Community Skills

Community Skills

Community Skills is an open-source AI agent framework by Nous Research that runs in your terminal, messaging platforms, and IDEs. It belongs to the same category as Claude Code (Anthropic), Codex (OpenAI), and OpenClaw — autonomous coding and task-execution agents that use tool calling to interact with your system. community skills works with any LLM provider (OpenRouter, Anthropic, OpenAI, DeepSeek, local models, and 15+ others) and runs on Linux, macOS, and WSL.

What makes community skills different:

• Self-improving through skills — community skills learns from experience by saving reusable procedures as skills. When it solves a complex problem, discovers a workflow, or gets corrected, it can persist that knowledge as a skill document that loads into future sessions. Skills accumulate over time, making the agent better at your specific tasks and environment.
• Persistent memory across sessions — remembers who you are, your preferences, environment details, and lessons learned. Pluggable memory backends (built-in, Honcho, Mem0, and more) let you choose how memory works.
• Multi-platform gateway — the same agent runs on Telegram, Discord, Slack, WhatsApp, Signal, Matrix, Email, and 10+ other platforms with full tool access, not just chat.
• Provider-agnostic — swap models and providers mid-workflow without changing anything else. Credential pools rotate across multiple API keys automatically.
• Profiles — run multiple independent community skills instances with isolated configs, sessions, skills, and memory.
• Extensible — plugins, MCP servers, custom tools, webhook triggers, cron scheduling, and the full Python ecosystem.

People use community skills for software development, research, system administration, data analysis, content creation, home automation, and anything else that benefits from an AI agent with persistent context and full system access.

This skill helps you work with Community Skills effectively — setting it up, configuring features, spawning additional agent instances, troubleshooting issues, finding the right commands and settings, and understanding how the system works when you need to extend or contribute to it.

Docs: https://community-skills.nousresearch.com/docs/

Quick Start

# Install
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/community catalog/main/scripts/install.sh | bash

# Interactive chat (default)
community

# Single query
community chat -q "What is the capital of France?"

# Setup wizard
community setup

# Change model/provider
community model

# Check health
community doctor

CLI Reference

Global Flags

community [flags] [command]

  --version, -V             Show version
  --resume, -r SESSION      Resume session by ID or title
  --continue, -c [NAME]     Resume by name, or most recent session
  --worktree, -w            Isolated git worktree mode (parallel agents)
  --skills, -s SKILL        Preload skills (comma-separate or repeat)
  --profile, -p NAME        Use a named profile
  --yolo                    Skip dangerous command approval
  --pass-session-id         Include session ID in system prompt

No subcommand defaults to chat.

Chat

community chat [flags]
  -q, --query TEXT          Single query, non-interactive
  -m, --model MODEL         Model (e.g. anthropic/claude-sonnet-4)
  -t, --toolsets LIST       Comma-separated toolsets
  --provider PROVIDER       Force provider (openrouter, anthropic, nous, etc.)
  -v, --verbose             Verbose output
  -Q, --quiet               Suppress banner, spinner, tool previews
  --checkpoints             Enable filesystem checkpoints (/rollback)
  --source TAG              Session source tag (default: cli)

Configuration

community setup [section]      Interactive wizard (model|terminal|gateway|tools|agent)
community model                Interactive model/provider picker
community config               View current config
community config edit          Open config.yaml in $EDITOR
community config set KEY VAL   Set a config value
community config path          Print config.yaml path
community config env-path      Print .env path
community config check         Check for missing/outdated config
community config migrate       Update config with new options
community login [--provider P] OAuth login (nous, openai-codex)
community logout               Clear stored auth
community doctor [--fix]       Check dependencies and config
community status [--all]       Show component status

