Base Help

What it does

When your agent uses it

• Any question about base (how to use it
• What it can do for me
• A base command errors
• Behaves unexpectedly

Example prompts

• “/base-help”

Requirements

• Pre-approved tools (allowed-tools): Read, Write, Edit, Bash(grep *), Bash(rg *), Bash(which base), Bash(base --version), Bash(base doctor), Bash(base help *), Bash(base --help), Bash(base commands list), Bash(base commands show *), Bash(base recall *), Bash(base decision search *), Bash(base handoff list), Bash(base fork list), Bash(base ast list), Bash(base ast query *), Bash(base context *), Bash(base relay board), Bash(base relay sessions), Bash(base relay tasks), Bash(base rule list *), Bash(base project list), Bash(base operator show), Bash(ls ~/.base-gbl/*)

Workflow steps

2 steps, taken from the step headings in SKILL.md.

1. 1local profile (do this first, silently)
2. 2answer from the bank first

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit a37b9a8. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

• Tool permissions

  Pre-approves these tools, so the agent can use them without asking each time:

  • Read
  • Write
  • Edit
  • Bash(grep *)
  • Bash(rg *)
  • Bash(which base)
  • Bash(base --version)
  • Bash(base doctor)
  • Bash(base help *)
  • Bash(base --help)

  …and 16 more on the same allowed-tools line.

  From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

• Runs code

  No scripts in the folder and no shell commands in SKILL.md (its code samples are bash and markdown).

  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

Base Help loads about 2.6k tokens when it runs, and up to ~78k if it reads all its reference files. Until then it costs about 89 tokens; SKILL.md has 1,282 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it

~89

When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches

~2.6k

With references · SKILL.md plus every file in references/, read only if the agent opens them

~78k

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

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

Its licence (Custom licence) doesn't allow us to republish the file, so here is its outline and opening line. It has 1,282 words (~2,603 tokens).

name

base-help

allowed-tools

Read, Write, Edit, Bash(grep *), Bash(rg *), Bash(which base), Bash(base --version), Bash(base doctor), Bash(base help *), Bash(base --help), Bash(base commands list), Bash(base commands show *), Bash(base recall *), Bash(base decision search *), Bash(base handoff list), Bash(base fork list), Bash(base ast list), Bash(base ast query *), Bash(base context *), Bash(base relay board), Bash(base relay sessions), Bash(base relay tasks), Bash(base rule list *), Bash(base project list), Bash(base operator show), Bash(ls ~/.base-gbl/*)

argument-hint

[question]

Read the full SKILL.md on GitHub

Files

SKILL.md and 4 other files (references) in claude/skills/base-help of ChristopherKahler/base.

• SKILL.md
• README.md
• references/cli.md
• references/commands.md
• references/qa.md

Open the folder on GitHubat commit a37b9a8