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Agent skill

Build Northstar

by nordstjernen-web in nordstjernen-web/northstar-browser

Configure, compile, and smoke-test a Meson-based C or C++ desktop browser on Linux, macOS, or Windows, and diagnose dependency, compiler, linker, runtime-library, build-directory, or…

GPL-3.0Auto-check passedTesting & QA

Install Build Northstar

skills CLI
$ npx skills add nordstjernen-web/northstar-browser --skill build-northstar -a claude-code

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

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install nordstjernen-web/northstar-browser build-northstar --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/nordstjernen-web/northstar-browser.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/.agents/skills/build-northstar .claude/skills/build-northstar && 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
build-northstar
GitHub stars
128
Token cost
~1.3k tokens
SKILL.md length
655 words
Files
2
Skills in repo
5
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
GPL-3.0

At a glance

Configure, compile, and smoke-test a Meson-based C or C++ desktop browser on Linux, macOS, or Windows, and diagnose dependency, compiler, linker, runtime-library, build-directory, or…

  • Works in 4 steps: Identify the operating system,… → Inspect the working tree and existing… → Check for an active Meson, Ninja, or… → …
  • Tasks that involve QA and bug reports
  • SKILL.md covers Inspect before building, Select the environment, Configure and compile and Diagnose failures, plus 4 more sections
  • Calls git

What it does

Build Northstar is an agent skill from nordstjernen-web/northstar-browser. Configure, compile, and smoke-test a Meson-based C or C++ desktop browser on Linux, macOS, or Windows, and diagnose dependency, compiler, linker, runtime-library, build-directory, or concurrent-build failures. Use after source changes, for clean builds, or when reproducing platform CI problems.

Its SKILL.md is about 1.3k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. The skill folder holds 2 other files (for example `agents/openai.yaml`).

It sits in Testing & QA, covering QA and bug reports. It works with Linux, macOS and C++. The repository describes itself as: Northstar web browser, Open Source License: GPL v3. Northstar web browser is a real web browser, not based on Firefox or Chrome. The licence is GPL-3.0.

When your agent uses it

  • Tasks that involve QA and bug reports

Example prompts

  • “/build-northstar”

Workflow steps

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

  1. Identify the operating system, architecture, shell, compiler, linker, dependency source, and intended feature set.
  2. Inspect the working tree and existing build directory. Reuse it only when its platform, compiler, and important options are compatible.
  3. Check for an active Meson, Ninja, or compiler process using the same build directory. Wait for its owner; do not delete locks or kill an…
  4. Treat CI configuration as the reproducible platform reference. Do not invent flags when reproducing CI.

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 5a86d8b. 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

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

  • Network

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

Build Northstar loads about 1.3k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 78 tokens; SKILL.md has 655 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~78
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~1.3k

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 nordstjernen-web/northstar-browser at commit 5a86d8b, republished under its GPL-3.0 licence (© nordstjernen-web). 655 words, ~1,312 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/build-northstar/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder). This skill also uses 1 other file; get the full folder from GitHub.
name
build-northstar
description
Configure, compile, and smoke-test a Meson-based C or C++ desktop browser on Linux, macOS, or Windows, and diagnose dependency, compiler, linker, runtime-library, build-directory, or concurrent-build failures. Use after source changes, for clean builds, or when reproducing platform CI problems.

Build a Cross-Platform Browser

Read the repository instructions, build guide, and current platform's CI workflow. Preserve unrelated changes.

Inspect before building

  1. Identify the operating system, architecture, shell, compiler, linker, dependency source, and intended feature set.
  2. Inspect the working tree and existing build directory. Reuse it only when its platform, compiler, and important options are compatible.
  3. Check for an active Meson, Ninja, or compiler process using the same build directory. Wait for its owner; do not delete locks or kill an unrelated build.
  4. Treat CI configuration as the reproducible platform reference. Do not invent flags when reproducing CI.

Select the environment

  • Linux: use the native shell and the project's primary GCC or Clang configuration. Verify required pkg-config dependencies, including platform sandbox libraries.
  • macOS: use Apple Clang and the documented package manager. Export required pkg-config search paths before configuring.
  • Windows: use the supported MSYS2 MinGW environment, not an ordinary PowerShell or MSYS toolchain. Keep compiler, archiver, linker, and pkg-config packages from the same environment.

Do not disable required dependencies, hardening, or supported features merely to make configuration pass. Preserve optional-feature auto-detection unless the task requests a specific matrix entry.

Configure and compile

Use the repository wrapper when it exists. Otherwise configure only when needed and compile through Meson:

sh
meson setup builddir
meson compile -C builddir

If configuration is current, run only meson compile -C builddir. Use a separate clearly named build directory for a genuinely incompatible toolchain; never delete an existing directory before preserving useful logs.

Diagnose failures

  • Configure failure: inspect the first missing dependency, wrong pkg-config path, unsupported option, or stale cross file.
  • Compile failure: fix the first project-source diagnostic before cascaded errors; distinguish project warnings from vendored-code warnings.
  • Link failure: check compiler/archiver compatibility, LTO plugins, library order, subsystem flags, and runtime search paths.
  • Runtime failure: check shared-library discovery, resources, sandbox policy, environment, and platform GUI requirements.
  • Lock failure: identify the owning process and wait or use a different compatible build directory.

