Swe Cli Skills

SWE CLI Skills

> man pages for machines — Your agent knows the commands. We teach it the workflows.

This skill provides expert-level CLI knowledge for the tools software engineers use daily. Each guide encodes senior engineer judgment — not reference docs, but operational workflows, safety guardrails, flag gotchas, error recovery, and composition patterns.

When to Use This Skill

Load a specific CLI guide when:

• You need to run complex CLI operations (multi-step workflows, piped commands)
• You're unsure about flag ordering, safety checks, or non-interactive alternatives
• You encounter a CLI error and need the actual fix (not generic advice)
• You need to compose multiple CLIs together (e.g., aws → jq → xargs)

Available CLI Guides

Guides are organized by category. Read the category index or jump directly to a CLI guide.

☁️ Cloud (skills/cloud/)

| CLI | File | Use For | |-----|------|---------| | AWS CLI | skills/cloud/aws.md | S3 filter ordering, IAM auth, EC2 queries, JMESPath, Lambda | | gcloud | skills/cloud/gcloud.md | GCP project/config management, GKE, Cloud Run, IAM, logging | | Azure CLI | skills/cloud/azure.md | Resource groups, AKS, App Service, RBAC, ARM deployments |

🏗️ Infrastructure as Code (skills/iac/)

| CLI | File | Use For | |-----|------|---------| | Terraform | skills/iac/terraform.md | State management, import workflows, safe apply, workspace migration |

🐳 Containers & Orchestration (skills/containers/)

| CLI | File | Use For | |-----|------|---------| | Docker | skills/containers/docker.md | Build cache, multi-stage builds, compose v2, cleanup, debugging | | kubectl | skills/containers/kubectl.md | Context safety, namespace gotchas, rollout/rollback, pod debugging | | Helm | skills/containers/helm.md | Values precedence, upgrade resets, rollback, chart debugging |

🔀 Git & Version Control (skills/git-vcs/)

| CLI | File | Use For | |-----|------|---------| | Git | skills/git-vcs/git.md | Non-interactive alternatives, rebase, merge, conflict resolution | | GitHub CLI | skills/git-vcs/gh.md | PR workflows, issue management, releases, Actions |

🛠️ Dev Tools (skills/dev-tools/)

| CLI | File | Use For | |-----|------|---------| | jq | skills/dev-tools/jq.md | JSON filtering, select vs map, array ops, shell variable injection | | sed | skills/dev-tools/sed.md | Stream editing, in-place substitution, macOS vs Linux portability | | make | skills/dev-tools/make.md | Build automation, Makefile patterns, phony targets, variables | | curl | skills/dev-tools/curl.md | Auth headers, multipart uploads, API debugging, response handling | | SSH/SCP | skills/dev-tools/ssh.md | Tunneling, ProxyJump, key management, agent-safe patterns |

📦 Package Managers (skills/package-managers/)

| CLI | File | Use For | |-----|------|---------| | npm | skills/package-managers/npm.md | Dependency management, scripts, workspaces, publishing, lockfiles | | pip & uv | skills/package-managers/pip-uv.md | Virtual envs, dependency resolution, uv acceleration, constraints |

🗄️ Databases (skills/databases/)

| CLI | File | Use For | |-----|------|---------| | psql | skills/databases/psql.md | Connection strings, non-interactive queries, backup/restore, meta-commands | | redis-cli | skills/databases/redis.md | Connection, key operations, debugging, persistence, cluster management |

🚀 Platforms & Services (skills/platforms/)

| CLI | File | Use For | |-----|------|---------| | Stripe CLI | skills/platforms/stripe.md | Webhook testing, API debugging, fixtures, payment flow testing | | Sentry CLI | skills/platforms/sentry.md | Release management, sourcemap uploads, deploy tracking | | Vercel CLI | skills/platforms/vercel.md | Deployments, env vars, serverless functions, domains | | Firebase CLI | skills/platforms/firebase.md | Hosting deploy, Firestore rules, auth emulators, Cloud Functions | | flyctl | skills/platforms/fly.md | App deployment, scaling, secrets, regions, Machines API |

Quick Reference: Critical Gotchas

These are the highest-impact mistakes — check the full guide for details:

• AWS S3: --exclude must come BEFORE --include (left-to-right evaluation)
• Terraform: Always terraform plan after terraform import (detects drift)
• Docker: Copy dependency files before source code (cache optimization)
• kubectl: ALWAYS verify kubectl config current-context before apply
• Helm: helm upgrade RESETS values not specified — use --reuse-values
• Git: Use git --no-pager and --no-edit flags (agents have no TTY)
• SSH: Use BatchMode=yes to prevent password prompt hangs
• psql: Always use -v ON_ERROR_STOP=1 in scripts (psql continues after errors by default)
• Redis: NEVER use KEYS * in production — use SCAN instead (blocks server)
• gcloud: Always set --project explicitly in automation (don't rely on default project)
• npm: Use npm ci in CI/CD, not npm install (ensures reproducible builds)
• sed: sed -i behaves differently on macOS vs Linux — use -i.bak for portability
• make: Indentation MUST be real tabs, not spaces (invisible error)
• Stripe: stripe listen webhook secret changes on every restart — update your env var
• Sentry: Sourcemap --url-prefix must exactly match browser request paths
• Vercel: vercel without --prod deploys to preview, not production
• Firebase: firebase deploy without --only deploys EVERYTHING

Token Efficiency

This skill uses a category sub-index architecture. Instead of loading all CLI guides at once:

1. Read this root SKILL.md to find the right category
2. Read only the specific CLI guide you need (e.g., skills/cloud/aws.md)

This keeps token usage minimal — load one guide (~200-400 lines) instead of the entire library.

Each Guide Contains

1. Setup & Auth — Installation and credential configuration
2. Core Workflows — The 20% of commands covering 80% of usage
3. Flag Gotchas — Ordering traps, version quirks, surprising defaults
4. Error Patterns — Real error messages → real fixes
5. Anti-Patterns — "Never do X because Y" with safe alternatives
6. Composability — How to pipe this CLI with others
7. Agent Constraints — Non-interactive alternatives, TTY workarounds

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: SylphAI-Inc
• Source: SylphAI-Inc/swe-cli-skills
• License: MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.