Agent skill

Haystack

Build production search and NLP pipelines with Haystack. An agent skill from magnus919/agent-skills.

MITAuto-check passedAI & LLM Engineering

Install Haystack

skills CLI

$ npx skills add magnus919/agent-skills --skill haystack -a claude-code

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

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install magnus919/agent-skills haystack --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/magnus919/agent-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/haystack .claude/skills/haystack && 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/

Paste into Claude Code

Install the "haystack" agent skill from https://github.com/magnus919/agent-skills/tree/main/haystack into .claude/skills/haystack/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "haystack", 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

$skill-installer install https://github.com/magnus919/agent-skills/tree/main/haystack

Type 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.

skills CLI

$ npx skills add magnus919/agent-skills --skill haystack -a codex

Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.codex/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install magnus919/agent-skills haystack --agent codex

Project scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/magnus919/agent-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .agents/skills && cp -r skills-src/haystack .agents/skills/haystack && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.agents/skills/ instead of .agents/skills for a personal install.

Codex skills documentation · loads skills from .agents/skills/

Paste into Codex

Install the "haystack" agent skill from https://github.com/magnus919/agent-skills/tree/main/haystack into .agents/skills/haystack/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "haystack", 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.

skills CLI

$ npx skills add magnus919/agent-skills --skill haystack -a cursor

Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.cursor/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install magnus919/agent-skills haystack --agent cursor

Project scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/magnus919/agent-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .cursor/skills && cp -r skills-src/haystack .cursor/skills/haystack && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.cursor/skills/ instead of .cursor/skills for a personal install.

Cursor skills documentation · loads skills from .cursor/skills/, .agents/skills/, .claude/skills/, .codex/skills/

Paste into Cursor

Install the "haystack" agent skill from https://github.com/magnus919/agent-skills/tree/main/haystack into .cursor/skills/haystack/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "haystack", 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

$ gemini skills install https://github.com/magnus919/agent-skills.git --path haystack

--scope user (default) or --scope workspace; --path is the subfolder of the repo that holds the skill; --consent skips the security confirmation prompt.

skills CLI

$ npx skills add magnus919/agent-skills --skill haystack -a gemini-cli

Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.gemini/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install magnus919/agent-skills haystack --agent gemini-cli

Project scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/magnus919/agent-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .gemini/skills && cp -r skills-src/haystack .gemini/skills/haystack && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.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/

Paste into Gemini CLI

Install the "haystack" agent skill from https://github.com/magnus919/agent-skills/tree/main/haystack into .gemini/skills/haystack/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "haystack", 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.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install magnus919/agent-skills haystack

Installs 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).

skills CLI

$ npx skills add magnus919/agent-skills --skill haystack -a github-copilot

Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.copilot/skills/.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/magnus919/agent-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .github/skills && cp -r skills-src/haystack .github/skills/haystack && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.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/

Paste into GitHub Copilot

Install the "haystack" agent skill from https://github.com/magnus919/agent-skills/tree/main/haystack into .github/skills/haystack/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "haystack", 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.

skills CLI

$ npx skills add magnus919/agent-skills --skill haystack -a opencode

OpenCode documents no install command of its own. Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.config/opencode/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install magnus919/agent-skills haystack --agent opencode

Project scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/magnus919/agent-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .opencode/skills && cp -r skills-src/haystack .opencode/skills/haystack && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.config/opencode/skills/ instead of .opencode/skills for a personal install.

OpenCode skills documentation · loads skills from .opencode/skills/, .claude/skills/, .agents/skills/

Paste into OpenCode

Install the "haystack" agent skill from https://github.com/magnus919/agent-skills/tree/main/haystack into .opencode/skills/haystack/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "haystack", 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: haystack
GitHub stars: 111
Token cost: ~1.6k tokens
SKILL.md length: 480 words
Files: 15 (incl. scripts, references)
Skills in repo: 129
Repo updated: Oct 6, 2026
First seen: Oct 7, 2026
Licence: MIT

At a glance

Build production search and NLP pipelines with Haystack. An agent skill from magnus919/agent-skills.

Works in 5 steps: Pipelines are validated DAGs.… → Components are typed. Each component has… → PromptBuilder uses Jinja2. Templates are… → …
Building search pipelines
SKILL.md covers Core Paradigm, Core Principles, Where to Start and Quick Reference, plus 4 more sections
Runs Python scripts from its folder

What it does

Haystack is an agent skill from magnus919/agent-skills. Build production search and NLP pipelines with Haystack. Pipeline DAG composition, document stores, retrievers, PromptBuilder (Jinja2), generators, evaluation, Hayhooks deployment. Use when building search pipelines or comparing NLP application frameworks. Do not use this skill for unrelated requests; route to the nearest named specialist.

