Apache License
Version 2.0, January 2004
http://www.apache.org/licenses/

TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR USE, REPRODUCTION, AND DISTRIBUTION

1. Definitions.

   "License" shall mean the terms and conditions for use, reproduction,
   and distribution as defined by Sections 1 through 9 of this document.

   "Licensor" shall mean the copyright owner or entity authorized by
   the copyright owner that is granting the License.

   "Legal Entity" shall mean the union of the acting entity and all
   other entities that control, are controlled by, or are under common
   control with that entity. For the purposes of this definition,
   "control" means (i) the power, direct or indirect, to cause the
   direction or management of such entity, whether by contract or
   otherwise, or (ii) ownership of fifty percent (50%) or more of the
   outstanding shares, or (iii) beneficial ownership of such entity.

   "You" (or "Your") shall mean an individual or Legal Entity
   exercising permissions granted by this License.

   "Source" form shall mean the preferred form for making modifications,
   including but not limited to software source code, documentation
   source, and configuration files.

   "Object" form shall mean any form resulting from mechanical
   transformation or translation of a Source form, including but
   not limited to compiled object code, generated documentation,
   and conversions to other media types.

   "Work" shall mean the work of authorship, whether in Source or
   Object form, made available under the License, as indicated by a
   copyright notice that is included in or attached to the work
   (an example is provided in the Appendix below).

   "Derivative Works" shall mean any work, whether in Source or Object
   form, that is based on (or derived from) the Work and for which the
   editorial revisions, annotations, elaborations, or other modifications
   represent, as a whole, an original work of authorship. For the purposes
   of this License, Derivative Works shall not include works that remain
   separable from, or merely link (or bind by name) to the interfaces of,
   the Work and Derivative Works thereof.

   "Contribution" shall mean any work of authorship, including
   the original version of the Work and any modifications or additions
   to that Work or Derivative Works thereof, that is intentionally
   submitted to Licensor for inclusion in the Work by the copyright owner
   or by an individual or Legal Entity authorized to submit on behalf of
   the copyright owner. For the purposes of this definition, "submitted"
   means any form of electronic, verbal, or written communication sent
   to the Licensor or its representatives, including but not limited to
   communication on electronic mailing lists, source code control systems,
   and issue tracking systems that are managed by, or on behalf of, the
   Licensor for the purpose of discussing and improving the Work, but
   excluding communication that is conspicuously marked or otherwise
   designated in writing by the copyright owner as "Not a Contribution."

   "Contributor" shall mean Licensor and any individual or Legal Entity
   on behalf of whom a Contribution has been received by Licensor and
   subsequently incorporated within the Work.

2. Grant of Copyright License. Subject to the terms and conditions of
   this License, each Contributor hereby grants to You a perpetual,
   worldwide, non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable
   copyright license to reproduce, prepare Derivative Works of,
   publicly display, publicly perform, sublicense, and distribute the
   Work and such Derivative Works in Source or Object form.

3. Grant of Patent License. Subject to the terms and conditions of
   this License, each Contributor hereby grants to You a perpetual,
   worldwide, non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable
   (except as stated in this section) patent license to make, have made,
   use, offer to sell, sell, import, and otherwise transfer the Work,
   where such license applies only to those patent claims licensable
   by such Contributor that are necessarily infringed by their
   Contribution(s) alone or by combination of their Contribution(s)
   with the Work to which such Contribution(s) was submitted. If You
   institute patent litigation against any entity (including a
   cross-claim or counterclaim in a lawsuit) alleging that the Work
   or a Contribution incorporated within the Work constitutes direct
   or contributory patent infringement, then any patent licenses
   granted to You under this License for that Work shall terminate
   as of the date such litigation is filed.

