cli-skill-creator_skill

This skill helps you create thorough CLI tool documentation and guidance by systematically analyzing help text, man pages, and repos.

Python

63

GitHub Stars

1

Bundled Files

2 months ago

Catalog Refreshed

4 months ago

First Indexed

Readme & install

Copy the install command, review bundled files from the catalogue, and read any extended description pulled from the listing source.

Installation

Preview and clipboard use veilstrat where the catalogue uses aiagentskills.

npx veilstrat add skill dagster-io/erk --skill cli-skill-creator

skill.md20.6 KB

Overview

This skill guides the creation of comprehensive skills for command-line interface (CLI) tools, focused on systematically documenting commands, workflows, and mental models. It codifies a repeatable seven-step process to inspect help text, man pages, source repos, and community knowledge, then organize findings into a usable skill package. Use it to turn raw CLI surfaces into clear, task-oriented documentation.

How this skill works

The skill introspects a CLI by checking installation and version, extracting full help text and subcommand hierarchies, and parsing man pages when available. It supplements this with GitHub repository analysis, issue mining, and online research to capture implementation details, real-world examples, and common pain points. Finally, it synthesizes a mental model, maps workflows, and assembles structured documentation ready for packaging and review.

When to use it

When asked to create documentation or an assistant skill for any CLI tool
When you need a complete command reference with examples and flags
When you want to extract the CLI's mental model and common workflows
When investigating undocumented behaviors or integration patterns
When preparing a skill for distribution or onboarding users

Best practices

Start with availability and version checks to ensure reproducible examples
Enumerate top-level help then recurse into each subcommand for complete coverage
Combine help text, man pages, and repository sources to resolve contradictions and find hidden flags
Organize documentation by user tasks and workflows, not just by commands
Include diagnostics and troubleshooting commands alongside common workflows

Example use cases

Create a user-ready skill for a new open-source CLI by cloning its repo and extracting command patterns
Document a proprietary CLI by parsing help text and man pages to produce task-based workflows
Mine tests and issues from a GitHub repository to discover real-world use cases and edge cases
Produce a compact quickstart and a detailed reference file with all commands, flags, and examples
Prepare a skill that highlights CI/CD integrations and common automation patterns

FAQ

Progressively enumerate help: capture top-level help, then iterate into each subcommand to map hierarchy and identify recurring patterns for grouping.

What if the CLI has no repository or man pages?

Rely on exhaustive help-text parsing, community tutorials, Q&A sites, and testing common workflows to infer the mental model and surface undocumented behavior.

How do I validate examples are correct?

Run commands in a safe, disposable environment when possible, cross-check with tests or CI examples, and flag destructive operations clearly.