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Project context for the aspens CLI entry point: Commander wiring, the welcome screen, missing-hook warnings, CliError exit handling and the public programmatic exports.
Install Aspens CLI Shell
$ npx skills add aspenkit/aspens --skill cli-shell -a claude-codeProject install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.
$ gh skill install aspenkit/aspens cli-shell --agent claude-codeProject scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/aspenkit/aspens.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/.agents/skills/cli-shell .claude/skills/cli-shell && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.
Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/
Install the "cli-shell" agent skill from https://github.com/aspenkit/aspens/tree/main/.agents/skills/cli-shell into .claude/skills/cli-shell/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "cli-shell", then confirm the skill loads.Claude Code copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$skill-installer install https://github.com/aspenkit/aspens/tree/main/.agents/skills/cli-shellType this inside Codex. $skill-installer <name> installs a curated skill from openai/skills. The installer writes to $CODEX_HOME/skills (default ~/.codex/skills). Restart Codex if the skill does not show up.
$ npx skills add aspenkit/aspens --skill cli-shell -a codexProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.codex/skills/.
$ gh skill install aspenkit/aspens cli-shell --agent codexProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/aspenkit/aspens.git skills-src && mkdir -p .agents/skills && cp -r skills-src/.agents/skills/cli-shell .agents/skills/cli-shell && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.agents/skills/ instead of .agents/skills for a personal install.
Codex skills documentation · loads skills from .agents/skills/
Install the "cli-shell" agent skill from https://github.com/aspenkit/aspens/tree/main/.agents/skills/cli-shell into .agents/skills/cli-shell/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "cli-shell", then confirm the skill loads.Codex copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$ npx skills add aspenkit/aspens --skill cli-shell -a cursorProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.cursor/skills/.
$ gh skill install aspenkit/aspens cli-shell --agent cursorProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/aspenkit/aspens.git skills-src && mkdir -p .cursor/skills && cp -r skills-src/.agents/skills/cli-shell .cursor/skills/cli-shell && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.cursor/skills/ instead of .cursor/skills for a personal install.
Cursor skills documentation · loads skills from .cursor/skills/, .agents/skills/, .claude/skills/, .codex/skills/
Install the "cli-shell" agent skill from https://github.com/aspenkit/aspens/tree/main/.agents/skills/cli-shell into .cursor/skills/cli-shell/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "cli-shell", then confirm the skill loads.Cursor copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$ gemini skills install https://github.com/aspenkit/aspens.git --path .agents/skills/cli-shell--scope user (default) or --scope workspace; --path is the subfolder of the repo that holds the skill; --consent skips the security confirmation prompt.
$ npx skills add aspenkit/aspens --skill cli-shell -a gemini-cliProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.gemini/skills/.
$ gh skill install aspenkit/aspens cli-shell --agent gemini-cliProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/aspenkit/aspens.git skills-src && mkdir -p .gemini/skills && cp -r skills-src/.agents/skills/cli-shell .gemini/skills/cli-shell && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.gemini/skills/ instead of .gemini/skills for a personal install, then run /skills reload.
Gemini CLI skills documentation · loads skills from .gemini/skills/, .agents/skills/
Install the "cli-shell" agent skill from https://github.com/aspenkit/aspens/tree/main/.agents/skills/cli-shell into .gemini/skills/cli-shell/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "cli-shell", then confirm the skill loads.Gemini CLI copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$ gh skill install aspenkit/aspens cli-shellInstalls for Copilot at project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Preview a skill first with gh skill preview. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).
$ npx skills add aspenkit/aspens --skill cli-shell -a github-copilotProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.copilot/skills/.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/aspenkit/aspens.git skills-src && mkdir -p .github/skills && cp -r skills-src/.agents/skills/cli-shell .github/skills/cli-shell && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.copilot/skills/ instead of .github/skills for a personal install. Commit .github/skills so cloud agent and code review can use it.
GitHub Copilot skills documentation · loads skills from .github/skills/, .claude/skills/, .agents/skills/
Install the "cli-shell" agent skill from https://github.com/aspenkit/aspens/tree/main/.agents/skills/cli-shell into .github/skills/cli-shell/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "cli-shell", then confirm the skill loads.GitHub Copilot copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$ npx skills add aspenkit/aspens --skill cli-shell -a opencodeOpenCode documents no install command of its own. Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.config/opencode/skills/.
$ gh skill install aspenkit/aspens cli-shell --agent opencodeProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/aspenkit/aspens.git skills-src && mkdir -p .opencode/skills && cp -r skills-src/.agents/skills/cli-shell .opencode/skills/cli-shell && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.config/opencode/skills/ instead of .opencode/skills for a personal install.
OpenCode skills documentation · loads skills from .opencode/skills/, .claude/skills/, .agents/skills/
Install the "cli-shell" agent skill from https://github.com/aspenkit/aspens/tree/main/.agents/skills/cli-shell into .opencode/skills/cli-shell/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "cli-shell", then confirm the skill loads.OpenCode copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
Facts
- Skill name
cli-shell- GitHub stars
- 102
- Token cost
- ~1.1k tokens
- SKILL.md length
- 461 words
- Files
- 1
- Skills in repo
- 12
- Repo updated
- First seen
- Licence
- MIT
At a glance
Project context for the aspens CLI entry point: Commander wiring, the welcome screen, missing-hook warnings, CliError exit handling and the public programmatic exports.
