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:
- Read this root
SKILL.md to find the right category
- 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
- Setup & Auth — Installation and credential configuration
- Core Workflows — The 20% of commands covering 80% of usage
- Flag Gotchas — Ordering traps, version quirks, surprising defaults
- Error Patterns — Real error messages → real fixes
- Anti-Patterns — "Never do X because Y" with safe alternatives
- Composability — How to pipe this CLI with others
- Agent Constraints — Non-interactive alternatives, TTY workarounds
