The moduli space of rank n local systems on a Riemann surface S famously admits "cluster coordinates," which are now part of the "higher Teichmuller theory" of Fock and Goncharov. It was later discovered by Gaiotto, Moore, and Neitzke that these coordinate charts can be identified with the moduli of rank 1 local systems on a spectral curve Σ, a degree n branched cover over S. Fock and Goncharov showed that cluster varieties in general admit a q-deformation, while Turaev had previously established that the moduli space of rank n local systems on S admits a q-deformation to the gl(n) skein algebra. For the two deformations to agree, there must exist corresponding maps from the gl(n) skein of S to the gl(1) skein of Σ. Such maps were indeed constructed algebraically by Bonahon and Wong and others under the name "quantum trace," but their geometric origin -- and why such maps should exist a priori -- remained unclear. In this talk, I will give a geometric construction of these and more general skein traces, by counting holomorphic curves. As a byproduct, deforming Σ in the space of branched covers yields a skein-valued lift of the celebrated Kontsevich-Soibelman wall-crossing formula. Based on joint work with Tobias Ekholm, Pietro Longhi, and Vivek Shende.