Openrig Skills

OpenRig skills — the index (start here)

You're running inside OpenRig. OpenRig ships a set of skills — small documents that tell you when to do something and how. This file is the map: what ships, when to reach for each, and how to load it. If you don't know which skill applies, or nothing is projected into your context, start here.

How OpenRig context works (30 seconds)

Skills are progressive disclosure: a skill's name + description sit in your context ambiently (the "hot tier"); its body loads only when you open it. So you don't pre-read everything — you pattern-match a skill's "when" to your moment, then open just that one. This file recommends skills from the shipped set. (For bounded procedures, open agent-operated-workflows; for ongoing agent-backed applications, open agent-operated-software.)

Every row below names how to reach the skill — already-hot, or an exact load path. No row is a dead end.

Loading an entry on demand — rig context get

Don't guess a file path or a name. Go ask → ref → load in three steps:

1. Discover — run rig context list for every shipped entry's ref and name. The when for each is the index below (or rig context list --json, which carries each entry's purpose) — match your moment there.
2. Select — match your moment to a row's when and take its ref. Refs are canonical full paths that mirror the library layout — skills/<namespace>/<name> (e.g. skills/core/rig-lifecycle, skills/process/systematic-debugging). A unique bare name (e.g. watchdog) also resolves; any slash-bearing ref is an exact lookup and fails loud if it does not exist.
3. Load — rig context get skills/<namespace>/<name>:

rig context get skills/core/rig-lifecycle

The router itself is available through both forms it teaches: rig context get openrig-skills and rig context get skills/core/openrig-skills.

The content is served from the installed CLI, so what you load always matches your running version — no path-guessing, no frozen-fork drift. (The daemon assembles the same bundle rig context preview shows an operator — get is the agent-facing pull.)

The index

Membership rule (layout.skills[*].edges.length > 0): this index recommends skills from the public product edges. Optional procedures remain available through rig context list without a recommendation here.

Always loaded — the universal spine (open its body when its moment hits)

These are auto-delivered to every rig; their name+description are already in your context. Open the body when the "when" matches.

• forming-an-openrig-mental-model — first boot, or you're unsure how the pieces fit. The runtime mental model.
• openrig-operating-model — you do not know where context or work belongs, or you are about to duplicate knowledge. The two-tree placement and trace-to-root model.
• openrig-user — you need a rig CLI command (send / queue / ps / whoami / scope / broadcast). The daily CLI surface.
• applying-a-permission-policy — a rig or seat has a permission policy attached, or you're setting one up: translate it into the live harness configuration.
• claude-compaction-restore — you just compacted (Claude). Restore from durable evidence before resuming real work.
• delegating-work — deciding who should do a task: you, a spawned subagent, or a durable peer seat that already holds the context.
• loading-addressable-markdown — a task names Markdown as path#h2-slug or path#h2-slug/h3-slug outside the context-pack library.
• session-compaction-and-restore — preparing for, or recovering from, compaction (any runtime). The write- and read-side protocol.
• queue-handoff — you're passing durable work to another seat or ending your turn. The queue is the work ledger, not chat.
• refocusing — invoke as refocusing when a long-running seat may have lost the product outcome, crossed a major boundary, or compacted and needs a fresh path-based trace.
• seat-continuity-and-handover — handing your seat's work across a restart or to another owner.
• orienting-to-an-inherited-seat — you just inherited an existing seat through a planned handover and need to verify its identity, state, and testimony.
• retiring-and-inheriting-a-seat — you're planning a seat transition and need to retire the current occupant into a fresh successor without losing continuity.
• mission-slice-sop — you're working a mission/slice (the SDLC: intent → mini-requirements + proof contract → build → QA → proof). The operating manual.
• messaging-the-human — composing a message to the human. Plain language, no insider jargon.
• agent-operated-workflows — a bounded real-world procedure needs an agent to interpret state and operate exact tools, or you are deciding whether ordinary code should own the loop.
• agent-operated-software — you are designing or operating an ongoing application whose live backend includes OpenRig agents.
• software-for-agents — compatibility redirect for the former agent-operated-software name; remove in 0.6.0.
• openrig-skills — this index (you're reading it). Always loaded; the entry point to everything below.