Its SKILL.md is about 1.6k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. The skill folder holds 18 other files, including scripts and reference files (for example `README.md`, `evals/evals.json` and `references/deployment.md`).

It sits in AI & LLM Engineering, covering Natural language processing and NoSQL databases. The repository describes itself as: Curated collection of AI agent skills for Hermes and other agent frameworks. The licence is MIT.

When your agent uses it

Building search pipelines
Comparing NLP application frameworks
Unrelated requests
Route to the nearest named specialist

Example prompts

“/haystack”

Requirements

Python 3

Workflow steps

5 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.

Pipelines are validated DAGs. add_component + connect. Pipeline validation catches errors BEFORE execution — leverage this during…
Components are typed. Each component has input/output slots. Connections must match types. This prevents runtime errors.
PromptBuilder uses Jinja2. Templates are Jinja2 strings, not f-strings. {{documents}}, {{query}}, {{question}} are variable placeholders.
Indexing and query are separate pipelines. One pipeline loads/cleans/embeds/writes documents. Another retrieves/generates answers. They…
Evaluation is a pipeline too. Add evaluator components to measure faithfulness, relevancy, or custom metrics.

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 96fbe07. 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
Ships 1 file in scripts/ (Python), which the agent can run.
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

Haystack loads about 1.6k tokens when it runs, and up to ~5.5k if it reads all its reference files. Until then it costs about 88 tokens; SKILL.md has 480 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it: ~88
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches: ~1.6k
With references · SKILL.md plus every file in references/, read only if the agent opens them: ~5.5k

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); the scripts in this folder are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from magnus919/agent-skills at commit 96fbe07, republished under its MIT licence (© magnus919). 480 words, ~1,649 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/haystack/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder). This skill also uses 14 other files; get the full folder from GitHub.

name: haystack
description: Build production search and NLP pipelines with Haystack. Pipeline DAG composition, document stores, retrievers, PromptBuilder (Jinja2), generators, evaluation, Hayhooks deployment. Use when building search pipelines or comparing NLP application frameworks. Do not use this skill for unrelated requests; route to the nearest named specialist.
license: MIT
metadata.author: Magnus Hedemark
metadata.version: 1.1.0
metadata.source: https://docs.haystack.deepset.ai

Haystack Expert Skill

Haystack (by deepset) is a production-oriented framework for building search and NLP pipelines. Its core abstraction is the Pipeline — a directed acyclic graph of typed components with explicit connections. Unlike LangChain's LCEL (pipe operator) or LlamaIndex's query engines, Haystack pipelines are declared upfront with add_component and connect, giving validated, debuggable DAGs.

Core Paradigm

python

from haystack import Pipeline
from haystack.components.embedders import SentenceTransformersTextEmbedder
from haystack.components.retrievers.in_memory import InMemoryEmbeddingRetriever
from haystack.components.builders import PromptBuilder
from haystack.components.generators import OpenAIGenerator
from haystack.document_stores.in_memory import InMemoryDocumentStore

# Build a pipeline
document_store = InMemoryDocumentStore()
pipeline = Pipeline()
pipeline.add_component("embedder", SentenceTransformersTextEmbedder())
pipeline.add_component("retriever", InMemoryEmbeddingRetriever(document_store=document_store))
pipeline.add_component("prompt_builder", PromptBuilder(template="Answer using: {{documents}}\n\nQuestion: {{question}}"))
pipeline.add_component("generator", OpenAIGenerator())

# Connect components
pipeline.connect("embedder.embedding", "retriever.query_embedding")
pipeline.connect("retriever.documents", "prompt_builder.documents")
pipeline.connect("prompt_builder", "generator")

# Run
result = pipeline.run({"embedder": {"text": "What is Haystack?"}, "prompt_builder": {"question": "What is Haystack?"}})

Core Principles

Pipelines are validated DAGs. add_component + connect. Pipeline validation catches errors BEFORE execution — leverage this during development.
Components are typed. Each component has input/output slots. Connections must match types. This prevents runtime errors.
PromptBuilder uses Jinja2. Templates are Jinja2 strings, not f-strings. {{documents}}, {{query}}, {{question}} are variable placeholders.
Indexing and query are separate pipelines. One pipeline loads/cleans/embeds/writes documents. Another retrieves/generates answers. They share the DocumentStore.
Evaluation is a pipeline too. Add evaluator components to measure faithfulness, relevancy, or custom metrics.

