CLI Agents

Overview

CLI agents run as terminal processes that skillx spawns and manages directly. skillx passes the prompt as a CLI argument, waits for the process to exit, captures the exit code, and handles interruptions gracefully.

All CLI agents use the ManagedProcess lifecycle mode.

Claude Code

Claude Code is Anthropic’s official CLI for Claude.

Detection

skillx detects Claude Code by checking:

1. claude binary in PATH (via which claude)
2. ~/.claude/ directory exists

Either condition is sufficient.

Injection Paths

Scope	Path
Global	~/.claude/skills/<skill-name>/
Project	.claude/skills/<skill-name>/

Launch

skillx spawns claude with the following arguments:

claude --prompt "your prompt here"

With YOLO mode (--yolo):

claude --prompt "your prompt here" --dangerously-skip-permissions

YOLO Mode

Claude Code’s --dangerously-skip-permissions flag skips all permission prompts. The agent can read, write, and execute without asking for confirmation.

skillx run --yolo github:org/skills/formatter "Format all files"
# Equivalent to: claude --prompt "..." --dangerously-skip-permissions

Example Workflow

# Normal mode — Claude Code will ask for permissions
skillx run github:org/skills/code-review "Review the auth module"

# YOLO mode — no permission prompts
skillx run --yolo github:org/skills/formatter "Fix all lint errors"

# With timeout
skillx run --timeout 30m github:org/skills/migration "Run migration"

# Project-scoped injection
skillx run --scope project ./my-skill "Set up project"

OpenAI Codex

Codex is OpenAI’s CLI coding agent.

Detection

skillx detects Codex by checking:

1. codex binary in PATH (via which codex)
2. ~/.codex/ directory exists

Injection Paths

Scope	Path
Global	~/.codex/skills/<skill-name>/
Project	.agents/skills/<skill-name>/

Launch

skillx spawns codex with the prompt as a positional argument:

codex "your prompt here"

With YOLO mode (--yolo):

codex "your prompt here" --full-auto

YOLO Mode

Codex’s --full-auto flag enables fully autonomous operation without user confirmation.

skillx run --yolo --agent codex ./my-skill "Refactor the database layer"
# Equivalent to: codex "..." --full-auto

Example Workflow

# Normal mode
skillx run --agent codex github:org/skills/testing "Add unit tests"

# YOLO mode
skillx run --yolo --agent codex ./my-skill "Fix all TODOs"

# With timeout and auto-confirm warnings
skillx run --yes --timeout 1h --agent codex ./my-skill "Complete refactor"

Tier 3 CLI Agents

The following CLI agents are implemented via the data-driven GenericAdapter. They all use the ManagedProcess lifecycle with binary detection:

Agent	Binary
Goose	goose
Kiro	kiro
Aider	aider
OpenClaw	openclaw
Qwen Code	qwen-code
Droid	droid
Warp	warp
OpenHands	openhands
Command Code	command-code
Mistral Vibe	mistral-vibe
Qoder	qoder
Kode	kode

Each follows the same injection pattern: ~/.<name>/skills/<skill-name>/ (global) and .<name>/skills/<skill-name>/ (project). None support YOLO mode.

Process Management

For all CLI agents, skillx handles the process lifecycle:

Normal Exit

skillx spawns agent → agent completes → exit code 0 → cleanup

Agent Error

skillx spawns agent → agent fails → exit code N → warning shown → cleanup

Ctrl+C Interrupt

skillx spawns agent → user presses Ctrl+C → SIGKILL to agent → cleanup

Timeout

skillx spawns agent → timeout reached → SIGKILL to agent → cleanup

The timeout is set with --timeout and supports human-friendly durations:

skillx run --timeout 5m  ./skill "prompt"   # 5 minutes
skillx run --timeout 2h  ./skill "prompt"   # 2 hours
skillx run --timeout 30s ./skill "prompt"   # 30 seconds

Gemini CLI

Gemini CLI is Google’s command-line interface for Gemini.

Detection

skillx detects Gemini CLI by checking:

1. gemini binary in PATH (via which gemini)
2. ~/.gemini/ directory exists

Injection Paths

Scope	Path
Global	~/.gemini/skills/<skill-name>/
Project	.gemini/skills/<skill-name>/

YOLO Mode

Gemini CLI supports YOLO mode with the --sandbox=none flag.

skillx run --yolo --agent gemini-cli ./my-skill "prompt"
# Equivalent to: gemini --prompt "..." --sandbox=none

OpenCode

OpenCode is an open-source AI coding agent.

Detection

skillx detects OpenCode by checking:

1. opencode binary in PATH
2. ~/.config/opencode/ directory exists

Injection Paths

Scope	Path
Global	~/.opencode/skills/<skill-name>/
Project	.opencode/skills/<skill-name>/

YOLO Mode

Not supported.

Amp

Amp is an AI-powered coding agent.

Detection

skillx detects Amp by checking:

1. amp binary in PATH
2. ~/.amp/ directory exists

Injection Paths

Scope	Path
Global	~/.amp/skills/<skill-name>/
Project	.amp/skills/<skill-name>/

YOLO Mode

Not supported.

Comparison

Feature	Claude Code	Codex	Gemini CLI	OpenCode	Amp
Binary	claude	codex	gemini	opencode	amp
Lifecycle	ManagedProcess	ManagedProcess	ManagedProcess	ManagedProcess	ManagedProcess
Initial prompt	--prompt flag	Positional arg	--prompt flag	Positional arg	--prompt flag
YOLO flag	--dangerously-skip-permissions	--full-auto	--sandbox=none	N/A	N/A
Global inject	~/.claude/skills/	~/.codex/skills/	~/.gemini/skills/	~/.opencode/skills/	~/.amp/skills/
Project inject	.claude/skills/	.agents/skills/	.gemini/skills/	.opencode/skills/	.amp/skills/