom function calls, removed security controls, and insecure defaults from AI assistants, with confidence scores to prioritize fixes. It integrates into CI (GitHub Actions), VS Code, and MCP servers, and offers a low-false-positive rule set (21× fewer false positives than Vulture on Flask). The freemium model keeps the CLI free forever; a Cloud Workspace adds shared triage, history, and PR evidence for $9/month (50 credits). Compared to Vulture, Skylos achieves 98.1% recall on popular Python repos while providing broader coverage including security, secrets, and tech debt. It is designed to complement existing tools like SonarQube or Semgrep, not replace them, focusing on AI-heavy repos and dead code.

Behind the Verdict

Skylos fills a niche that's increasingly urgent: catching mistakes from AI coding agents. Many teams using Claude Code or Cursor have seen hallucinated imports or removed auth checks slip through — Skylos catches those specifically, with confidence scores that help developers sort real issues from noise. Its local-first design is a refreshing departure from the cloud-always trend: no uploads for basic scanning, no vendor lock-in. The free CLI is genuinely useful on its own, making it easy to evaluate on a single repo before committing to paid cloud features. Where it shines is Python projects using Django, Flask, FastAPI, or Pydantic, where framework-aware detection reduces false positives dramatically. The paid Cloud Workspace is reasonably priced at $9 for 50 credits, which covers multiple scans and comparisons. However, Skylos is not a general-purpose SAST — it's best used alongside Semgrep or CodeQL, not instead of them. It also doesn't support non-Python languages beyond basic coverage, so polyglot teams may need multiple tools. For developers drowning in AI-generated code chaos, Skylos is a practical, honest solution that delivers on its promises. We'd reach for it first when setting up PR gates for Python repos with heavy AI contributions.

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Use Cases

Scan a Python repository for dead code and removed security controls before merging a PR.
Detect hallucinated imports and phantom API calls from AI coding agents in CI.
Find hardcoded secrets like AWS keys and Stripe tokens in source code.
Set up a GitHub Actions workflow to block high-confidence AI-code regressions.
Use the CLI and MCP server to auto-fix dead code and quality issues.

Limitations

Skylos requires Python 3.10+ and is primarily focused on Python (though other languages are supported).
The free tier lacks cloud features like history and team collaboration.
The cloud workspace has a credit-based system (50 credits for $9) which may limit frequent scans for large teams.
AI features require an API key for OpenAI or Anthropic.
Not all integrations (e.g., Jira) are mentioned.

12-month cost

Project the real annual outlay, including the implied monthly cost when only an annual tier is published.

Plan

Annual total

Free

Over 12 months

Effective monthly

—

Vendor list price only. Add-on usage, seat overages, and contract minimums are surfaced under Hidden costs & gotchas.

Integrations

GitHub ActionsSlackDiscordVS CodeClaude Code CursorMCP

Resources & Guides

Resourceduriantaco.github.io
Repo Map · Skylos
Helpful link from duriantaco.github.io

Frequently Asked Questions

Tools that pair well with Skylos

Common stack mates teams adopt alongside Skylos, with the specific reason each pairing earns its keep.

Chrome DevTools MCP

Open-source MCP server for live Chrome browser control and DevTools debugging

Bito

System-wide context layer for AI coding agents across multi-repo projects

Marvin

Open-source Python framework to build LLM apps with decorators.

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