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Agent skill

Sidecar

by joshukraine in joshukraine/dotfiles

Put this session into research-only mode — a secondary Claude sharing a working directory with another Claude that is actively editing code.

MITAuto-check passedDevelopment

Install Sidecar

skills CLI
$ npx skills add joshukraine/dotfiles --skill sidecar -a claude-code

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

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install joshukraine/dotfiles sidecar --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/joshukraine/dotfiles.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/claude/.claude/skills/sidecar .claude/skills/sidecar && 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
sidecar
GitHub stars
429
Token cost
~926 tokens
SKILL.md length
500 words
Files
1
Skills in repo
24
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

Put this session into research-only mode — a secondary Claude sharing a working directory with another Claude that is actively editing code.

  • Tasks that involve Git workflow
  • SKILL.md covers The one rule, When research should become work, If asked to edit or commit… and On invocation
  • Calls git and gh

What it does

Sidecar is an agent skill from joshukraine/dotfiles. Put this session into research-only mode — a secondary Claude sharing a working directory with another Claude that is actively editing code. No tracked-file edits and no git state mutations; reads, web/MCP research, session-scratchpad temp files, and GitHub issue creation are all allowed. Use at the start of a parallel planning/research/drafting session.

Its SKILL.md is about 930 tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. It is a single SKILL.md file with no bundled scripts.

It sits in Development, covering Git workflow. It works with Git, Model Context Protocol and GitHub. The repository describes itself as: :roundpushpin: My dotfiles for macOS using Neovim, Zsh, and Ghostty + Tmux. The licence is MIT.

When your agent uses it

  • Tasks that involve Git workflow

Example prompts

  • “/sidecar”

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit b59ad5b. 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:

    • git
    • gh

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

  • Network

    No URLs in SKILL.md. Its commands use git and gh, 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

Sidecar loads about 926 tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 91 tokens; SKILL.md has 500 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~91
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~926

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 joshukraine/dotfiles at commit b59ad5b, republished under its MIT licence (© joshukraine). 500 words, ~926 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/sidecar/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).
name
sidecar
description
Put this session into research-only mode — a secondary Claude sharing a working directory with another Claude that is actively editing code. No tracked-file edits and no git state mutations; reads, web/MCP research, session-scratchpad temp files, and GitHub issue creation are all allowed. Use at the start of a parallel planning/research/drafting session.

Sidecar (research-only session)

You are a secondary session sharing a working directory with another Claude Code session that is actively editing code in the same repository. Your job here is research, planning, theory, discussion, and drafting — not implementation. The other session owns the working tree; you must not step on it.

Read-only operations, web/MCP research, and outward-facing actions that touch no local state are all fine. The only things that cause collisions are mutations to shared local state, so those are off-limits.

The one rule

Do not mutate shared local state. That state is exactly: tracked files in the working tree, and git's index/HEAD. Everything dangerous follows from those two; everything safe is safe because it touches neither.

Forbidden
  • Editing, creating, or deleting tracked files in the repository (no Edit, Write, or NotebookEdit on anything under version control). Code, config, docs — all off-limits.
  • Git state mutations: git add, git commit, git checkout / git switch, git branch, git stash, git reset, git restore, git rebase, git merge, git pull. These corrupt whatever the other session is doing with the index, working tree, or HEAD.
  • Creating branches or pull requests (they require branch + push, i.e. git mutation).
  • Installing dependencies, running formatters that rewrite files, or starting long-running servers — these mutate node_modules, lockfiles, the tree, or fixed ports the other session may rely on.
Allowed
  • Read anything — files, code, docs, history.
  • Read-only git: git log, git diff, git status, git show, git blame.
  • Web search / fetch, Context7, and MCP tools — research freely.
  • Write to the session scratchpad — your scratchpad directory is session-isolated (its own UUID'd path), so temp files never collide with the other session. Put all temp files there, never in the repo root (e.g. do not write .git_commit_msg to the repo root; that path is shared).
  • Create and comment on GitHub issues via gh — this is outward-facing but touches no local shared state. When an issue body needs a temp file, write it to the scratchpad, then gh issue create -F <scratchpad-path>.
Show full SKILL.md (169 more words)Show less

When research should become work

If a discussion concludes that something should be built, hand it off — don't build it. File a well-scoped GitHub issue (following the repo's conventions: planning and issues come before implementation) so the primary session, or a later session, can pick it up. Tell Joshua the issue number.

If asked to edit or commit anyway

If Joshua explicitly asks you to edit a file, commit, switch branches, or otherwise mutate shared state, stop and confirm before doing it. Remind him this is a sidecar session and the other Claude may be mid-edit, and ask whether he wants to drop the sidecar stance for this action. Once he confirms, proceed — he's the decider; the skill just makes the constraint deliberate rather than accidental.

On invocation

Briefly confirm the stance back to Joshua in one or two lines — that you're in sidecar (research-only) mode, won't touch tracked files or git state, and can still research, draft, and file issues — then ask what he'd like to dig into.

© joshukraine, 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 claude/.claude/skills/sidecar of joshukraine/dotfiles.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit b59ad5b

Compare with similar skills

Sidecar 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.

Sidecar compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Sidecar this skilljoshukraine/dotfiles429—~926Automated safety check: PassMIT
GitHubswarmclawai/swarmclaw688—~820Automated safety check: PassMIT
Contributor-First PR MergeHKUDS/OpenHarness16k1 repos~847Automated safety check: PassMIT
Create Pull Requestcline/cline70k1 repos~1.6kAutomated safety check: PassApache-2.0
Release Bumpjamiepine/voicebox57k—~1.1kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Creating Description For Gh PRredis/jedis12k—~838Automated safety check: PassMIT

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  • Autopilot Triage

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  • Checkpoint

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  • Debrief

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  • Drift Check

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Works with

Categories

Questions about Sidecar

What does Sidecar do?

Put this session into research-only mode — a secondary Claude sharing a working directory with another Claude that is actively editing code. Sidecar is an agent skill from joshukraine/dotfiles. Put this session into research-only mode — a secondary Claude sharing a working directory with another Claude that is actively editing code.

When should I use Sidecar?

Sidecar fits situations like: tasks that involve Git workflow.

How do I install Sidecar in Claude Code?

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

How do I install Sidecar in Codex?

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

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

What does Sidecar need to run?

Going by SKILL.md and its folder, Sidecar needs the command-line tools its instructions call (git and gh).

Does Sidecar access the network?

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

Is Sidecar 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 Sidecar use?

Sidecar 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 Sidecar use?

About 926 tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 3.7k 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 Sidecar?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Sidecar: GitHub (swarmclawai/swarmclaw, 688 stars), Contributor-First PR Merge (HKUDS/OpenHarness, 16k stars), Create Pull Request (cline/cline, 70k stars) and Release Bump (jamiepine/voicebox, 57k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Sidecar?

joshukraine (a GitHub user) maintains it in joshukraine/dotfiles, which has 429 GitHub stars. The repository holds 24 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 6, 2026.

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