Tools & Skills

community tools                Interactive tool enable/disable (curses UI)
community tools list           Show all tools and status
community tools enable NAME    Enable a toolset
community tools disable NAME   Disable a toolset

community skills list          List installed skills
community skills search QUERY  Search the skills hub
community skills install ID    Install a skill
community skills inspect ID    Preview without installing
community skills config        Enable/disable skills per platform
community skills check         Check for updates
community skills update        Update outdated skills
community skills uninstall N   Remove a hub skill
community skills publish PATH  Publish to registry
community skills browse        Browse all available skills
community skills tap add REPO  Add a GitHub repo as skill source

MCP Servers

community mcp serve            Run community skills as an MCP server
community mcp add NAME         Add an MCP server (--url or --command)
community mcp remove NAME      Remove an MCP server
community mcp list             List configured servers
community mcp test NAME        Test connection
community mcp configure NAME   Toggle tool selection

Gateway (Messaging Platforms)

community gateway run          Start gateway foreground
community gateway install      Install as background service
community gateway start/stop   Control the service
community gateway restart      Restart the service
community gateway status       Check status
community gateway setup        Configure platforms

Supported platforms: Telegram, Discord, Slack, WhatsApp, Signal, Email, SMS, Matrix, Mattermost, Home Assistant, DingTalk, Feishu, WeCom, BlueBubbles (iMessage), Weixin (WeChat), API Server, Webhooks. Open WebUI connects via the API Server adapter.

Platform docs: https://community-skills.nousresearch.com/docs/user-guide/messaging/

Sessions

community sessions list        List recent sessions
community sessions browse      Interactive picker
community sessions export OUT  Export to JSONL
community sessions rename ID T Rename a session
community sessions delete ID   Delete a session
community sessions prune       Clean up old sessions (--older-than N days)
community sessions stats       Session store statistics

Cron Jobs

community cron list            List jobs (--all for disabled)
community cron create SCHED    Create: '30m', 'every 2h', '0 9 * * *'
community cron edit ID         Edit schedule, prompt, delivery
community cron pause/resume ID Control job state
community cron run ID          Trigger on next tick
community cron remove ID       Delete a job
community cron status          Scheduler status

Webhooks

community webhook subscribe N  Create route at /webhooks/<name>
community webhook list         List subscriptions
community webhook remove NAME  Remove a subscription
community webhook test NAME    Send a test POST

Profiles

community profile list         List all profiles
community profile create NAME  Create (--clone, --clone-all, --clone-from)
community profile use NAME     Set sticky default
community profile delete NAME  Delete a profile
community profile show NAME    Show details
community profile alias NAME   Manage wrapper scripts
community profile rename A B   Rename a profile
community profile export NAME  Export to tar.gz
community profile import FILE  Import from archive

Credential Pools

community auth add             Interactive credential wizard
community auth list [PROVIDER] List pooled credentials
community auth remove P INDEX  Remove by provider + index
community auth reset PROVIDER  Clear exhaustion status

Other

community insights [--days N]  Usage analytics
community update               Update to latest version
community pairing list/approve/revoke  DM authorization
community plugins list/install/remove  Plugin management
community honcho setup/status  Honcho memory integration (requires honcho plugin)
community memory setup/status/off  Memory provider config
community completion bash|zsh  Shell completions
community acp                  ACP server (IDE integration)
community claw migrate         Migrate from OpenClaw
community uninstall            Uninstall community skills

Slash Commands (In-Session)

Type these during an interactive chat session.

Session Control

/new (/reset)        Fresh session
/clear               Clear screen + new session (CLI)
/retry               Resend last message
/undo                Remove last exchange
/title [name]        Name the session
/compress            Manually compress context
/stop                Kill background processes
/rollback [N]        Restore filesystem checkpoint
/background <prompt> Run prompt in background
/queue <prompt>      Queue for next turn
/resume [name]       Resume a named session

Configuration

/config              Show config (CLI)
/model [name]        Show or change model
/provider            Show provider info
/personality [name]  Set personality
/reasoning [level]   Set reasoning (none|minimal|low|medium|high|xhigh|show|hide)
/verbose             Cycle: off → new → all → verbose
/voice [on|off|tts]  Voice mode
/yolo                Toggle approval bypass
/skin [name]         Change theme (CLI)
/statusbar           Toggle status bar (CLI)