4. Redistribution. You may reproduce and distribute copies of the
   Work or Derivative Works thereof in any medium, with or without
   modifications, and in Source or Object form, provided that You
   meet the following conditions:

   (a) You must give any other recipients of the Work or
       Derivative Works a copy of this License; and

   (b) You must cause any modified files to carry prominent notices
       stating that You changed the files; and

   (c) You must retain, in the Source form of any Derivative Works
       that You distribute, all copyright, patent, trademark, and
       attribution notices from the Source form of the Work,
       excluding those notices that do not pertain to any part of
       the Derivative Works; and

   (d) If the Work includes a "NOTICE" text file as part of its
       distribution, then any Derivative Works that You distribute must
       include a readable copy of the attribution notices contained
       within such NOTICE file, excluding those notices that do not
       pertain to any part of the Derivative Works, in at least one
       of the following places: within a NOTICE text file distributed
       as part of the Derivative Works; within the Source form or
       documentation, if provided along with the Derivative Works; or,
       within a display generated by the Derivative Works, if and
       wherever such third-party notices normally appear. The contents
       of the NOTICE file are for informational purposes only and
       do not modify the License. You may add Your own attribution
       notices within Derivative Works that You distribute, alongside
       or as an addendum to the NOTICE text from the Work, provided
       that such additional attribution notices cannot be construed
       as modifying the License.

   You may add Your own copyright statement to Your modifications and
   may provide additional or different license terms and conditions
   for use, reproduction, or distribution of Your modifications, or
   for any such Derivative Works as a whole, provided Your use,
   reproduction, and distribution of the Work otherwise complies with
   the conditions stated in this License.

5. Submission of Contributions. Unless You explicitly state otherwise,
   any Contribution intentionally submitted for inclusion in the Work
   by You to the Licensor shall be under the terms and conditions of
   this License, without any additional terms or conditions.
   Notwithstanding the above, nothing herein shall supersede or modify
   the terms of any separate license agreement you may have executed
   with Licensor regarding such Contributions.

6. Trademarks. This License does not grant permission to use the trade
   names, trademarks, service marks, or product names of the Licensor,
   except as required for reasonable and customary use in describing the
   origin of the Work and reproducing the content of the NOTICE file.

7. Disclaimer of Warranty. Unless required by applicable law or
   agreed to in writing, Licensor provides the Work (and each
   Contributor provides its Contributions) on an "AS IS" BASIS,
   WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or
   implied, including, without limitation, any warranties or conditions
   of TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY, or FITNESS FOR A
   PARTICULAR PURPOSE. You are solely responsible for determining the
   appropriateness of using or redistributing the Work and assume any
   risks associated with Your exercise of permissions under this License.

8. Limitation of Liability. In no event and under no legal theory,
   whether in tort (including negligence), contract, or otherwise,
   unless required by applicable law (such as deliberate and grossly
   negligent acts) or agreed to in writing, shall any Contributor be
   liable to You for damages, including any direct, indirect, special,
   incidental, or consequential damages of any character arising as a
   result of this License or out of the use or inability to use the
   Work (including but not limited to damages for loss of goodwill,
   work stoppage, computer failure or malfunction, or any and all
   other commercial damages or losses), even if such Contributor
   has been advised of the possibility of such damages.

9. Accepting Warranty or Additional Liability. While redistributing
   the Work or Derivative Works thereof, You may choose to offer,
   and charge a fee for, acceptance of support, warranty, indemnity,
   or other liability obligations and/or rights consistent with this
   License. However, in accepting such obligations, You may act only
   on Your own behalf and on Your sole responsibility, not on behalf of
   any other Contributor, and only if You agree to indemnify,
   defend, and hold each Contributor harmless for any liability
   incurred by, or claims asserted against, such Contributor by reason
   of your accepting any such warranty or additional liability.

END OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS

APPENDIX: How to apply the Apache License to your work.

   To apply the Apache License to your work, attach the following
   boilerplate notice, with the fields enclosed by brackets "[]"
   replaced with your own identifying information. (Don\'t include
   the brackets!)  The text should be enclosed in the appropriate
   comment syntax for the file format. We also recommend that a
   file or class name and description of purpose be included on the
   same "printed page" as the copyright notice for easier
   identification within third-party archives.

Copyright [yyyy] [name of copyright owner]

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
You may obtain a copy of the License at

    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
limitations under the License.

---
name: cli-creator
description: Build a composable CLI for Codex from API docs, an OpenAPI spec, existing curl examples, an SDK, a web app, an admin tool, or a local script. Use when the user wants Codex to create a command-line tool that can run from any repo, expose composable read/write commands, return stable JSON, manage auth, and pair with a companion skill.
---

# CLI Creator

Create a real CLI that future Codex threads can run by command name from any working directory.

This skill is for durable tools, not one-off scripts. If a short script in the current repo solves the task, write the script there instead.

