Terrain Knowledge Skill

Terrain Knowledge Skill

Terrain stores AI knowledge assets under .terrain/ in this repository (not a global ~/.terrain/knowledge directory). The desktop app registry at ~/.terrain/registry.json only maps slugs → repo paths.

Load rtk-skill when you need to run shell commands during investigation (git, grep repomix file, tests). Resolve tools via conventional paths (~/.terrain/bin/…) with bunx/npx fallback — see rtk-skill / codegraph-skill.

Knowledge layers (mandatory order)

1. Architecture — .terrain/agent/context.md

   • Module map, core flows, system boundaries, tech stack
   • Check .terrain/agent/context-meta.json or meta.json for asset timestamps
   • Read directly (short); no RTK needed

2. Private domain — .terrain/knowledge/**/*.md

   • Business glossary, internal frameworks, APIs, scaffolding guides
   • Team-maintained markdown; read in filename sort order when surveying

3. Structured meta — .terrain/agent/meta-inputs.md

   • Compiled from terrain-meta.json and knowledge/ scans

4. Source index — see repomix-context-skill

   • Local .terrain/agent/repomix.md (gitignored; regenerate via Terrain scan)

Knowledge freshness (mandatory before architecture answers)

Before trusting context.md for module/architecture questions:

~/.terrain/bin/terrain tools freshness --project <slug>
# or: bunx @terrain-ai/cli tools freshness --project <slug>

This recomputes when stale and writes .terrain/.meta/freshness.json. Do not only read that JSON statically — it is a local cache snapshot.

On conflict: repomix source slices > codegraph > agent/context.md > human/

For symbol impact/callers, also see codegraph-skill (CodeGraph status can lie; use terrain tools codegraph-drift).

Query workflow

Task received
  → freshness check (architecture tasks)
  → Read context.md (or relevant section)
  → If business/internal terms → read knowledge/*.md
  → If symbol / call graph → codegraph-skill
  → If implementation / source → repomix-context-skill
  → If shell/git/test needed → rtk-skill (prefix with rtk)

Rules

• Do not invent module names that contradict context.md or meta-inputs.md
• Do not read the entire live repository tree when indexed assets exist
• Do not load full repomix.md into context — grep slices only (rtk grep on the file is OK)
• Prefer .terrain/ over guessing project structure

Private knowledge directory

.terrain/knowledge/ — developers add markdown here; Terrain scans on context generation.

Example files:

• 00-glossary.md — domain terms
• 10-internal-framework.md — internal libs
• 20-api-usage.md — internal APIs
• 30-scaffolding.md — project generators

Human docs (optional)

.terrain/human/ — Litho-generated docs for humans; useful for onboarding context but denser than context.md.

Related skills