grip skills - Grip AI

Overview

The grip skills command manages agent skills - specialized instruction sets that enhance the agent’s capabilities. Skills are defined in markdown files and can be built-in or workspace-specific.

Subcommands

grip skills list - Show all available skills
grip skills install - Install a skill from a markdown file
grip skills remove - Remove a workspace skill by name

grip skills list

Display all available skills:

grip skills list

Example output:

╭─ Skills ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╮
│ ┌──────────────┬─────────────────────────────────┬───────────┬─────────┐ │
│ │ Name         │ Description                     │ Source    │ Always  │ │
│ ├──────────────┼─────────────────────────────────┼───────────┼─────────┤ │
│ │ mintlify     │ Build Mintlify documentation    │ built-in  │ No      │ │
│ │ update-nav   │ Add pages to docs.json          │ built-in  │ No      │ │
│ │ doc-reader   │ Read external documentation     │ built-in  │ No      │ │
│ │ doc-author   │ Write and edit documentation    │ built-in  │ Yes     │ │
│ │ custom-api   │ Company API integration helper  │ workspace │ No      │ │
│ └──────────────┴─────────────────────────────────┴───────────┴─────────┘ │
╰───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

Columns

Name - Skill identifier
Description - Short description of capabilities
Source - built-in (system) or workspace (custom)
Always Loaded - Whether skill is always available

Skill Types

Built-in Skills

Located in the Grip installation directory
Cannot be removed
Updated with Grip releases
Provide core functionality

Workspace Skills

Located in ~/grip/workspace/skills/
Custom skills for your specific use cases
Can be removed
Loaded when relevant to the task

grip skills install

Install a skill from a markdown file:

grip skills install <file_path>

Arguments

file_path - Path to a SKILL.md file

Skill File Format

Skills are markdown files with frontmatter:

---
name: custom-api
description: Company API integration helper
always_loaded: false
---

# Custom API Skill

This skill helps the agent interact with our company API.

## When to Use

Invoke this skill when the user asks about:
- Customer data queries
- Order management
- Inventory checks

## API Endpoints

### Get Customer

```bash
GET /api/customers/{id}

Create Order

POST /api/orders
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "customer_id": "123",
  "items": [...]
}

Examples

User: “Get customer 12345” Agent: [Uses bash tool to call API endpoint] …

### Example

```bash
grip skills install ~/skills/custom-api.md

Output:

Skill installed: ~/grip/workspace/skills/custom-api.md
  Name: custom-api
  Description: Company API integration helper

Installation Process

Reads the markdown file
Parses frontmatter metadata
Copies to workspace skills directory
Verifies installation by scanning
Displays confirmation

Frontmatter Fields

Field	Required	Description
`name`	Yes	Unique skill identifier
`description`	Yes	Short description
`always_loaded`	No	Load skill for every task (default: false)

Example Frontmatter

---
name: github-helper
description: GitHub API integration and workflow automation
always_loaded: false
---

grip skills remove

Remove a workspace skill:

grip skills remove <name>

Arguments

name - Skill name to remove

Example

grip skills remove custom-api

Output:

Removed: custom-api

If skill not found or built-in:

Cannot remove: custom-api (not found or built-in)

You cannot remove built-in skills. Only workspace skills can be removed.

Skill Loading

Always Loaded

Skills with always_loaded: true are included in every agent session:

---
always_loaded: true
---

Use cases:

Core company workflows
Frequently used APIs
Standard operating procedures

On-Demand Loading

Skills with always_loaded: false are loaded when relevant:

---
always_loaded: false
---

Use cases:

Specialized tools
Rarely used APIs
Context-specific workflows

Always-loaded skills consume tokens in every request. Use sparingly for critical functionality only.

Skill Storage

Skills are stored in:

~/grip/workspace/skills/
├── custom-api.md
├── github-helper.md
└── company-workflows.md

Directory Structure

$ tree ~/grip/workspace/skills/
~/grip/workspace/skills/
├── SKILL_NAME_1.md
├── SKILL_NAME_2.md
└── subdirectory/
    └── SKILL_NAME_3.md

Creating Skills

Step 1: Create Markdown File

vim ~/skills/my-skill.md

Step 2: Add Frontmatter

---
name: my-skill
description: Does something useful
always_loaded: false
---

Step 3: Write Instructions

# My Skill

## Purpose

This skill helps the agent...

## When to Use

Invoke this skill when:
- User asks about X
- Task involves Y
- Context requires Z

## Instructions

1. First, do this
2. Then, do that
3. Finally, verify

## Examples

### Example 1

User: "Do something"
Agent: [Steps to follow]

### Example 2

User: "Do something else"
Agent: [Alternative approach]

Step 4: Install

grip skills install ~/skills/my-skill.md

Step 5: Verify

grip skills list | grep my-skill

Skill Templates

API Integration

---
name: api-name
description: Integration with API Name service
always_loaded: false
---

# API Name Integration

## Authentication

API Key: `$API_NAME_KEY`
Base URL: `https://api.example.com/v1`

## Endpoints

### GET /resource

Fetch resources...

### POST /resource

Create resource...

