# Skillhelp > Answer help questions about the skills in this repo. Use when the user asks how to set up, install or configure a skill, what commands or flags a skill has, how a skill works internally, why a skill is failing or erroring, what a skill refuses to do, which skill to use for a job, or what skills exist at all. Triggers on "/skillhelp", "how do I use ", "how do I set up ", "what commands does have", "what does do", "how does work", "why is failing", "what skills do I have", "which skill should I use for", "explain to me", "document my skills", and "rebuild the skill index". - Skill: `natejswenson/skillhelp` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 64 files) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add natejswenson/skillhelp` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/natejswenson/skillhelp/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: Coding & Dev Tools - Author: natejswenson (https://skillmd.com/u/natejswenson) - Updated: 2026-09-21 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/natejswenson/skillhelp --- ## Codex runtime When running in Codex, invoke this skill as `$skillhelp`. Resolve scripts, assets, and references from the directory containing this SKILL.md, regardless of the current working directory. Existing `~/.claude/` personal-data paths remain valid and are still used by the bundled scripts; they do not require Claude to run. Map `Read`/`Write`/`Edit`/`Bash` to the available file and shell tools, and `WebSearch`/`WebFetch` to available web tools. For `AskUserQuestion`, use an available question tool or a concise chat question; wait for answers that gate action. Use Codex's delegation tools for required subagents when available; otherwise disclose that independent execution is unavailable. Discover connected apps by capability rather than assuming Claude MCP tool names exist. # /skillhelp — the knowledge base for the skills in this repo You are running the **skillhelp** skill. It answers questions about any skill here — how to set it up, how to use it, what commands it has, how it is built, and why it is failing — out of an index extracted from the skills' own files. **Announce at start:** "I'm using the skillhelp skill to answer that from the skill index." > Commands run from the directory containing this `SKILL.md` (`$SKILL_DIR`). > Resolve it once. `--repo` is optional — the CLI walks up to find the repo. ## The one rule **Never answer ungrounded: every fact this skill emits carries the file and line it was read from, a fact that loses its source is dropped rather than shown, and a question the cards cannot ground is answered by the retrieval command's own not-documented block — naming which skills and sections were searched — never by prose written to fill the gap.** You know a great deal about these skills from the conversation, from the repo, and from having written some of them. **None of that may enter an answer.** The value here is that a `skillhelp` answer is checkable: every claim points at a line the user can open. An answer that mixes remembered context with cited facts is worse than no answer, because it is no longer checkable and still looks it. ## What is code and what is judgment The split is declared in `skill-invariants.json` and checked — a deterministic step whose command does not exist fails `skillfactory verify`. | Deterministic — the machine decides | Command | |---|---| | extract five sections and their file:line sources from every skill | `node scripts/skillhelp.js build` | | prove no card would change, none is missing, no fact lost its source | `node scripts/skillhelp.js check` | | route a question to grounded facts, or emit the not-documented block | `node scripts/skillhelp.js ask` | | list every skill with its version and trigger phrases | `node scripts/skillhelp.js list` | | Model judgment — nothing on disk answers it | Why | |---|---| | which skill the user means when the question names none, or several | "how do I cut a release" spans release, shipflow and skillfactory; only intent decides | | writing the answer from the retrieved facts | a card is grounded facts, not an answer; which three of eleven matter is judgment | | whether a fact that scored above the floor is actually *responsive* | retrieval proves a fact exists and is real, never that it answers this question — a near-miss relayed as an answer is the ungrounded failure wearing a citation | ## The flow ### Answering a question — the common case One command. Do not read the cards; `ask` returns the fact lines inline. ``` node scripts/skillhelp.js ask "how do I set up ghostwriter" ``` It returns one of three things, and each has exactly one correct response: | It returns | You do | |---|---| | ranked facts | answer from them, citing `file:line`; say which skill the answer is about | | a **SECTION LISTING** | say so — it is the whole section, retrieved because the question named a skill and a section but no term matched. Do not present it as a targeted answer | | **NOT DOCUMENTED** | relay it. Name what was searched and what is missing. Offer to look in the source, but never answer as if the index had it | If the question names no skill, `ask` searches all of them; if it names one, the search is scoped to it and says so. When the user's phrasing is ambiguous between two skills, ask which — one line, not a form. ### Rebuilding the index The cards are committed, so they go stale when a skill changes. `ci / skillhelp` runs against `skills/**` and fails when any card **would change** — the fix is always one command: ``` node scripts/skillhelp.js check # what drifted, and why node scripts/skillhelp.js build # rewrite the cards ``` Drift is measured on the rendered card, not the skill's file tree: editing a comment inside a skill's `scripts/` changes no answer and reddens nothing. ### Browsing `node scripts/skillhelp.js list` for the catalogue when the user does not yet know which skill they want. ## Commands | Command | Returns | |---|---| | `skillhelp build` | one card per skill — Setup, Usage, Commands, Architecture, Troubleshooting — every fact carrying its `file:line`, secret-shaped lines refused, plus a manifest hashed on the rendered card. Table: skill, version, sections filled, facts, refused, status. Names every skill with an empty section rather than hiding it | | `skillhelp check` | re-extracts and byte-compares against the committed cards. Non-zero on `would-change`, `missing`, `incomplete`, `ungrounded` or `orphaned`, and prints the one rebuild command | | `skillhelp ask` | grounded facts inline with sources, ranked, stating how many it withheld — or the not-documented block naming every skill and section searched | | `skillhelp list` | the catalogue: skill, version, facts, trigger phrases | ## Rules that are not negotiable - **Never answer ungrounded: every fact this skill emits carries the file and line it was read from, a fact that loses its source is dropped rather than shown, and a question the cards cannot ground is answered by the retrieval command's own not-documented block — naming which skills and sections were searched — never by prose written to fill the gap.** - **Never claim a result you did not observe.** Say what you verified and what you did not. - **Run the commands and never ask about anything in it** — the catalogue, the versions and the drift verdicts are facts on disk. A confirmation is not a question. - **Never present a section listing as a targeted answer.** How a result was found changes how much it should be trusted. - **Never hand-edit a card.** They are generated; edit the skill, then rebuild. In Claude Code, load `/press`; in Codex, load `$press`; then follow the shared PRESS terminal/UI contract from `brand/agent-ui.md`. Do not copy or override that contract here.