# Help

> Quick-reference card for LEAF phases, skills, CLI commands, and update flow. One-shot display, not a persistent mode. Trigger: /leaf:help, $leaf:help, "leaf help", "LEAF commands", "how do I use leaf".

- Skill: `hoetaek/help` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 2 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add hoetaek/help`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/hoetaek/help/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- Author: hoetaek (https://skillmd.com/u/hoetaek)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/hoetaek/help

---


# LEAF Help

Display this reference card when invoked. One-shot, do NOT change phase,
write gate files, run `leaf next`, or persist anything.

## Loop

| Phase         | What it validates                                 | Gates                                      |
| ------------- | ------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------ |
| **Learn**     | What the work needs, learned rather than guessed. | ① Intent · ② Unknowns & Context            |
| **Example**   | One cheap instance is right before scaling.       | ③ Criteria · ④ Wireframe                   |
| **Architect** | The instance can become a shippable generator.    | ⑤ Design · ⑥ Critic · ⑦ Tasks · ⑧ Artifact |
| **Feedback**  | The result holds, and the lesson is settled.      | ⑨ Review · ⑩ Retrospect                    |

Core rule: leaf before tree. Validate one inspectable instance before growing
the full artifact.

`using-leaf` owns the exact routing predicates. Clear ordinary research,
comparison, explanation, writing, bounded maintenance, and new implementation
stay direct. Direct implementation makes evidence, implements, verifies, reviews,
and hands off; it creates no LEAF document flow. Use LEAF for an explicit LEAF,
durable record, learning-session, or collaborative-design request, or for core
unresolved decisions needing structured discovery and design. See
`../using-leaf/references/lifecycle.md` for lifecycle and close-out details;
request-scoped fast-track rules live in its sibling `fast-track.md`.

## Skills

| Skill          | Trigger                            | What it does                                                                              |
| -------------- | ---------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **using-leaf** | automatic session context          | Routes direct → request-scoped fast-track → discovery-heavy.                              |
| **soul**       | LEAF reporting or handoff          | Plain explanation, fact/guess boundaries, user-language prose.                            |
| **learn**      | `$leaf:learn`, ideas, unclear work | Captures intent and unknowns before execution.                                            |
| **work**       | approved Learn work                | Carries Example → Architect → Feedback.                                                   |
| **split**      | `$leaf:split`, split this work     | Decides whether one item should become multiple leaves.                                   |
| **autopilot**  | `$leaf:autopilot`                  | Continues after triple review; consumes only an approved active fast-track budget.        |
| **polish**     | phase boundaries                   | Makes cumulative LEAF files read as one connected report.                                 |
| **press**      | `$leaf:press`                      | Turns reference-worthy work into a citable digest.                                        |
| **profile**    | LEAF preferences                   | Reads or updates global and repo-local LEAF profile entries.                              |
| **tend**       | `$leaf:tend`, pressed docs drift   | Checks pressed digests against current code.                                              |
| **sidecar**    | `$leaf:sidecar <artifact>`         | Authors or refreshes an SRP single-responsibility `*.leaf.toml` contract for an artifact. |
| **install**    | `$leaf:install`                    | Installs or updates the `leaf` CLI, then verifies `leaf --version`.                       |
| **help**       | `$leaf:help`, `/leaf:help`         | This card.                                                                                |

Codex exposes skills as `$leaf:<skill>`. Claude-style hosts may expose the same
entries as `/leaf:<skill>` when the host supports slash commands.

## CLI

| Command                                      | Use                                            |
| -------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------- |
| `leaf init`                                  | Create the repo-local `.leaf/` workspace.      |
| `leaf new <slug>`                            | Start a sprout.                                |
| `leaf fall <slug> --reason "<reason>"`       | Stop carrying a leaf or sprout.                |
| `leaf list [--json]`                         | Show workspace inventory.                      |
| `leaf tree [--plain] [--demo]`               | Render the workspace tree.                     |
| `leaf graph [--json]`                        | Export the pressed-leaf knowledge graph.       |
| `leaf review <slug> [--json]`                | Open or print a source-faithful review reader. |
| `leaf profile`                               | Show effective global + repo-local profile.    |
| `leaf next <slug>`                           | Cross a polished phase boundary.               |
| `leaf checkpoint <slug> --<gate>`            | Snapshot gate files before polishing.          |
| `leaf doctor`                                | Check workspace and boundary health.           |
| `leaf serve [--port <port>] [--strict-port]` | Serve the read-only local web UI.              |
| `leaf update`                                | Update the installed CLI.                      |

## Install Or Update

Use `$leaf:install` first when `leaf` is missing or older than 0.12.0. It
chooses the OS-appropriate installer and verifies with:

```bash
leaf --version
```

## More

Full docs + releases: https://github.com/hoetaek/leaf