jmagly Prose Detect Skill
You locate an existing OpenProse installation by checking a priority-ordered list of signals. You return the resolved PROSE_ROOT path (pointing to skills/open-prose/ inside the OpenProse repo), or report that no installation was found and suggest running /prose-setup.
All other prose-integration skills call this skill before operating — detection is centralized here so each skill doesn't re-implement discovery independently.
Triggers
- "detect prose" / "find prose" / "locate openprose"
- "where is prose installed"
- "check if prose is available"
- "prose-detect" (direct invocation from other skills)
- Called automatically by prose-run, prose-reader, prose-validate, forme-manifest before execution
Detection Protocol
Work through the following signals in order. Use the first one that resolves to a valid installation.
Signal 1: Environment Variable
# Check PROSE_ROOT or AIWG_PROSE_ROOT
echo "$PROSE_ROOT"
echo "$AIWG_PROSE_ROOT"
If set, validate that $PROSE_ROOT/prose.md exists. If valid, use this path.
Signal 2: AIWG Config File
# Check .aiwg/config.json for saved prose path
cat .aiwg/config.json 2>/dev/null | python3 -c "import sys,json; d=json.load(sys.stdin); print(d.get('prose',{}).get('path',''))" 2>/dev/null
If prose.path is set and {prose.path}/prose.md exists, use this path.
Signal 3: AIWG-Local Install
# Check if AIWG installed Prose locally
ls ~/.aiwg/prose/skills/open-prose/prose.md 2>/dev/null
If exists, PROSE_ROOT = ~/.aiwg/prose/skills/open-prose.
Signal 4: Project Plugin Manifest
Walk CWD upward looking for .claude-plugin/plugin.json with OpenProse entry:
# Search CWD and ancestors for .claude-plugin/plugin.json
dir="$(pwd)"
while [ "$dir" != "/" ]; do
if [ -f "$dir/.claude-plugin/plugin.json" ]; then
# Check if it references open-prose
python3 -c "
import json, sys
with open('$dir/.claude-plugin/plugin.json') as f:
d = json.load(f)
# Plugin root is the directory containing .claude-plugin/
if d.get('name') == 'open-prose':
print('$dir/skills/open-prose')
" 2>/dev/null
break
fi
dir="$(dirname "$dir")"
done
If found, use the resolved path.
Signal 5: User Home Directory
# Check if user has previously run Prose
ls ~/.prose/agents/ 2>/dev/null
If ~/.prose/agents/ exists, PROSE_ROOT is likely nearby. Check:
ls ~/.prose/skills/open-prose/prose.md 2>/dev/null
Signal 6: Global CLI
# Check for global CLI install
which prose 2>/dev/null
If found, use prose --root or prose info to resolve the installation path.
Signal 7: Not Found
If no signal resolves to a valid PROSE_ROOT, output:
## OpenProse Not Found
No OpenProse installation was detected. Checked:
- $PROSE_ROOT / $AIWG_PROSE_ROOT environment variables
- .aiwg/config.json prose.path
- ~/.aiwg/prose/ (AIWG-local install)
- .claude-plugin/plugin.json in CWD and ancestors
- ~/.prose/ (user home)
- `prose` CLI on PATH
To install OpenProse, run:
```bash
/prose-setup
Or provide a custom path:
# Set env var
export PROSE_ROOT=/path/to/prose/skills/open-prose
# Or configure in .aiwg/config.json
{"prose": {"path": "/path/to/prose/skills/open-prose"}}
Do NOT install silently. Always confirm with the user before running `/prose-setup`.
## Validation
After resolving a candidate path, validate it by checking for required files:
```bash
# Minimum required files
ls "$PROSE_ROOT/prose.md"
ls "$PROSE_ROOT/forme.md"
If either file is missing, the path is invalid — continue to the next signal.
Output
On success, output:
## OpenProse Located
**PROSE_ROOT**: /path/to/prose/skills/open-prose
**Detected via**: [signal name — env var | aiwg-config | aiwg-local | plugin-manifest | user-home | cli]
**prose.md**: present
**forme.md**: present
Prose integration skills are ready to use.
Also set PROSE_ROOT in the session environment if the platform supports it.
Caching
Once detected, save the resolved path to .aiwg/config.json so Signal 2 succeeds on future calls:
{
"prose": {
"path": "/resolved/path/to/skills/open-prose",
"detectedVia": "aiwg-local",
"lastVerified": "2026-04-02T00:00:00Z"
}
}
Only write the cache if the detection succeeds and the path is validated.
Model
This skill runs on Haiku — it's pure file-system checks and shell commands. No reasoning needed.
Used By
All prose-integration skills call prose-detect as their first step:
/prose-reader/prose-run/prose-validate/forme-manifest
References
- @$AIWG_ROOT/${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/README.md — prose-integration addon overview
- @$AIWG_ROOT/agentic/code/addons/aiwg-utils/rules/research-before-decision.md — Priority-ordered detection chain before deciding installation path
- @$AIWG_ROOT/agentic/code/addons/aiwg-utils/rules/human-authorization.md — Never install silently; always confirm before running prose-setup
- @$AIWG_ROOT/docs/cli-reference.md — CLI reference for AIWG addon configuration