## Error Handling

- 401: Invalid API key
- 429: Rate limited
- 500: Server error

Workflow Automation

---
name: deploy-workflow
description: Production deployment workflow
always_loaded: false
---

# Deployment Workflow

## Pre-deployment Checks

1. Run tests: `npm test`
2. Check linting: `npm run lint`
3. Verify build: `npm run build`

## Deployment Steps

1. Tag release: `git tag v1.0.0`
2. Push to staging: `git push staging main`
3. Verify staging
4. Push to production: `git push production main`
5. Monitor metrics

## Rollback

If issues detected:
1. Revert deployment
2. Notify team
3. Investigate

Troubleshooting Guide

---
name: debug-helper
description: Common debugging steps and solutions
always_loaded: true
---

# Debug Helper

## Common Issues

### Connection Timeout

**Symptoms:** Request hangs, timeout error

**Solutions:**
1. Check network connectivity
2. Verify firewall rules
3. Test DNS resolution

### Memory Leak

**Symptoms:** Increasing memory usage over time

**Solutions:**
1. Check for unclosed resources
2. Review event listeners
3. Profile memory usage

Use Cases

Company-Specific APIs

# Install internal API skill
grip skills install ~/docs/internal-api.md

# Agent can now help with API queries
grip agent -m "Get customer 12345 from our API"

Standard Operating Procedures

# Install deployment SOP
grip skills install ~/docs/deploy-sop.md

# Agent follows procedures
grip agent -m "Deploy version 2.1.0 to production"

Code Review Guidelines

# Install review checklist
grip skills install ~/docs/code-review.md

# Agent uses guidelines
git diff | grip agent -m "Review this PR"

Skill Best Practices

Clear Structure

# Skill Name

## Purpose
[One sentence: what this skill does]

## When to Use
[Specific triggers for loading this skill]

## Instructions
[Step-by-step procedures]

## Examples
[Concrete examples with inputs/outputs]

## References
[Links to docs, APIs, etc.]

Specific Triggers

## When to Use

Invoke this skill when the user:
- Mentions "deploy" or "deployment"
- Asks about production releases
- References the staging environment

Actionable Instructions

## Instructions

1. Run pre-flight checks
   - Execute: `npm test`
   - Verify all tests pass
   
2. Build for production
   - Execute: `npm run build`
   - Check build output for errors

Code Examples

## Examples

### API Call

```bash
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  https://api.example.com/v1/users/123

Expected Response

{
  "id": 123,
  "name": "John Doe"
}

## Troubleshooting

### Skill not loading

```bash
# Check if installed
grip skills list | grep skill-name

# Re-install
grip skills remove skill-name
grip skills install path/to/skill.md

# Verify frontmatter
head -n 10 ~/grip/workspace/skills/skill-name.md

Skill always loaded but shouldn’t be

# Edit skill file
vim ~/grip/workspace/skills/skill-name.md

# Change frontmatter
---
always_loaded: false
---

# Restart gateway/agent
grip gateway

Missing from TOOLS.md

# TOOLS.md is regenerated on agent start
# Check if skill appears
cat ~/grip/workspace/TOOLS.md | grep -A5 "skill-name"

# Re-run agent to regenerate
grip agent -m "test"

grip agent - Uses skills during execution
grip gateway - Loads skills for channel bots
skill tool - Load a skill dynamically (available in interactive mode)

REST API

CLI Commands

Built-in Tools

​Overview

​Subcommands

​grip skills list

​Columns

​Skill Types

​Built-in Skills

​Workspace Skills

​grip skills install

​Arguments

​Skill File Format

​Create Order

​Examples

​Installation Process

​Frontmatter Fields

​Example Frontmatter

​grip skills remove

​Arguments

​Example

​Skill Loading

​Always Loaded

​On-Demand Loading

​Skill Storage

​Directory Structure

​Creating Skills

​Step 1: Create Markdown File

​Step 2: Add Frontmatter

​Step 3: Write Instructions

​Step 4: Install

​Step 5: Verify

​Skill Templates

​API Integration

​Workflow Automation

​Troubleshooting Guide

​Use Cases

​Company-Specific APIs

​Standard Operating Procedures

​Code Review Guidelines

​Skill Best Practices

​Clear Structure

​Specific Triggers

​Actionable Instructions

​Code Examples

​Expected Response

​Skill always loaded but shouldn’t be

​Missing from TOOLS.md

​Related Commands

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Overview

Subcommands

grip skills list

Columns

Skill Types

Built-in Skills

Workspace Skills

grip skills install

Arguments

Skill File Format

Create Order

Examples

Installation Process

Frontmatter Fields

Example Frontmatter

grip skills remove

Arguments

Example

Skill Loading

Always Loaded

On-Demand Loading

Skill Storage

Directory Structure

Creating Skills

Step 1: Create Markdown File

Step 2: Add Frontmatter

Step 3: Write Instructions

Step 4: Install

Step 5: Verify

Skill Templates

API Integration

Workflow Automation

Troubleshooting Guide

Use Cases

Company-Specific APIs

Standard Operating Procedures

Code Review Guidelines

Skill Best Practices

Clear Structure

Specific Triggers

Actionable Instructions

Code Examples

Expected Response

Skill always loaded but shouldn’t be

Missing from TOOLS.md

Related Commands