## Start

Name the target tool, its source, and the first real jobs it should do:

- Source: API docs, OpenAPI JSON, SDK docs, curl examples, browser app, existing internal script, article, or working shell history.
- Jobs: literal reads/writes such as `list drafts`, `download failed job logs`, `search messages`, `upload media`, `read queue schedule`.
- Install name: a short binary name such as `ci-logs`, `slack-cli`, `sentry-cli`, or `buildkite-logs`.

Prefer a new folder under `~/code/clis/<tool-name>` when the user wants a personal tool and has not named a repo.

Before scaffolding, check whether the proposed command already exists:

```bash
command -v <tool-name> || true
```

If it exists, choose a clearer install name or ask the user.

## Choose the Runtime

Before choosing, inspect the user's machine and source material:

```bash
command -v cargo rustc node pnpm npm python3 uv || true
```

Then choose the least surprising toolchain:

- Default to **Rust** for a durable CLI Codex should run from any repo: one fast binary, strong argument parsing, good JSON handling, easy copy/install into `~/.local/bin`.
- Use **TypeScript/Node** when the official SDK, auth helper, browser automation library, or existing repo tooling is the reason the CLI can be better.
- Use **Python** when the source is data science, local file transforms, notebooks, SQLite/CSV/JSON analysis, or Python-heavy admin tooling that can still be installed as a durable command.

Do not pick a language that adds setup friction unless it materially improves the CLI. If the best language is not installed, either install the missing toolchain with the user's approval or choose the next-best installed option.

State the choice in one sentence before scaffolding, including the reason and the installed toolchain you found.

## Command Contract

Sketch the command surface in chat before coding. Include the binary name, discovery commands, resolve or ID-lookup commands, read commands, write commands, raw escape hatch, auth/config choice, and PATH/install command.

When designing the command surface, read [references/agent-cli-patterns.md](references/agent-cli-patterns.md) for the expected composable CLI shape.

Build toward this surface:

- `tool-name --help` shows every major capability.
- `tool-name --json doctor` verifies config, auth, version, endpoint reachability, and missing setup.
- `tool-name init ...` stores local config when env-only auth is painful.
- Discovery commands find accounts, projects, workspaces, teams, queues, channels, repos, dashboards, or other top-level containers.
- Resolve commands turn names, URLs, slugs, permalinks, customer input, or build links into stable IDs so future commands do not repeat broad searches.
- Read commands fetch exact objects and list/search collections. Paginated lists support a bounded `--limit`, cursor, offset, or clearly documented default.
- Write commands do one named action each: create, update, delete, upload, schedule, retry, comment, draft. They accept the narrowest stable resource ID, support `--dry-run`, `draft`, or `preview` first when the service allows it, and do not hide writes inside broad commands such as `fix`, `debug`, or `auto`.
- `--json` returns stable machine-readable output.
- A raw escape hatch exists: `request`, `tool-call`, `api`, or the nearest honest name.

Do not expose only a generic `request` command. Give Codex high-level verbs for the repeated jobs.

Document the JSON policy in the CLI README or equivalent: API pass-through versus CLI envelope, success shape, error shape, and one example for each command family. Under `--json`, errors must be machine-readable and must not contain credentials.

## Auth and Config

Support the boring paths first, in this precedence order:

1. Environment variable using the service's standard name, such as `GITHUB_TOKEN`.
2. User config under `~/.<tool-name>/config.toml` or another simple documented path.
3. `--api-key` or a tool-specific token flag only for explicit one-off tests. Prefer env/config for normal use because flags can leak into shell history or process listings.

Never print full tokens. `doctor --json` should say whether a token is available, the auth source category (`flag`, `env`, `config`, provider default, or missing), and what setup step is missing.

If the CLI can run without network or auth, make that explicit in `doctor --json`: report fixture/offline mode, whether fixture data was found, and whether auth is not required for that mode.

For internal web apps sourced from DevTools curls, create sanitized endpoint notes before implementing: resource name, method/path, required headers, auth mechanism, CSRF behavior, request body, response ID fields, pagination, errors, and one redacted sample response. Never commit copied cookies, bearer tokens, customer secrets, or full production payloads.

Use screenshots to infer workflow, UI vocabulary, fields, and confirmation points. Do not treat screenshots as API evidence unless they are paired with a network request, export, docs page, or fixture.

