Agent skill

Porch

by cluesmith in cluesmith/codev

Protocol orchestrator CLI — drives SPIR, ASPIR, AIR, TICK, and BUGFIX protocols via a state machine.

Apache-2.0Auto-check passed

Install Porch

skills CLI
$ npx skills add cluesmith/codev --skill porch -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install cluesmith/codev porch --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/cluesmith/codev.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/.codex/skills/porch .claude/skills/porch && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.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/

Facts

Skill name
porch
GitHub stars
288
Token cost
~1k tokens
SKILL.md length
299 words
Files
1
Skills in repo
12
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
Apache-2.0

At a glance

Protocol orchestrator CLI — drives SPIR, ASPIR, AIR, TICK, and BUGFIX protocols via a state machine.

  • You need to check project status
  • SKILL.md covers Commands, Gate approvals, Checking pending gates and Critical rules, plus 2 more sections
  • Calls npm
  • Signal phase completion

What it does

Porch is an agent skill from cluesmith/codev. Protocol orchestrator CLI — drives SPIR, ASPIR, AIR, TICK, and BUGFIX protocols via a state machine. ALWAYS check this skill before running any porch command. Use when you need to check project status, approve gates, signal phase completion, or manage protocol state. Also use when a builder asks about gate approvals or phase transitions.

Its SKILL.md is about 1k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. It is a single SKILL.md file with no bundled scripts.

It works with npm. The repository describes itself as: Codev helps humans and agents co-develop both the context and the code of the project. The licence is Apache-2.0.

When your agent uses it

  • You need to check project status
  • Signal phase completion
  • Manage protocol state
  • A builder asks about gate approvals

Example prompts

  • “/porch”

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 9cd8607. 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:

    • npm

    From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

  • Network

    No URLs in SKILL.md. Its commands use npm, which can reach the network depending on how they are called.

    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

Porch loads about 1k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 87 tokens; SKILL.md has 299 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~87
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~1k

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 cluesmith/codev at commit 9cd8607, republished under its Apache-2.0 licence (© cluesmith). 299 words, ~1,006 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/porch/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).
name
porch
description
Protocol orchestrator CLI — drives SPIR, ASPIR, AIR, TICK, and BUGFIX protocols via a state machine. ALWAYS check this skill before running any `porch` command. Use when you need to check project status, approve gates, signal phase completion, or manage protocol state. Also use when a builder asks about gate approvals or phase transitions.

porch - Protocol Orchestrator

Porch manages the state machine behind development protocols. It tracks phases, gates, consultations, and transitions.

Commands

porch status [id]              Show current project state and phase
porch run [id]                 Run the protocol loop (strict mode)
porch next [id]                Get next tasks as JSON
porch done [id]                Signal current phase is complete
porch check [id]               Run checks for current phase
porch gate [id]                Request human approval at a gate
porch approve <id> <gate> --a-human-explicitly-approved-this
porch rollback <id> <phase>    Rewind to an earlier phase
porch init <protocol> <id> <name>   Initialize a new project

Project ID auto-detects from worktree path when inside a builder worktree.

Gate approvals

Gates are human-only approval checkpoints. The --a-human-explicitly-approved-this flag is required — it exists to prevent AI agents from auto-approving.

GateProtocolWhen
spec-approvalSPIRAfter spec is written
plan-approvalSPIRAfter plan is written
prSPIR, TICK, AIRAfter PR is created
bash
porch approve 42 spec-approval --a-human-explicitly-approved-this
porch approve 42 plan-approval --a-human-explicitly-approved-this
porch approve 42 pr --a-human-explicitly-approved-this

ASPIR and BUGFIX have no spec/plan gates — they run autonomously through those phases.

Checking pending gates

bash
porch pending                  # List all gates waiting for approval
porch pending --all            # Include stale records on finished/advanced projects (hidden by default)

Critical rules

  • Builders must NEVER call porch approve — only humans approve gates
  • Never edit status.yaml directly — porch manages all state
  • Builders signal completion with porch done, not porch approve
  • porch run is for strict mode only — soft mode builders follow the protocol document manually
  • When running porch approve from the architect, use a subshell if you need worktree context: (cd /path/to/worktree && porch approve ...)

