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Agent skill

Machinist

by owainlewis in owainlewis/machinist

Use Machinist to create, assign, and monitor software tasks.

MITAuto-check passedDevelopment

Install Machinist

skills CLI
$ npx skills add owainlewis/machinist --skill machinist -a claude-code

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

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install owainlewis/machinist machinist --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/owainlewis/machinist.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/machinist .claude/skills/machinist && 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
machinist
GitHub stars
496
Used in
1 other repo
Token cost
~761 tokens
SKILL.md length
368 words
Files
1
Skills in repo
1
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

Use Machinist to create, assign, and monitor software tasks.

  • A coding agent needs to work with Machinist
  • SKILL.md covers Core model, Create a task, Assign a task and Report status
  • Calls gh; reaches github.com
  • Its GitHub issue workflow

What it does

Machinist is an agent skill from owainlewis/machinist. Use Machinist to create, assign, and monitor software tasks. Use when a coding agent needs to work with Machinist, its GitHub issue workflow, intake labels, direct runs, or managed queue.

Its SKILL.md is about 760 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. It works with GitHub and Go. The repository describes itself as: Open source software factory infrastructure for advanced AI coding workflows. The licence is MIT.

When your agent uses it

  • A coding agent needs to work with Machinist
  • Its GitHub issue workflow

Example prompts

  • “/machinist”

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 3943516. 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:

    • gh

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

  • Network

    Hosts in commands or code, which the agent is likely to contact:

    • github.com

    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

Machinist loads about 761 tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 49 tokens; SKILL.md has 368 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~49
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~761

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 owainlewis/machinist at commit 3943516, republished under its MIT licence (© owainlewis). 368 words, ~761 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/machinist/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).
name
machinist
description
Use Machinist to create, assign, and monitor software tasks. Use when a coding agent needs to work with Machinist, its GitHub issue workflow, intake labels, direct runs, or managed queue.

Machinist

Machinist turns a task or GitHub issue into an implemented, independently reviewed, and checked pull request. It never merges the pull request.

Core model

  • A task is one GitHub issue in the target repository, or a plain description.
  • Assigning a task means starting machinist run or queuing machinist submit.
  • Assign the same issue again to continue interrupted work. The task-to-pr command reuses an existing branch, worktree, and pull request for the task.
  • When MACHINIST_RUN_ID is set, the agent is already inside a Machinist run. Follow the assigned task and do not start or submit another run.

Create a task

Reuse a supplied issue when it is open and belongs to the current repository. Otherwise create one issue with gh issue create. Keep it focused on one observable outcome and preserve the user's constraints. Do not invent implementation details that the request does not decide.

sh
gh issue create --title "<short outcome>" --body "<problem, outcome, constraints, and acceptance evidence>"

Use the issue URL returned by GitHub for every later command.

Assign a task

Use direct mode for immediate local work. Pass an absolute Git worktree path:

sh
machinist run \
  --command=task-to-pr \
  --repo=/absolute/path/to/repository \
  --prompt="Complete https://github.com/owner/repository/issues/123"

Use managed mode when the control plane and worker are already running. Pass the logical repository name from worker.toml:

sh
machinist submit \
  --command=task-to-pr \
  --repo=repository-name \
  --prompt="Complete https://github.com/owner/repository/issues/123"

submit prints a job ID. Follow managed work in the local control-plane UI.

When the shared configuration defines a [triggers.github.<name>] trigger, adding its configured input label, normally machinist:requested, delegates that issue through the managed queue. Machinist verifies the label event and actor, admits the job durably, then replaces the input label with machinist:queued. The label has no effect when that GitHub trigger or its repository is not configured. machinist:requested and machinist:queued are intake labels; they do not report progress after the job starts.

Show full SKILL.md (94 more words)Show less

Report status

Check the run in the control-plane UI or the machinist run output, then the linked pull request and its checks. The command finishes as completed, blocked, or failed with a short summary.

  • For blocked work, fix the reported cause or answer the question, then assign the same issue again.
  • For completed work, hand the pull request to a person. Never merge unless that person explicitly decides to do so.

When reporting status, include the issue URL, job ID when managed, pull request URL when created, checks, and blocker or next human action.

© owainlewis, 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 skills/machinist of owainlewis/machinist.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 3943516

Used in 1 other repository

We found 1 copy of this SKILL.md (exact, near-identical or edited) in other folders, from 1 other GitHub owner. This page covers the copy in owainlewis/machinist, which our catalogue first saw on October 7, 2026.

Compare with similar skills

Machinist 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.

Machinist compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Machinist this skillowainlewis/machinist4961 repos~761Automated safety check: PassMIT
Go-Redis Release Preparationredis/go-redis22k—~1.1kAutomated safety check: PassBSD-2-Clause
Valgocohesivestack/valgo508—~2.4kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Releaseyoanbernabeu/grepai1.9k—~918Automated safety check: PassMIT
Golang Stretchr Testifycontext-labs/whip1.1k2 repos~1.8kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Fix Gh Issuebeatlabs/harvester135—~783Automated safety check: PassApache-2.0

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Works with

Categories

Questions about Machinist

What does Machinist do?

Use Machinist to create, assign, and monitor software tasks. Machinist is an agent skill from owainlewis/machinist. Use Machinist to create, assign, and monitor software tasks.

When should I use Machinist?

Machinist fits situations like: A coding agent needs to work with Machinist; its GitHub issue workflow.

How do I install Machinist in Claude Code?

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

How do I install Machinist in Codex?

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

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

What does Machinist need to run?

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

Does Machinist access the network?

SKILL.md names 1 domain. In commands or code: github.com; the agent is likely to contact it when it follows the instructions. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Machinist 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 Machinist use?

Machinist 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 Machinist use?

About 761 tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 3k 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 Machinist?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Machinist: Go-Redis Release Preparation (redis/go-redis, 22k stars), Valgo (cohesivestack/valgo, 508 stars), Release (yoanbernabeu/grepai, 1.9k stars) and Golang Stretchr Testify (context-labs/whip, 1.1k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Machinist?

owainlewis (a GitHub user) maintains it in owainlewis/machinist, which has 496 GitHub stars. The repository was last updated on October 6, 2026.

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