Where to Start

You already have...	Start here
Nothing — exploring Haystack	Build a basic indexing + query pipeline
Documents to index	Build an indexing pipeline (converters, splitter, embedder, writer)
A search use case	Build a query pipeline (embedder, retriever, prompt, generator)
A production deployment	Add Hayhooks + evaluation pipeline

Quick Reference

Task	Approach	Reference
Build indexing pipeline	add_component -> connect -> run	`references/pipeline-design.md`
Build query pipeline	retriever -> prompt_builder -> generator	`references/pipeline-design.md`
Choose document store	InMemory (dev), Elasticsearch/Pinecone (prod)	`references/document-stores.md`
Embedding retrieval	SentenceTransformersTextEmbedder + EmbeddingRetriever	`references/retrievers.md`
Hybrid retrieval	BM25 + Embedding in parallel, DocumentJoiner	`references/retrievers.md`
Prompt templates	Jinja2 in PromptBuilder	`references/pipeline-design.md`
Evaluation	DeepEvalEvaluator, SASEvaluator	`references/evaluation.md`
Deploy	Hayhooks REST API	`references/deployment.md`

Framework Routing Guide

Scenario	Reach for	Why
Search / NLP pipelines	Haystack	Pipeline DAG model is most mature for retrieval-heavy workloads
Documents to query / RAG	LlamaIndex	Data ingestion is the primary primitive
Chain/agent composition	LangChain	LCEL pipe operator for general chain building
Compiled prompt programs	DSPy	Auto-optimizes prompts against a metric
Role-based multi-agent	CrewAI	Higher-level agent abstraction

Show full SKILL.md (180 more words)Show less

Reference Files

Reference	Load when	File
Pipeline Design	Building indexing and query pipelines	`references/pipeline-design.md`
Document Stores	Store selection and configuration	`references/document-stores.md`
Retrievers	Embedding, BM25, hybrid retrieval	`references/retrievers.md`
Validation Audit	Research validation of all API claims	`references/validation-audit.md`
File Converters	Multi-format indexing, YAML serialization, component types	`references/file-converters.md`
Evaluation	Metrics, evaluators, pipeline evaluation	`references/evaluation.md`
Deployment	Hayhooks, containerization, production	`references/deployment.md`
FAQ & Troubleshooting	Common errors and fixes	`references/faq-and-troubleshooting.md`

Templates

Template	When to use	File
Indexing Pipeline	Load, split, embed, write to store	`templates/indexing-pipeline.py`
Query Pipeline	Retrieve, prompt, generate answer	`templates/query-pipeline.py`
Hybrid RAG	BM25 + embedding in parallel	`templates/hybrid-rag.py`

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Likely cause	Fix	Reference
Pipeline run errors	Component connection mismatch	Check component input/output slot types	`references/pipeline-design.md`
No documents retrieved	Empty document store	Run indexing pipeline first	`references/pipeline-design.md`
Prompt not rendering	Wrong variable name in Jinja2 template	Check {{variables}} match pipeline input	`references/pipeline-design.md`
Slow retrieval	Full scan instead of ANN	Configure approximate nearest neighbor index	`references/retrievers.md`
Embedding mismatch	Different models for indexing vs query	Use same model in both pipelines	`references/retrievers.md`
Hayhooks not starting	Port conflict or missing config	Check port, run with --help for options	`references/deployment.md`

Files

SKILL.md and 14 other files (scripts, references) in haystack of magnus919/agent-skills.

SKILL.md
README.md
evals/evals.json
references/deployment.md
references/document-stores.md
references/evaluation.md
references/faq-and-troubleshooting.md
references/file-converters.md
references/pipeline-design.md
references/retrievers.md
references/validation-audit.md
scripts/check-setup.py
templates/hybrid-rag.py
templates/indexing-pipeline.py
templates/query-pipeline.py

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 96fbe07

Compare with similar skills

Haystack 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.

Haystack compared with similar skills
Skill	Stars	Used in	Tokens	Auto-check	Licence	Repo updated
Haystack this skillmagnus919/agent-skills	111	—	~1.6k	Automated safety check: Pass	MIT	yesterday
Gptqmodel Tokenizer NormalizationModelCloud/GPTQModel	1.3k	—	~1.1k	Automated safety check: Pass	Custom licence	today
Data SpecialistProrise-cool/Claude-Code-Multi-Agent	305	—	~1k	Automated safety check: Pass	None	21 days ago
Hugging Face TokenizersOrchestra-Research/AI-Research-SKILLs	13k	7 repos	~3.4k	Automated safety check: Pass	MIT	3 mo ago
OpenMed Model Card Writermaziyarpanahi/openmed	5.5k	—	~1.8k	Automated safety check: Pass	Apache-2.0	yesterday
Andrej KarpathyK-Dense-AI/mimeo	282	—	~1.9k	Automated safety check: Pass	MIT	1 mo ago

