cli-for-agents
Agent-Friendly CLI Design Best Practices
Prescriptive design and review standards for Command-Line Interface Design targeting AI agents and scripts, not just humans typing at a prompt. Human-oriented CLIs often block agents: interactive prompts, huge upfront docs, help text without copy-pasteable examples, error messages without fixes, no dry-run mode. This skill prioritizes rules by blast radius — from "the agent cannot use this CLI at all" (CRITICAL) to "the agent has to read help one extra time" (MEDIUM).
Use this skill both when building a new CLI and when reviewing an existing one for agent-friendliness.
This skill contains 45 rules across 8 categories.
When to Apply
Reference these guidelines when:
- Writing
--helptext for any subcommand - Designing new flags, arguments, or subcommands
- Crafting error messages or exit codes
- Adding destructive operations that need dry-run or confirmation
- Choosing between interactive prompts and flag-only inputs
- Shaping success output so agents can chain commands
- Reviewing an existing CLI for headless-usability regressions
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