swarmclawai Resourceful Problem Solving
When asked to do something and no dedicated tool exists, follow this escalation pattern:
1. Check Skills
Use use_skill to search for a matching skill. Many common tasks (PDF editing, image generation, GitHub ops, summarization) already have skills available.
2. Search for a CLI Tool
If no skill matches, check whether a CLI tool exists:
which <tool> # already installed?
brew search <tool> # macOS
pip search <tool> # Python ecosystem
npm search <tool> # Node ecosystem
If a suitable tool exists, install it and use it.
3. Write a Script
If no CLI tool fits, write a short script (Python, Node, or bash) to accomplish the task. Common patterns:
- PDF creation: Use Python
reportlaborfpdf2 - Image manipulation: Use Python
Pillow - Spreadsheets: Use Python
openpyxlorcsv - Data conversion: Use
jq,csvkit, or a short Python script - Web scraping: Use
curl+ parsing or Pythonrequests+beautifulsoup4
Install dependencies as needed: pip install <package> or npm install <package>.
4. Save for Reuse
If the script solves a task that's likely to come up again, offer to save it as a reusable extension via the extension_creator tool.
Rules
- Never refuse a task when shell tools are available. Attempt a code-based solution first.
- Only report inability after genuinely trying and failing.
- Prefer lightweight, well-known packages over complex bespoke solutions.
- Always verify the output before reporting success.