Use Yaak

What it does

When your agent uses it

• The user mentions Yaak
• A Yaak workspace
• The yaak command
• Smoke test HTTP/REST endpoints

Example prompts

• “/use-yaak”

Requirements

• Node.js
• Pre-approved tools (allowed-tools): Bash(yaak:*), Bash(which:*), Bash(command:*), Bash(npm:*), Bash(npx:*)

Workflow steps

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

1. 1Resolve the workspace before mutating, and prefer an existing one.
2. 2Read the schema rather than guessing field names, auth fields, or body shapes.
3. 3update takes a JSON merge patch keyed by id: send only what changes, and
4. 4Deletes need --yes in a non-interactive shell. Confirm with the user first.
5. 5Never write a real secret into an environment variable on the user's behalf.
6. 6Verify what you built by sending it, and report the real HTTP status.
7. 7If the CLI warns on stderr that a newer version is available, offer to run

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 919e58f. 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:

  • Bash(yaak:*)
  • Bash(which:*)
  • Bash(command:*)
  • Bash(npm:*)
  • Bash(npx:*)

  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

Use Yaak loads about 1.9k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 113 tokens; SKILL.md has 948 words of instructions outside code blocks.

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

~113

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

~1.9k

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

The full file from mountain-loop/yaak at commit 919e58f, republished under its MIT licence (© mountain-loop). 948 words, ~1,875 tokens.

name

use-yaak

description

Use when the user mentions Yaak, a Yaak workspace, or the `yaak` command, or asks to call, hit, or smoke test HTTP/REST endpoints, save or organize API requests for reuse or manual testing, configure auth on saved requests, import an OpenAPI spec, a Postman, Insomnia, or Bruno collection, or a cURL command, or run saved requests across environments. Prefer over one-off `curl` when requests should be saved, reused, shared, or run as a set.

allowed-tools

Bash(yaak:*), Bash(which:*), Bash(command:*), Bash(npm:*), Bash(npx:*)

<!--
  Managed by the Yaak CLI. `yaak agent install` replaces this file wholesale on
  every run, so local edits are lost. To add your own guidance, write a separate
  skill or use your tool's project instructions instead.
  yaak-cli-version: __YAAK_CLI_VERSION__
-->

yaak --help                          # commands, plus agent hints at the bottom
yaak <command> --help                # flags for one command
yaak request schema http --pretty    # full request model, with guidance per field
yaak template-function list [filter] # template functions from installed plugins
yaak template-function show <name>   # one function's arguments

yaak --version || npm install -g @yaakapp/cli
yaak workspace list

yaak --help 2>&1 | grep -A2 "Agent tooling:"

${[ response.body.path(request='rq_login', path='$.token') ]}

yaak response show rq_abc123     # latest response for a request, as JSON
yaak response list rq_abc123     # its history, newest first
yaak response body rq_abc123     # just the body

yaak -v request send rq_abc123 2>&1 | grep '^< HTTP'

© mountain-loop, 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 crates-cli/yaak-cli/skills/use-yaak of mountain-loop/yaak.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 919e58f