Tools & Skills

/tools               Manage tools (CLI)
/toolsets            List toolsets (CLI)
/skills              Search/install skills (CLI)
/skill <name>        Load a skill into session
/cron                Manage cron jobs (CLI)
/reload-mcp          Reload MCP servers
/plugins             List plugins (CLI)

Gateway

/approve             Approve a pending command (gateway)
/deny                Deny a pending command (gateway)
/restart             Restart gateway (gateway)
/sethome             Set current chat as home channel (gateway)
/update              Update community skills to latest (gateway)
/platforms (/gateway) Show platform connection status (gateway)

Utility

/branch (/fork)      Branch the current session
/btw                 Ephemeral side question (doesn't interrupt main task)
/fast                Toggle priority/fast processing
/browser             Open CDP browser connection
/history             Show conversation history (CLI)
/save                Save conversation to file (CLI)
/paste               Attach clipboard image (CLI)
/image               Attach local image file (CLI)

Info

/help                Show commands
/commands [page]     Browse all commands (gateway)
/usage               Token usage
/insights [days]     Usage analytics
/status              Session info (gateway)
/profile             Active profile info

Exit

/quit (/exit, /q)    Exit CLI

Key Paths & Config

~/.argent/config.yaml       Main configuration
~/.argent/.env              API keys and secrets
$COMMUNITY_HOME/skills/        Installed skills
~/.argent/sessions/         Session transcripts
~/.argent/logs/             Gateway and error logs
~/.argent/auth.json         OAuth tokens and credential pools
~/.argent/community-skills/     Source code (if git-installed)

Profiles use ~/.argent/profiles/<name>/ with the same layout.

Config Sections

Edit with community config edit or community config set section.key value.

Full config reference: https://community-skills.nousresearch.com/docs/user-guide/configuration

Providers

20+ providers supported. Set via community model or community setup.

Full provider docs: https://community-skills.nousresearch.com/docs/integrations/providers

Toolsets

Enable/disable via community tools (interactive) or community tools enable/disable NAME.

Tool changes take effect on /reset (new session). They do NOT apply mid-conversation to preserve prompt caching.

Voice & Transcription

STT (Voice → Text)

Voice messages from messaging platforms are auto-transcribed.

Provider priority (auto-detected):

1. Local faster-whisper — free, no API key: pip install faster-whisper
2. Groq Whisper — free tier: set GROQ_API_KEY
3. OpenAI Whisper — paid: set VOICE_TOOLS_OPENAI_KEY
4. Mistral Voxtral — set MISTRAL_API_KEY

Config:

stt:
  enabled: true
  provider: local # local, groq, openai, mistral
  local:
    model: base # tiny, base, small, medium, large-v3

TTS (Text → Voice)

Voice commands: /voice on (voice-to-voice), /voice tts (always voice), /voice off.

Spawning Additional community skills Instances

Run additional community skills processes as fully independent subprocesses — separate sessions, tools, and environments.

When to Use This vs delegate_task

One-Shot Mode

terminal(command="community chat -q 'Research GRPO papers and write summary to ~/research/grpo.md'", timeout=300)

# Background for long tasks:
terminal(command="community chat -q 'Set up CI/CD for ~/myapp'", background=true)

Interactive PTY Mode (via tmux)

community skills uses prompt_toolkit, which requires a real terminal. Use tmux for interactive spawning:

# Start
terminal(command="tmux new-session -d -s agent1 -x 120 -y 40 'community'", timeout=10)

# Wait for startup, then send a message
terminal(command="sleep 8 && tmux send-keys -t agent1 'Build a FastAPI auth service' Enter", timeout=15)