Similar skills

Gptqmodel Tokenizer Normalization
ModelCloud/GPTQModel
Diagnose and correct GPT-QModel tokenizer initialization, tokenization normalization, special-token handling, prompt rendering, and chat-template problems.
1.3k GitHub stars~1.1k tokensUpdated today
AI & LLM EngineeringAuto-check passed
Data Specialist
Prorise-cool/Claude-Code-Multi-Agent
提供数据库设计、优化、数据工程和数据分析能力。当需要处理数据库操作、数据管道或数据分析时使用. An agent skill from Prorise-cool/Claude-Code-Multi-Agent.
305 GitHub stars~1k tokensUpdated 21 days ago
AI & LLM EngineeringAuto-check passed
Hugging Face Tokenizers
Orchestra-Research/AI-Research-SKILLs
Shows how to load, train and use fast Hugging Face tokenizers, with BPE, WordPiece and Unigram models, padding, truncation and alignment tracking.
13k GitHub starsUsed in 7 repos~3.4k tokens
AI & LLM EngineeringAuto-check passed
OpenMed Model Card Writer
maziyarpanahi/openmed
Fills in a model card for an OpenMed clinical NER or de-identification model from its evaluation reports: intended use, metrics, subgroups and limitations.
5.5k GitHub stars~1.8k tokensUpdated yesterday
AI & LLM EngineeringAuto-check passed
Andrej Karpathy
K-Dense-AI/mimeo
Applies the mental models and frameworks of Andrej Karpathy (deep learning, former Director of AI at Tesla, founding member of OpenAI, Eureka Labs).
282 GitHub stars~1.9k tokensUpdated 1 mo ago
AI & LLM EngineeringAuto-check passed
Compare
taishi-i/awesome-japanese-nlp-resources
Compare several Japanese NLP libraries, models, or datasets for a keyword (a specific tool name, or a function/task like '形態素解析') across a handful of criteria chosen for that comparison, rendered as…
1k GitHub stars~4.1k tokensUpdated yesterday
AI & LLM EngineeringAuto-check: notes

Questions about Haystack

What does Haystack do?

Build production search and NLP pipelines with Haystack. An agent skill from magnus919/agent-skills. Haystack is an agent skill from magnus919/agent-skills. Build production search and NLP pipelines with Haystack.

When should I use Haystack?

Haystack fits situations like: building search pipelines; comparing NLP application frameworks; unrelated requests; route to the nearest named specialist.

How do I install Haystack in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add magnus919/agent-skills --skill haystack -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (haystack in magnus919/agent-skills) into .claude/skills/haystack in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Haystack in Codex?

Run `npx skills add magnus919/agent-skills --skill haystack -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (haystack in magnus919/agent-skills) into .agents/skills/haystack in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Haystack 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 magnus919/agent-skills --skill haystack -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/haystack, .gemini/skills/haystack, .github/skills/haystack and .opencode/skills/haystack in your project.

What does Haystack need to run?

Going by SKILL.md and its folder, Haystack needs Python for the scripts in its folder. Our summary lists: Python 3.

Does Haystack 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 Haystack 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. The check reads SKILL.md only: the scripts in the folder are not scanned, so read them before running anything.

What licence does Haystack use?

Haystack is published under the MIT licence (declared in SKILL.md). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Haystack use?

About 1.6k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 6.6k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full. Its references folder adds about 3.8k tokens, read only when the agent opens those files.

What are the alternatives to Haystack?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Haystack: Gptqmodel Tokenizer Normalization (ModelCloud/GPTQModel, 1.3k stars), Data Specialist (Prorise-cool/Claude-Code-Multi-Agent, 305 stars), Hugging Face Tokenizers (Orchestra-Research/AI-Research-SKILLs, 13k stars) and OpenMed Model Card Writer (maziyarpanahi/openmed, 5.5k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Haystack?

magnus919 (a GitHub user) maintains it in magnus919/agent-skills, which has 111 GitHub stars. The repository holds 129 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 6, 2026.

Source: magnus919/agent-skills on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.

Install Haystack

Facts

At a glance

What it does

When your agent uses it

Example prompts

Requirements

Workflow steps

What it can do on your machine

Tool permissions

Runs code

Network

Credentials

Context cost

Safety

SKILL.md

Haystack Expert Skill

Core Paradigm

Core Principles

Where to Start

Quick Reference

Framework Routing Guide

Reference Files

Templates

Troubleshooting

Files

Compare with similar skills

Similar skills

More from magnus919/agent-skills

Related

Questions about Haystack