## Build Workflow

1. Read the source just enough to inventory resources, auth, pagination, IDs, media/file flows, rate limits, and dangerous write actions. If the docs expose OpenAPI, download or inspect it before naming commands.
2. Sketch the command list in chat. Keep names short and shell-friendly.
3. Scaffold the CLI with a README or equivalent repo-facing instructions.
4. Implement `doctor`, discovery, resolve, read commands, one narrow draft or dry-run write path if requested, and the raw escape hatch.
5. Install the CLI on PATH so `tool-name ...` works outside the source folder.
6. Smoke test from another repo or `/tmp`, not only with `cargo run` or package-manager wrappers. Run `command -v <tool-name>`, `<tool-name> --help`, and `<tool-name> --json doctor`.
7. Run format, typecheck/build, unit tests for request builders, pagination/request-body builders, no-auth `doctor`, help output, and at least one fixture, dry-run, or live read-only API call.

If a live write is needed for confidence, ask first and make it reversible or draft-only.

When the source is an existing script or shell history, split the working invocation into real phases: setup, discovery, download/export, transform/index, draft, upload, poll, live write. Preserve the flags, paths, and environment variables the user already relies on, then wrap the repeatable phases with stable IDs, bounded JSON, and file outputs.

For raw escape hatches, support read-only calls first. Do not run raw non-GET/HEAD requests against a live service unless the user asked for that specific write.

For media, artifact, or presigned upload flows, test each phase separately: create upload, transfer bytes, poll/read processing status, then attach or reference the resulting ID.

For fixture-backed prototypes, keep fixtures in a predictable project path and make the CLI locate them after installation. Smoke-test from `/tmp` to catch binaries that only work inside the source folder.

For log-oriented CLIs, keep deterministic snippet extraction separate from model interpretation. Prefer a command that emits filenames, line numbers or byte ranges, matched rules, and short excerpts.

## Rust Defaults

When building in Rust, use established crates instead of custom parsers:

- `clap` for commands and help
- `reqwest` for HTTP
- `serde` / `serde_json` for payloads
- `toml` for small config files
- `anyhow` for CLI-shaped error context

Add a `Makefile` target such as `make install-local` that builds release and installs the binary into `~/.local/bin`.

## TypeScript/Node Defaults

When building in TypeScript/Node, keep the CLI installable as a normal command:

- `commander` or `cac` for commands and help
- native `fetch`, the official SDK, or the user's existing HTTP helper for API calls
- `zod` only where external payload validation prevents real breakage
- `package.json` `bin` entry for the installed command
- `tsup`, `tsx`, or `tsc` using the repo's existing convention

Add an install path such as `pnpm install`, `pnpm build`, and `pnpm link --global`, or a `Makefile` target that installs a small wrapper into `~/.local/bin`.

## Python Defaults

When building in Python, prefer boring standard-library pieces unless the workflow needs more:

- `argparse` for commands and help, or `typer` when subcommands would otherwise get messy
- `urllib.request` / `urllib.parse`, `requests`, or `httpx` for HTTP, matching what is already installed or already used nearby
- `json`, `csv`, `sqlite3`, `pathlib`, and `subprocess` for local files, exports, databases, and existing scripts
- `pyproject.toml` console script or a small executable wrapper for the installed command
- `uv` or a virtualenv only when dependencies are actually needed

Add a `Makefile` target such as `make install-local` that installs the command on PATH and document whether it depends on `uv`, a virtualenv, or only system Python.

## Companion Skill

After the CLI works, create or update a small skill for it. Use `$skill-creator` when it is available. Use `$CODEX_HOME/skills/<tool-name>/SKILL.md` for a personal companion skill unless the user names a repo-local `.codex/skills/...` path or another skill repo.

Write the companion skill in the order a future Codex thread should use the CLI, not as a tour of every feature. Explain:

- How to verify the installed command exists.
- Which command to run first.
- How auth is configured.
- Which discovery command finds the common ID.
- The safe read path.
- The intended draft/write path.
- The raw escape hatch.
- What not to do without explicit user approval.
- Three copy-pasteable command examples.

Keep API reference details in the CLI docs or a skill reference file. Keep the skill focused on ordering, safety, and examples future Codex threads should actually run.