# Read output
terminal(command="sleep 20 && tmux capture-pane -t agent1 -p", timeout=5)

# Send follow-up
terminal(command="tmux send-keys -t agent1 'Add rate limiting middleware' Enter", timeout=5)

# Exit
terminal(command="tmux send-keys -t agent1 '/exit' Enter && sleep 2 && tmux kill-session -t agent1", timeout=10)

Multi-Agent Coordination

# Agent A: backend
terminal(command="tmux new-session -d -s backend -x 120 -y 40 'community -w'", timeout=10)
terminal(command="sleep 8 && tmux send-keys -t backend 'Build REST API for user management' Enter", timeout=15)

# Agent B: frontend
terminal(command="tmux new-session -d -s frontend -x 120 -y 40 'community -w'", timeout=10)
terminal(command="sleep 8 && tmux send-keys -t frontend 'Build React dashboard for user management' Enter", timeout=15)

# Check progress, relay context between them
terminal(command="tmux capture-pane -t backend -p | tail -30", timeout=5)
terminal(command="tmux send-keys -t frontend 'Here is the API schema from the backend agent: ...' Enter", timeout=5)

Session Resume

# Resume most recent session
terminal(command="tmux new-session -d -s resumed 'community --continue'", timeout=10)

# Resume specific session
terminal(command="tmux new-session -d -s resumed 'community --resume 20260225_143052_a1b2c3'", timeout=10)

Tips

• Prefer delegate_task for quick subtasks — less overhead than spawning a full process
• Use -w (worktree mode) when spawning agents that edit code — prevents git conflicts
• Set timeouts for one-shot mode — complex tasks can take 5-10 minutes
• Use community chat -q for fire-and-forget — no PTY needed
• Use tmux for interactive sessions — raw PTY mode has \r vs \n issues with prompt_toolkit
• For scheduled tasks, use the cronjob tool instead of spawning — handles delivery and retry

Troubleshooting

Voice not working

1. Check stt.enabled: true in config.yaml
2. Verify provider: pip install faster-whisper or set API key
3. In gateway: /restart. In CLI: exit and relaunch.

Tool not available

1. community tools — check if toolset is enabled for your platform
2. Some tools need env vars (check .env)
3. /reset after enabling tools

Model/provider issues

1. community doctor — check config and dependencies
2. community login — re-authenticate OAuth providers
3. Check .env has the right API key
4. Copilot 403: gh auth login tokens do NOT work for Copilot API. You must use the Copilot-specific OAuth device code flow via community model → GitHub Copilot.

Changes not taking effect

• Tools/skills: /reset starts a new session with updated toolset
• Config changes: In gateway: /restart. In CLI: exit and relaunch.
• Code changes: Restart the CLI or gateway process

Skills not showing

1. community skills list — verify installed
2. community skills config — check platform enablement
3. Load explicitly: /skill name or community -s name

Gateway issues

Check logs first:

grep -i "failed to send\|error" ~/.argent/logs/gateway.log | tail -20

Common gateway problems:

• Gateway dies on SSH logout: Enable linger: sudo loginctl enable-linger $USER
• Gateway dies on WSL2 close: WSL2 requires systemd=true in /etc/wsl.conf for systemd services to work. Without it, gateway falls back to nohup (dies when session closes).
• Gateway crash loop: Reset the failed state: systemctl --user reset-failed community-gateway

Platform-specific issues

• Telegram Chat not found when sending to telegram home channel: First verify .env has TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN, TELEGRAM_ALLOWED_USERS, and TELEGRAM_HOME_CHANNEL. Check the token with Telegram getMe if needed. The bot cannot DM a user until that user opens the bot and sends /start or any message; ask the user to message the bot, then retry send_message(target="telegram"). If calling getUpdates manually while the gateway is running, Telegram may return HTTP 409 polling conflict because the gateway already owns polling; this usually confirms the gateway is active, not broken.
• Discord bot silent: Must enable Message Content Intent in Bot → Privileged Gateway Intents.
• Slack bot only works in DMs: Must subscribe to message.channels event. Without it, the bot ignores public channels.
• Windows HTTP 400 "No models provided": Config file encoding issue (BOM). Ensure config.yaml is saved as UTF-8 without BOM.