Language-agnostic checks (porch.checks override)

Protocol check commands default to the npm toolchain (npm run build, npm test, etc.) baked into each protocol.json. A non-Node project (Python/uv, Go, Rust) will BLOCK at the first implement-phase check because npm can never pass there — even when the code is green under its real test runner.

You do NOT need to fork protocol.json. Override check commands per-name in .codev/config.json under porch.checks. Each entry takes command (replace), cwd (replace), and/or skip: true. This covers both phase checks and the phase_completion predicates (build_succeeds / tests_pass).

jsonc
// .codev/config.json — Python/uv example
{
  "porch": {
    "checks": {
      "build":          { "command": "uv build" },
      "test":           { "command": "uv run pytest" },
      "build_succeeds": { "command": "uv build" },
      "tests_pass":     { "command": "uv run pytest" },
      "e2e_tests":      { "skip": true }
    }
  }
}

Keys are the check names from the protocol: build / test / e2e_tests live in phases; build_succeeds / tests_pass live in phase_completion. An override key that matches no check in the protocol prints a warning. Shipped by Spec #550.

State storage

Project state lives in codev/projects/<id>-<name>/status.yaml, managed automatically by porch. The status file tracks current phase, gate states, consultation results, and timestamps.

© cluesmith, Apache-2.0. 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 .codex/skills/porch of cluesmith/codev.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 9cd8607

Compare with similar skills

Porch 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.

Porch compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Porch this skillcluesmith/codev288—~1kAutomated safety check: PassApache-2.0
Defuddlekepano/obsidian-skills49k11 repos~208Automated safety check: PassMIT
Vercel Deploybytedance/deer-flow84k10 repos~797Automated safety check: PassMIT
MCP Server BuildershareAI-lab/learn-claude-code78k5 repos~1.2kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Knap Markdown Templateskepano/obsidian-skills49k2 repos~986Automated safety check: PassMIT
Nx Run Tasksnomcopter/react-mosaic4.8k8 repos~613Automated safety check: PassCustom licence

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Works with

Questions about Porch

What does Porch do?

Protocol orchestrator CLI — drives SPIR, ASPIR, AIR, TICK, and BUGFIX protocols via a state machine. Porch is an agent skill from cluesmith/codev. Protocol orchestrator CLI — drives SPIR, ASPIR, AIR, TICK, and BUGFIX protocols via a state machine.

When should I use Porch?

Porch fits situations like: you need to check project status; signal phase completion; manage protocol state; A builder asks about gate approvals.

How do I install Porch in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add cluesmith/codev --skill porch -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (.codex/skills/porch in cluesmith/codev) into .claude/skills/porch in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Porch in Codex?

Run `npx skills add cluesmith/codev --skill porch -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (.codex/skills/porch in cluesmith/codev) into .agents/skills/porch in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Porch 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 cluesmith/codev --skill porch -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/porch, .gemini/skills/porch, .github/skills/porch and .opencode/skills/porch in your project.

What does Porch need to run?

Going by SKILL.md and its folder, Porch needs the command-line tools its instructions call (npm).

Does Porch access the network?

SKILL.md contains no URLs. Its commands use npm, which can reach the network depending on how they are called. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Porch 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 Porch use?

Porch is published under the Apache-2.0 licence (the repository's licence). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Porch use?

About 1k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 4k 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 Porch?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Porch: Defuddle (kepano/obsidian-skills, 49k stars), Vercel Deploy (bytedance/deer-flow, 84k stars), MCP Server Builder (shareAI-lab/learn-claude-code, 78k stars) and Knap Markdown Templates (kepano/obsidian-skills, 49k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Porch?

cluesmith (a GitHub organization) maintains it in cluesmith/codev, which has 288 GitHub stars. The repository holds 12 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 6, 2026.

Source: cluesmith/codev on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.