- Adding a new aspens subcommand and updating the welcome screen
- SKILL.md covers Domain purpose, Business rules / invariants, Non-obvious behaviors and Critical files, plus 1 more section
- Calls claude and codex
- Changing how the CLI reports errors or sets exit codes
What it does
The skill briefs an agent working on the layer users actually invoke as aspens and that programmatic consumers import through src/index.js. This layer only parses arguments, routes to handlers in src/commands, and handles top-level errors and the welcome screen, while the real work lives elsewhere. Handlers must throw CliError instead of calling process.exit, and the top-level handler prints the message in red and exits with the error's exit code, which defaults to 1.
Other invariants listed: a logged flag means the message was already shown, so the process exits silently; checkMissingHooks warns without throwing before doc sync, add and customize when .claude/skills exists but the activation hook or skill-rules.json is missing; running with no command shows a welcome screen that has to be updated whenever a subcommand is added; the version is read from package.json with a 0.0.0 fallback; numeric option parsers throw Commander's InvalidArgumentError; and SIGINT and SIGTERM exit with codes 130 and 143.
When your agent uses it
- Adding a new aspens subcommand and updating the welcome screen
- Changing how the CLI reports errors or sets exit codes
- Editing the missing-hook warning behavior
- Changing what src/index.js exports for programmatic use
Example prompts
- “Add a new subcommand to the aspens CLI and make sure the welcome screen lists it.”
- “This handler calls process.exit, so change it to throw CliError with the right exit code.”
- “Why does the CLI warn about missing hooks before doc sync, and when is that warning skipped?”
- “Add a numeric option that rejects zero and negative values the way the other parsers do.”
Requirements
- A checkout of the aspens repository
What it can do on your machine
Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 8dde826. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.
Tool permissions
Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.
From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.
Runs code
Shell commands in SKILL.md call:
claudecodex
From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.
Network
No URLs in SKILL.md.
From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.
Credentials
Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.
From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.
Context cost
Aspens CLI Shell loads about 1.1k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 35 tokens; SKILL.md has 461 words of instructions outside code blocks.
Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.
Safety
Auto-check passed
The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.
Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.
SKILL.md
The full file from aspenkit/aspens at commit 8dde826, republished under its MIT licence (© aspenkit). 461 words, ~1,056 tokens.
Download SKILL.mdSave it as
.claude/skills/cli-shell/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).- name
- cli-shell
- description
- Top-level Commander wiring, welcome screen, missing-hook warning, CliError exit handling, and the public programmatic API surface
- triggers.files
- bin/cli.js, src/index.js, src/lib/errors.js
- triggers.keywords
- CliError, commander, bin/cli.js, welcome, checkMissingHooks, parsePositiveInt, parseTimeout, SIGINT, SIGTERM, aspens public api
You are working on the CLI shell — the entry point that wires Commander subcommands, prints the welcome screen, warns about missing Claude hooks, dispatches to handlers, and translates CliError into a clean exit. Also the public programmatic surface re-exported from src/index.js.
Domain purpose
This layer is what a user actually invokes (aspens …) and what programmatic consumers import. It owns argument parsing, top-level error handling, and the welcome UX. All real work lives in src/commands/*.js — the shell only routes.
Business rules / invariants
- Handlers must throw
CliError, never callprocess.exit(). The top-level handler inbin/cli.js:250catches it, printsError: <message>(unlesslogged: true) in red, and exits witherr.exitCode(default 1). PlainErrorfalls through to the same printer but always exits 1. logged: truemeans "I already printed a user-friendly message" — top level then exits silently with the given code. Use it when the handler rendered a clackoutroor multi-line failure already.checkMissingHooks(repoPath)runs beforedoc sync,add, andcustomize— warns (does not throw) when.claude/skills/exists but.claude/hooks/skill-activation-prompt.shor.claude/skills/skill-rules.jsonis absent. Skipped entirely when.claude/skills/is missing (nothing to activate).- No-command invocation shows
showWelcome()— listing essential commands, generate/sync, Claude add-ons, utilities, options, typical workflow, and target notes. Adding a new subcommand requires updating this screen too. - Template counts in the welcome are filesystem-derived —
countTemplates(subdir)readssrc/templates/{agents,commands,hooks}and filters dotfiles; returns'?'on read failure (never throws). - Version comes from
package.jsonat runtime viareadFileSync; falls back to'0.0.0'silently if parse/read fails. Do not hardcode. - Numeric option parsers throw
InvalidArgumentError(Commander-native) —parsePositiveIntrejects ≤0/NaN;parseCommitsadditionally caps at 50. - Signal handlers exit with conventional codes — SIGINT→130, SIGTERM→143. Used to clean up spawned
claude -p/codex execchildren.
