CLI Help Layers Agent Skill

Architects structured, progressive CLI help documentation optimized for human developers and autonomous AI agents.

Context cost
10.1k tokensestimated from the bundle, loaded when it triggers
Bundle
11 files · 40.2 kBtext throughout, nothing executable
Licence
MITthe author’s own terms
Last change
—no release on file
Servers it uses
Noneruns standalone

What it does

CLI Help Layers 帮助信息分层设计指南。在设计或编写 CLI 工具的帮助文档(usage、help、man)时使用。 适用于需要让 AI Agent 高效解析和调用 CLI 命令的场景:命令结构设计、参数命名、渐进式披露、示例覆盖策略、错误信息设计等。 触发词:CLI 文档设计、帮助信息设计、CLI help layers、agent 友好 CLI、命令行规范、usage/help/man 设计。

What this skill changes about the agent has not been set out here as a list. Its SKILL.md, shown below, says it in the author’s own words.

documentation

The skill itself

A skill is instructions the model reads, so you can see what you are getting: below is the start of its SKILL.md. The front matter loads with every session, the body loads when the skill triggers, and the whole file comes with the install.

SKILL.md3.5 kB · preview
--- name: cli-help-layers metadata: ---
10# CLI Help Layers:帮助信息分层设计指南
11
12为 AI-First CLI 的命令行交互与文档体系提供设计指引。核心读者:人类开发者 + LLM/Agent。
13
14## 三条设计理念
15
161. **渐进式披露**:usage → help → man,信息密度逐层递增,agent 多数场景只需前两层
172. **示例即规范**:借鉴 tldr,每层文档以可执行示例为锚点
183. **结构化优先**:固定分隔符与格式约定,便于 LLM 零样本抽取
19
20## 四层信息架构
21
22| 触发方式 | 层级 | 覆盖率 | 内容 |
23|---|---|---|---|
24| 命令不带参数 | @USAGE | 80% | BRIEF + SYNTAX + 3-5 EXAMPLES |
25| -h / --help | @HELP | 95% | OPTIONS 表 + ENUMS + COMMON ERRORS |
26| 子命令 --help | @HELP sub | 98% | 特有选项 + INHERITED OPTIONS + TEMPLATE |
27| --man | @MAN | 100% | SCHEMA + EXIT CODES + ALL ERRORS + CAVEATS |
28
This is a preview of SKILL.md. Download or install the skill to get the whole thing.
In the file
SKILL.md333 words
Files11
LicenceMIT
Why you can read it

Nothing in a skill executes. The client loads the text and the model follows it, so a skill can be audited the way a runbook is — by reading it.

What it costs in context

Skills are not billed by the call. They are paid for in context: every token the instructions occupy is a token your code, your diff and your conversation cannot use. Here is what this one takes and when it takes it.

≈70
always loaded
The name and description, so the model knows the skill exists and when to reach for it.
9,980
on trigger
The instruction body and 10 supporting files, read only when the skill fires.
5.0%
of a 200k window
Ten skills this size would take about 50% of the window before you open a file.
050k100k150k200k context window

10.1k tokens, estimated from the bundle at four bytes to the token, held for the rest of the session once it triggers. Heavy. Teams tend to install this one per project rather than globally, and load it only when the job comes up.

Servers bill, skills cost

A server charges by the month. A skill charges once per session, in context, and then keeps charging it for as long as the session lives.

Before and after

The same question, put to the same model twice: once as it comes, and once with these instructions loaded.

No worked example has been published for this skill yet.

The procedure it runs

The procedure has not been set out here step by step. It is in the body of its SKILL.md: the start of it is shown above, and the whole file comes with the install.

Prose, not code

These steps are written for a model to follow, not executed by a runtime. It can still be told to skip one, and it will say so when it does.

Servers it uses

None. This skill calls no MCP servers at all.

Everything it needs is in the instructions, so it works in a project with nothing connected — the model reads the file and changes how it works with what it can already reach.

Its SKILL.md does not declare which tools it asks the agent for, so what it touches is whatever the instructions themselves ask for — read them before you install it.

What it asks for
Writes filesnot declared
Network accessnot declared

This SKILL.md carries no allowed-tools line, so neither is declared. A skill grants no permissions of its own — it can only ask for tools your client already has.

