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cli-for-agents

Designing CLIs that AI agents will invoke — non-interactive flags, layered --help with examples, stdin/pipeline composition, actionable errors, idempotency, dry-run, destructive-action safety, and predictable command structure. Use when designing, building, or reviewing a command-line tool that AI agents or automation will invoke. Trigger even if the user doesn't explicitly say "agent-friendly" — apply whenever they are writing `--help` text, adding a new subcommand, designing error messages, or reviewing a CLI's UX.

skills/.experimental/cli-for-agents/SKILL.md

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# Agent-Friendly CLI Design Best Practices

Prescriptive design and review standards for Command-Line Interface Design targeting AI agents and scripts, not just humans typing at a prompt. Human-oriented CLIs often block agents: interactive prompts, huge upfront docs, help text without copy-pasteable examples, error messages without fixes, no dry-run mode. This skill prioritizes rules by blast radius — from "the agent cannot use this CLI at all" (CRITICAL) to "the agent has to read help one extra time" (MEDIUM).

Use this skill both when **building** a new CLI and when **reviewing** an existing one for agent-friendliness.

This skill contains **45 rules across 8 categories**.

## When to Apply

Reference these guidelines when:
- Writing `--help` text for any subcommand
- Designing new flags, arguments, or subcommands
- Crafting error messages or exit codes
- Adding destructive operations that need dry-run or confirmation