How do I install the Agent Emacs skill?

Run npx skillmds@latest add modbender/agent-emacs in your terminal (requires Node.js), paste this page's agent-chat prompt into Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-connected agent, or download the SKILL.md file and copy it into your agent's skills directory.

Is Agent Emacs safe to use?

This skill has not completed SkillMD's automated safety review yet. Independent scanners report: SkillSpector: PASS, Skill Scanner: PASS. Capability flags: executes scripts. SkillMD never runs a skill's scripts for you; review the SKILL.md before installing.

Which AI agents work with Agent Emacs?

This skill is tagged as working with Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex. SKILL.md is an open format, so most agents that read a skills directory can load it too.

Is Agent Emacs free to use?

Yes. Installing skills from SkillMD is free, and the skill stays under its author's original license.

Who published Agent Emacs?

modbender (@modbender) published this skill. Their other Agent Skills are listed on their SkillMD profile.

Agent Emacs by modbender — Agent Skill

Name: Agent Emacs
Rating: 4.2 (5 reviews)
Author: modbender

Agent Emacs

Unified persistent text-based environment for AI agents. Use when an agent needs to maintain state across sessions, perform structural code editing, or manage remote nodes via TRAMP. Transforms the agent from a stateless script executor into a stateful resident of a living Emacs daemon.

modbender Updated Sep 9, 2026 12 repo stars

File contents

Agent Emacs: The Living Workspace

This skill provides a persistent, high-performance Emacs environment designed specifically for AI agents. It replaces fragmented CLI tools with a unified "Living Image" workflow.

Core Concepts

The Daemon: All work happens inside a persistent Emacs daemon (emacs-agent.service).
The Socket: Communication is handled via emacsclient -s /tmp/emacs0/server.
Buffers as State: Files, terminal outputs, and remote connections are treated as persistent buffers. State is maintained between agent turns.

Operational Workflow

1. Structural Editing

Do not use regex for complex code changes. Use ELisp forms to manipulate the AST.

emacsclient -s /tmp/emacs0/server --eval "(with-current-buffer \"main.lisp\" (goto-char (point-max)) (insert \"\n(new-function)\"))"

2. Remote Infrastructure (TRAMP)

Manage remote nodes transparently. Opening a remote file automatically establishes a persistent SSH tunnel.

(find-file "/ssh:user@remote-node:/etc/config.json")

3. Project Management (Magit)

Use Magit for all Git operations to ensure high-integrity commits and staging.

Advanced Workflows

For detailed patterns on recursive data processing (RLM), memory management, and REPL-based accuracy, see:

usage.md - Low-level Lisp interaction patterns.
agent-workflows.md - High-level operational strategies.

Guaranteed Accuracy

Always use the Emacs Lisp REPL for math, data manipulation, or status calculations. Accuracy is paramount; do not attempt manual calculations.

Initialization

Run scripts/bootstrap.sh to ensure the daemon is active and the agent-init.el configuration is loaded.

---name: agent-emacsdescription: Unified persistent text-based environment for AI agents. Use when an agent needs to maintain state across sessions, perform structural code editing, or manage remote nodes via TRAMP. Transforms the agent from a stateless script executor into a stateful resident of a living Emacs daemon.--- # Agent Emacs: The Living Workspace This skill provides a persistent, high-performance Emacs environment designed specifically for AI agents. It replaces fragmented CLI tools with a unified "Living Image" workflow. ## Core Concepts 1. **The Daemon**: All work happens inside a persistent Emacs daemon (`emacs-agent.service`). 2. **The Socket**: Communication is handled via `emacsclient -s /tmp/emacs0/server`. 3. **Buffers as State**: Files, terminal outputs, and remote connections are treated as persistent buffers. State is maintained between agent turns. ## Operational Workflow ### 1. Structural Editing Do not use regex for complex code changes. Use ELisp forms to manipulate the AST. ```bash emacsclient -s /tmp/emacs0/server --eval "(with-current-buffer \"main.lisp\" (goto-char (point-max)) (insert \"\n(new-function)\"))" ``` ### 2. Remote Infrastructure (TRAMP) Manage remote nodes transparently. Opening a remote file automatically establishes a persistent SSH tunnel. ```elisp (find-file "/ssh:user@remote-node:/etc/config.json") ``` ### 3. Project Management (Magit) Use Magit for all Git operations to ensure high-integrity commits and staging. ## Advanced Workflows For detailed patterns on recursive data processing (RLM), memory management, and REPL-based accuracy, see: - [usage.md](references/usage.md) - Low-level Lisp interaction patterns. - [agent-workflows.md](references/agent-workflows.md) - High-level operational strategies. ## Guaranteed Accuracy Always use the Emacs Lisp REPL for math, data manipulation, or status calculations. Accuracy is paramount; do not attempt manual calculations. ## Initialization Run `scripts/bootstrap.sh` to ensure the daemon is active and the `agent-init.el` configuration is loaded.

Frequently asked questions