What it will not do

Every skill is narrow, and the useful ones say where they stop. These are the jobs this one is the wrong tool for.

What this skill is not for has not been published here. Nothing is implied by that: it is a section the author has not filled in.

What is in the bundle

11 files, 40.2 kB on disk. A bundle is text throughout: the instructions the model reads, plus the templates it fills in.

  • SKILL.md3.5 kB
  • README.md2.6 kB
  • references/agent-friendly.md5.9 kB
  • references/architecture.md2.8 kB
  • references/checklist.md1.5 kB
  • references/error-design.md1.7 kB
  • references/example-feishu-doc.md8.9 kB
  • references/faq.md1.1 kB
  • references/help-spec.md5.7 kB
  • references/man-spec.md3.0 kB
  • references/usage-spec.md3.5 kB
What is not in it

No dependencies and nothing executable: a skill is text the agent reads, so the bundle is 11 files you can review in full before installing. The MIT licence covers the templates and examples as well as the instructions.

Install

Installing copies the bundle into your project. Nothing runs at install time — the files sit on disk until the model reads them.

# CLI Help Layers · 10.1k tokens when loaded · macOS, Linux mkdir -p .claude/skills && t=$(mktemp -d) && curl -fsSL -o "$t/bundle.tar.gz" https://mcprush.com/api/skills/cli-help-layers/bundle.tar.gz && tar -xzf "$t/bundle.tar.gz" -C "$t" && [ -d "$t/cli-help-layers" ] && { [ ! -e .claude/skills/cli-help-layers ] || { mv .claude/skills/cli-help-layers "$t/.previous" && echo "Previous copy moved to $t/.previous"; }; } && mv "$t/cli-help-layers" .claude/skills/ && echo "Installed .claude/skills/cli-help-layers"
On Windows, or any OS with Node 20+
npx mcprush@latest skill add luw2007/cli-help-layers

Windows PowerShell says 'running scripts is disabled on this system'? Run Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope CurrentUser RemoteSigned once, or type npx.cmd instead of npx (codex.cmd, gemini.cmd, grok.cmd likewise). PowerShell 7 needs neither. Writes to .claude/skills/cli-help-layers/ in the current project. For every project instead, run mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && t=$(mktemp -d) && curl -fsSL -o "$t/bundle.tar.gz" https://mcprush.com/api/skills/cli-help-layers/bundle.tar.gz && tar -xzf "$t/bundle.tar.gz" -C "$t" && [ -d "$t/cli-help-layers" ] && { [ ! -e ~/.claude/skills/cli-help-layers ] || { mv ~/.claude/skills/cli-help-layers "$t/.previous" && echo "Previous copy moved to $t/.previous"; }; } && mv "$t/cli-help-layers" ~/.claude/skills/ && echo "Installed ~/.claude/skills/cli-help-layers" (macOS, Linux) — or add --global to the npx line. The curl line replaces .claude/skills/cli-help-layers/ only after the download succeeds, so files left there by another skill of the same name, or by an older release, do not mix in. A copy already there is moved aside, not deleted, and the line prints where.

Which clients pick it up on their own

A skill is a folder of text. Most of these read a skills folder and pick it up without being told; the rest take the same folder another way — an upload in the app, a parameter on an API call — and then choose it by its description just the same.

Claude Code.claude/skills/
Claude DesktopCustomize › Skills
ChatGPTSkills › Create › Upload
Cursor.cursor/skills/
VS Code.github/skills/
Codex CLI.agents/skills/
Gemini CLI.gemini/skills/
Grok Build.grok/skills/
Microsoft CopilotSkills › Upload a skill
PerplexityComputer › Skills › Upload a skill
DeepSeek Harness.dsh/skills/
Zed.agents/skills/
Devin Desktop.devin/skills/
Windsurf (legacy).windsurf/skills/
OpenAI Agents SDKInstructions or sandbox Skills
HTTP / APIa request parameter
This release
Versionnot versioned
Publishedno release date on file
PriceFree
Referenceluw2007/cli-help-layers

Versions

Its author publishes no version number, so there is nothing here to pin to: what you install is the folder as it stands today. Instructions change more often than APIs do — a skill can be rewritten entirely without anything it depends on moving.

Pinning

Nothing to pin to: this skill carries no version number of its own. What you install is what the folder holds on the day you install it.

Reviews

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Publisher
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