Skills

Use Knowns skills across supported AI runtimes.

Source file6acb7f3Updated Jul 11, 2026, 3:47 AM

Skills

Skills are reusable workflow instructions embedded in the Knowns binary and synced to platform-specific directories.

Skills are separate from MCP tools. MCP tools appear in clients as structured domain tools such as tasks, docs, memory, search, and code; skills are invoked through each agent's skill-command syntax.

Current skill paths

  • .claude/skills -> Claude Code
  • .agents/skills -> OpenCode, Codex, Hermes Agent, Antigravity, Generic Agents
  • .kiro/skills -> Kiro

Setup

Skills are generated via knowns setup <target> --global for normal personal assistant setup, via knowns setup <target> for intentional repo-local setup, or re-synced with knowns sync --skills:

bash
knowns setup claude --global    # Syncs Claude skills/config at user scope
knowns setup opencode --global  # Syncs OpenCode skills/config at user scope
knowns setup codex --global     # Syncs Codex skills/config at user scope
knowns setup hermes --global    # Syncs Hermes external skill config at user scope
knowns setup kiro --global      # Syncs Kiro skills/config at user scope
knowns sync --skills   # Re-syncs all configured platforms

Invocation syntax

PlatformExample
Claude Code/kn-spec, /kn-flow, /kn-review
Codex$kn-spec, $kn-flow, $kn-review

For SDD, the recommended approved-spec path is:

text
Claude Code:
/kn-spec <feature-name>
/kn-flow @doc/<spec-path>

Codex:
$kn-spec <feature-name>
$kn-flow @doc/<spec-path>
$kn-flow @doc/<spec-path> --sequential # Opt out of Codex sub-agent delegation

kn-go still exists for the legacy no-review-gates pipeline. Use kn-flow for normal approved-spec execution.

Research behavior

kn-research is MCP-first:

  • use Knowns search/retrieve for project docs, tasks, memory, and decisions
  • use Knowns code tools before raw file search for code structure, symbols, definitions, and references
  • use specialized external MCP providers such as Context7/library docs, GitHub/source MCP, or official docs MCP when upstream facts matter
  • use general web search only when specialized MCP providers are unavailable, insufficient, or explicitly requested

When the research scope is large and the runtime exposes sub-agent tools, kn-research may split independent tracks across sub-agents. External results should be treated as supporting evidence, not as a replacement for local docs, tasks, source files, or user instructions.

Notes

  • .agents/skills is the primary path for agent-compatible platforms
  • knowns init no longer syncs skills — use knowns setup <target> --global after init for personal assistant setup
  • knowns sync --skills is the entrypoint for regenerating skills after updates