Match the CI warning level

A local build usually runs at the project's default warning level while CI adds -Werror, so a warning that is invisible locally fails the pipeline. Before pushing a change, rebuild once at the CI warning level and restore the option afterwards:

sh
meson configure builddir -Dwerror=true
meson compile -C builddir
meson configure builddir -Dwerror=false

Judge only diagnostics from the project's own sources. Vendored subprojects raise platform-specific warnings that the pipeline's platform does not, so a vendored -Werror failure on one host says nothing about CI on another.

Show full SKILL.md (258 more words)Show less

Separate your failure from someone else's

A shared checkout may be edited by another session while you build. When the build breaks in files your change does not touch, inspect the working tree before assuming your change is at fault, and reproduce in a clean worktree at the published head:

sh
git worktree add --detach <tmp> origin/main

An empty or truncated headless run usually means a stale or half-written binary, not a rendering bug. Rebuild before diagnosing it.

Verify in layers

Confirm the expected binary exists, run a built-in headless page, run deterministic smoke fixtures, and then launch the GUI for material changes. Terminate only the process started for the smoke check. Treat new warnings, empty headless output, baseline drift, or an early GUI exit as failures.

Northstar commands

Use scripts/dev.sh build, then run the platform binary with --headless --dump=text about:start and run scripts/dev.sh smoke, which renders the data/fixtures/ set and diffs each against its baseline in data/baseline/. It is the fastest honest regression gate in the repository; run it before every commit. Refresh baselines with scripts/dev.sh baseline <target> only after an intended change.

The binary is builddir/src/gtk/northstar on Linux/macOS and builddir/src/gtk/northstar.exe on Windows. Follow docs/building.md and .github/workflows/{linux,musl,macos,windows}.yml for dependencies and exact CI variants.

On Windows, build and run inside MSYS2 MinGW64. A binary launched without that environment's bin directory on PATH aborts at startup while loading a runtime library rather than reporting a browser error; export the MinGW64 path in any shell that launches the binary, including background and GUI launches. ccache is picked up automatically and takes a warm rebuild down to seconds.

© nordstjernen-web, GPL-3.0. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

SKILL.md and 1 other file in .agents/skills/build-northstar of nordstjernen-web/northstar-browser.

  • SKILL.md
  • agents/openai.yaml

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 5a86d8b

Compare with similar skills

Build Northstar 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.

Build Northstar compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Build Northstar this skillnordstjernen-web/northstar-browser128—~1.3kAutomated safety check: PassGPL-3.0
Neru File Issuey3owk1n/neru805—~890Automated safety check: PassMIT
Openclaw Parallels SmokeSafeAI-Lab-X/ClawKeeper1k—~1.1kAutomated safety check: PassNone
Edge Bringupexeex/edge-cores110—~1.7kAutomated safety check: NotesApache-2.0
JS Cpp Protocolnotepadqq/notepadqq2.3k—~3.2kAutomated safety check: PassGPL-3.0
Subspace Buildsdallison/subspace104—~990Automated safety check: PassApache-2.0

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  • Port Engine Changes

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  • Fix Web Platform Compat

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Works with

Categories

Questions about Build Northstar

What does Build Northstar do?

Configure, compile, and smoke-test a Meson-based C or C++ desktop browser on Linux, macOS, or Windows, and diagnose dependency, compiler, linker, runtime-library, build-directory, or…. Build Northstar is an agent skill from nordstjernen-web/northstar-browser. Configure, compile, and smoke-test a Meson-based C or C++ desktop browser on Linux, macOS, or Windows, and diagnose dependency, compiler, linker, runtime-library, build-directory, or concurrent-build failures.

When should I use Build Northstar?

Build Northstar fits situations like: tasks that involve QA and bug reports.

How do I install Build Northstar in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add nordstjernen-web/northstar-browser --skill build-northstar -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (.agents/skills/build-northstar in nordstjernen-web/northstar-browser) into .claude/skills/build-northstar in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Build Northstar in Codex?

Run `npx skills add nordstjernen-web/northstar-browser --skill build-northstar -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (.agents/skills/build-northstar in nordstjernen-web/northstar-browser) into .agents/skills/build-northstar in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Build Northstar 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 nordstjernen-web/northstar-browser --skill build-northstar -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/build-northstar, .gemini/skills/build-northstar, .github/skills/build-northstar and .opencode/skills/build-northstar in your project.

What does Build Northstar need to run?

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

Does Build Northstar access the network?

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

Is Build Northstar 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 Build Northstar use?

Build Northstar is published under the GPL-3.0 licence (the repository's licence). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Build Northstar use?

About 1.3k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 5.2k 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 Build Northstar?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Build Northstar: Neru File Issue (y3owk1n/neru, 805 stars), Openclaw Parallels Smoke (SafeAI-Lab-X/ClawKeeper, 1k stars), Edge Bringup (exeex/edge-cores, 110 stars) and JS Cpp Protocol (notepadqq/notepadqq, 2.3k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Build Northstar?

nordstjernen-web (a GitHub organization) maintains it in nordstjernen-web/northstar-browser, which has 128 GitHub stars. The repository holds 5 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 10, 2026.

Source: nordstjernen-web/northstar-browser on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.