Auxiliary models not working

If auxiliary tasks (vision, compression, session_search) fail silently, the auto provider can't find a backend. Either set OPENROUTER_API_KEY or GOOGLE_API_KEY, or explicitly configure each auxiliary task's provider:

community config set auxiliary.vision.provider <your_provider>
community config set auxiliary.vision.model <model_name>

Where to Find Things

Contributor Quick Reference

For occasional contributors and PR authors. Full developer docs: https://community-skills.nousresearch.com/docs/developer-guide/

Project Layout

community-skills/
├── run_agent.py          # AIAgent — core conversation loop
├── model_tools.py        # Tool discovery and dispatch
├── toolsets.py           # Toolset definitions
├── cli.py                # Interactive CLI (community skillsCLI)
├── community_state.py       # SQLite session store
├── agent/                # Prompt builder, context compression, memory, model routing, credential pooling, skill dispatch
├── community_cli/           # CLI subcommands, config, setup, commands
│   ├── commands.py       # Slash command registry (CommandDef)
│   ├── config.py         # DEFAULT_CONFIG, env var definitions
│   └── main.py           # CLI entry point and argparse
├── tools/                # One file per tool
│   └── registry.py       # Central tool registry
├── gateway/              # Messaging gateway
│   └── platforms/        # Platform adapters (telegram, discord, etc.)
├── cron/                 # Job scheduler
├── tests/                # ~3000 pytest tests
└── website/              # Docusaurus docs site

Config: ~/.argent/config.yaml (settings), ~/.argent/.env (API keys).

Adding a Tool (3 files)

1. Create tools/your_tool.py:

import json, os
from tools.registry import registry

def check_requirements() -> bool:
    return bool(os.getenv("EXAMPLE_API_KEY"))

def example_tool(param: str, task_id: str = None) -> str:
    return json.dumps({"success": True, "data": "..."})

registry.register(
    name="example_tool",
    toolset="example",
    schema={"name": "example_tool", "description": "...", "parameters": {...}},
    handler=lambda args, **kw: example_tool(
        param=args.get("param", ""), task_id=kw.get("task_id")),
    check_fn=check_requirements,
    requires_env=["EXAMPLE_API_KEY"],
)

2. Add to toolsets.py → _COMMUNITY_CORE_TOOLS list.

Auto-discovery: any tools/*.py file with a top-level registry.register() call is imported automatically — no manual list needed.

All handlers must return JSON strings. Use get_community_home() for paths, never hardcode ~/.argent.

Adding a Slash Command

1. Add CommandDef to COMMAND_REGISTRY in community_cli/commands.py
2. Add handler in cli.py → process_command()
3. (Optional) Add gateway handler in gateway/run.py

All consumers (help text, autocomplete, Telegram menu, Slack mapping) derive from the central registry automatically.

Agent Loop (High Level)

run_conversation():
  1. Build system prompt
  2. Loop while iterations < max:
     a. Call LLM (OpenAI-format messages + tool schemas)
     b. If tool_calls → dispatch each via handle_function_call() → append results → continue
     c. If text response → return
  3. Context compression triggers automatically near token limit

Testing

python -m pytest tests/ -o 'addopts=' -q   # Full suite
python -m pytest tests/tools/ -q            # Specific area

• Tests auto-redirect COMMUNITY_HOME to temp dirs — never touch real ~/.argent/
• Run full suite before pushing any change
• Use -o 'addopts=' to clear any baked-in pytest flags

Commit Conventions

type: concise subject line

Optional body.

Types: fix:, feat:, refactor:, docs:, chore:

Key Rules

• Never break prompt caching — don't change context, tools, or system prompt mid-conversation
• Message role alternation — never two assistant or two user messages in a row
• Use get_community_home() from community_constants for all paths (profile-safe)
• Config values go in config.yaml, secrets go in .env
• New tools need a check_fn so they only appear when requirements are met