Show full SKILL.md (183 more words)Show less
Non-obvious behaviors
- Action wrappers chain
checkMissingHooksbefore the handler fordoc sync,add,customize— done inline via arrow(args, options) => { checkMissingHooks(resolve(path)); return handler(...) }. Don't move this into the handler — the warning should fire even if the handler later fails or short-circuits. program.parseAsync()is required (not.parse()) — handlers are async;.catch()on the returned promise is the only place plain errors are surfaced.src/index.jsis the public programmatic API — only re-exportsscanRepo,runClaude,loadPrompt,parseFileOutput,writeSkillFiles,buildContext,buildBaseContext,buildDomainContext,analyzeImpact. Adding/removing a re-export is a breaking change for embedders; treat it as such.
Critical files
bin/cli.js— Commander setup, option parsers, welcome screen, signal handlers, top-levelCliErrorcatch.src/lib/errors.js—CliErrorclass withexitCodeandloggedoptions (plus optionalcause).src/index.js— Stable programmatic surface for library consumers.
Critical Rules
- New subcommand → register on
program(or thedocsubgroup) and add it toshowWelcome()so users discover it. - Never swallow a handler error in the action wrapper — let it bubble to
program.parseAsync().catch(). - When a handler renders its own failure UX (clack/picocolors), throw
new CliError(msg, { logged: true, exitCode })so the top level does not double-print.
Last Updated: 2026-05-11
© aspenkit, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file
Files
Just SKILL.md in .agents/skills/cli-shell of aspenkit/aspens.
Open the folder on GitHubat commit 8dde826
Compare with similar skills
Aspens CLI Shell next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.
| Skill | Stars | Used in | Tokens | Auto-check | Licence | Repo updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aspens CLI Shell this skillaspenkit/aspens | 102 | — | ~1.1k | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT | |
| Codebase Knowledge Graph Q&AEgonex-AI/Understand-Anything | 85k | 1 repos | ~1.2k | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT | |
| Mole Bug Patternstw93/Mole | 69k | — | ~2k | Automated safety check: Pass | GPL-3.0 | |
| Native Data FetchingCherryHQ/cherry-studio-app | 4k | 6 repos | ~2.9k | Automated safety check: Notes | MIT | |
| Understand ExplainEgonex-AI/Understand-Anything | 85k | 1 repos | ~1.3k | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT | |
| Rust Best Practicesfarm-fe/farm | 5.6k | 3 repos | ~1.1k | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT |
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Understand Explain
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Injects a project's own skills and AGENTS.md content into generic bundled agent template files, adding a tech-stack line and real conventions without touching an agent's core logic.
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Orientation to the aspens codebase for agents working on the CLI itself: its Node.js stack, commands, module layout and debug settings.
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Related
Categories
Questions about Aspens CLI Shell
What does Aspens CLI Shell do?
Project context for the aspens CLI entry point: Commander wiring, the welcome screen, missing-hook warnings, CliError exit handling and the public programmatic exports. js. This layer only parses arguments, routes to handlers in src/commands, and handles top-level errors and the welcome screen, while the real work lives elsewhere.
When should I use Aspens CLI Shell?
Aspens CLI Shell fits situations like: adding a new aspens subcommand and updating the welcome screen; changing how the CLI reports errors or sets exit codes; editing the missing-hook warning behavior; changing what src/index.js exports for programmatic use.
How do I install Aspens CLI Shell in Claude Code?
Run `npx skills add aspenkit/aspens --skill cli-shell -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (.agents/skills/cli-shell in aspenkit/aspens) into .claude/skills/cli-shell in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.
How do I install Aspens CLI Shell in Codex?
Run `npx skills add aspenkit/aspens --skill cli-shell -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (.agents/skills/cli-shell in aspenkit/aspens) into .agents/skills/cli-shell in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.
Can I use Aspens CLI Shell in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?
Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add aspenkit/aspens --skill cli-shell -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/cli-shell, .gemini/skills/cli-shell, .github/skills/cli-shell and .opencode/skills/cli-shell in your project.
What does Aspens CLI Shell need to run?
Going by SKILL.md and its folder, Aspens CLI Shell needs the command-line tools its instructions call (claude and codex). Our summary lists: A checkout of the aspens repository.
Does Aspens CLI Shell access the network?
SKILL.md contains no URLs. Any network use would come from the scripts or tools the agent runs. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.
Is Aspens CLI Shell safe to install?
Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.
What licence does Aspens CLI Shell use?
Aspens CLI Shell is published under the MIT licence (the repository's licence). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.
How many tokens does Aspens CLI Shell use?
About 1.1k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 4.2k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full.
What are the alternatives to Aspens CLI Shell?
Skills that share tags, products or a category with Aspens CLI Shell: Codebase Knowledge Graph Q&A (Egonex-AI/Understand-Anything, 85k stars), Mole Bug Patterns (tw93/Mole, 69k stars), Native Data Fetching (CherryHQ/cherry-studio-app, 4k stars) and Understand Explain (Egonex-AI/Understand-Anything, 85k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.
Who maintains Aspens CLI Shell?
aspenkit (a GitHub organization) maintains it in aspenkit/aspens, which has 102 GitHub stars. The repository holds 12 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on September 12, 2026.
Source: aspenkit/aspens on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.