diff --git a/template/.agents/skills/manage-bclaw/SKILL.md b/template/.agents/skills/manage-bclaw/SKILL.md
index 4b50878..4059016 100644
--- a/template/.agents/skills/manage-bclaw/SKILL.md
+++ b/template/.agents/skills/manage-bclaw/SKILL.md
@@ -195,6 +195,7 @@ in a final call. No S3 bucket, no GitHub dependency, no image rebuild.
 | `agent_home/config.yaml` | `/home/harness/.hermes/config.yaml` *(via Mode 3 Merge-config, NOT overlay)* |
 | `agent_home/system-prompt.md` | `/home/harness/.hermes/system-prompt.md` |
 | `agent_home/skills/foo/SKILL.md` | `/home/harness/.hermes/skills/foo/SKILL.md` |
+| `agent_home/skills/.hub/taps.json` | `/home/harness/.hermes/skills/.hub/taps.json` |
 | `agent_home/memories/...` | `/home/harness/.hermes/memories/...` |
 
 Create `agent_home/` at the repo root and mirror the structure you want on the
diff --git a/template/.agents/skills/setup-bclaw/SKILL.md b/template/.agents/skills/setup-bclaw/SKILL.md
index 285068e..a7d6c65 100644
--- a/template/.agents/skills/setup-bclaw/SKILL.md
+++ b/template/.agents/skills/setup-bclaw/SKILL.md
@@ -629,7 +629,9 @@ Setup has already satisfied its entry conditions:
 #### 5a. Overlay agent_home/ (manage-bclaw Mode 1)
 
 Establish the curated baseline — skills, memories, system prompt, `SOUL.md`
-persona — on the claw's `/home/harness/.hermes`. Run `manage-bclaw` in
+persona, and the default `boldblackai/skills` marketplace tap
+(`agent_home/skills/.hub/taps.json`) — on the claw's `/home/harness/.hermes`.
+Run `manage-bclaw` in
 **Mode 1 (Overlay)** now; it owns the full procedure (tar+base64 over ECS
 Exec, chunked transfer, decode/extract/`chown`, merge-with-overwrite
 semantics, dry-run gate). `config.yaml` is excluded from the overlay on
diff --git a/template/README.md b/template/README.md
index c04532d..aef37e7 100644
--- a/template/README.md
+++ b/template/README.md
@@ -2,7 +2,9 @@
 
 A Hermes Agent claw — a long-running gateway deployed as a Slack socket-mode
 bot. It is outbound-only: no load balancer, no inbound ports. The Slack app
-manifest lives in `slack-manifest.json`.
+manifest lives in `slack-manifest.json`. The `agent_home/` overlay ships a
+default `boldblackai/skills` marketplace tap so `hermes skills search` /
+`install` can discover the public catalog after setup.
 
 Runs on AWS ECS using the **EC2 launch type** — a single container instance in
 an Auto Scaling Group (`min=max=desired=1`) with a **persistent EBS data
diff --git a/template/agent_home/AGENTHOME.md b/template/agent_home/AGENTHOME.md
index 01acf20..1c65744 100644
--- a/template/agent_home/AGENTHOME.md
+++ b/template/agent_home/AGENTHOME.md
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ agent_home/
   config.yaml          # non-env-driven config (skills, toolsets, MCP, model)
   system-prompt.md     # custom system prompt / persona
   skills/              # curated skills (SKILL.md)
+  skills/.hub/taps.json  # default boldblackai/skills marketplace tap (#32)
   memories/            # curated memories
   personas/            # persona definitions
 ```
diff --git a/template/agent_home/skills/.hub/taps.json b/template/agent_home/skills/.hub/taps.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c8dfd03
--- /dev/null
+++ b/template/agent_home/skills/.hub/taps.json
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+{
+  "taps": [
+    {
+      "repo": "boldblackai/skills",
+      "path": "skills/"
+    }
+  ]
+}