ckb/.agents/skills/ckb-module/SKILL.md

name

description

ckb-module

Install, list, or uninstall an optional Cascade KB module from .agents/modules/<name>/ — copying its skills into .agents/skills/, creating its scaffold directories, appending its routing block to AGENTS.md and its rules to .gitignore, and recording it in the root ckb.yaml manifest. Use when the user says "install the software module", "add the <name> module", "what modules are available", "which modules are installed", "uninstall the <name> module", or asks to make this KB handle source code / a capability the base KB doesn't have. Distinct from `ckb-init` (bootstraps a whole new KB) and `ckb-upgrade` (catches the template layer up with upstream); this skill toggles optional capabilities within an existing KB.

Module skill

Purpose

The base KB ships every skill always-loaded. Some capabilities are only useful to some knowledge bases, and their skill descriptions would otherwise sit in context for every KB that will never need them.

Optional capabilities therefore live in .agents/modules/<name>/ — present in the repo, inert until installed. This skill is the install/uninstall path. See D-0001 for why this is files-in-the-repo rather than a native agent plugin: a module is a property of the knowledge base, so it must travel with a clone and work for any agent that reads AGENTS.md.

Trigger phrases

• "install the <name> module" / "add the <name> module" / "enable <name>"
• "what modules are available" / "which modules are installed"
• "uninstall the <name> module" / "remove <name>" / "disable <name>"
• "make this KB handle source code" (→ offer the software module)

The manifest

Installed modules are recorded in ckb.yaml at the repo root:

kb_modules:
  - name: software
    version: 1.0.0
    installed_on: 2026-09-20
    config:
      src_repos: []

ckb.yaml holds repo-level configuration — what's installed, what it's configured with. It is not the wiki's content contract: kb_schema_version stays in wiki/index.md where it has always been. Two different things, two different homes.

If ckb.yaml doesn't exist, no modules are installed; create it on first install.

Installing

Step 1 — Resolve and read the module

Find .agents/modules/<name>/module.yaml. If the name doesn't match, list what's actually in .agents/modules/ rather than guessing at a near-miss.

Read the manifest: skills, scaffold, agents_fragment, gitignore_fragment, schema_additions, depends_on, requires_kb_schema.

Step 2 — Check preconditions, and report them before writing anything

• Already installed? If ckb.yaml lists it, say so and offer to reinstall (refresh the files) or stop. Don't silently re-copy.
• Schema. If requires_kb_schema is above wiki/index.md's kb_schema_version, the bump is part of this install (Step 4) — additive only. If the module needs a major version above the KB's, stop and hand it to ckb-upgrade.
• Dependencies. Run each check. A failing optional dependency is a warning, not a blocker — report it plainly and continue. A failing required one stops the install.
• Collisions. If a skill name in skills: already exists in .agents/skills/, or a scaffold path exists with unrelated content, stop and ask. Never overwrite a skill the user may have edited.

Report all findings before the first write, then proceed (or ask, if anything needs a decision). A half-installed module is worse than an uninstalled one.

Step 3 — Copy the payload

cp -r .agents/modules/<name>/skills/<skill> .agents/skills/<skill>

.claude/skills is a symlink to .agents/skills (git mode 120000), so the skills appear under .claude/ automatically. Do not create a second copy there — that symlink is a deliberate choice, and duplicating it creates two things to keep in sync.

Create each scaffold path, copying any from template to its as destination. Never overwrite an existing scaffold file — skip it and note the skip.

Step 4 — Patch the shared files

Both patches are wrapped in markers so uninstall is exact:

<!-- ckb-module:<name> START -->
...fragment...
<!-- ckb-module:<name> END -->

• AGENTS.md — append agents_fragment at the end of the file, inside markers. CLAUDE.md is a symlink to AGENTS.md, so it updates for free; never write CLAUDE.md directly.
• .gitignore — append gitignore_fragment, inside markers (#-commented).
• wiki/index.md — bump kb_schema_version to requires_kb_schema if the module's additions raise it. Additive only, per ckb-upgrade's versioning policy.

Step 5 — Record, log, report

• Add the module to ckb.yaml with its version and today's date.
• Log to wiki/log.md per Rule B only for the wiki/index.md change — the rest is template layer, not wiki content.
• Append to workload/YYYY-MM-DD_summary.md per Rule D.
• Report: skills now available and what they do, directories created, files patched, dependency warnings, schema bump if any. Then the standard reminder — on disk, not committed.

Offer to record a decision (ckb-decide) if installing the module was a real choice for this KB rather than following a prior one.

Uninstalling

Reverse Step 3 and 4, in this order, and be conservative about data:

1. Remove .agents/skills/<skill> for each skill the manifest lists — but first diff it against .agents/modules/<name>/skills/<skill>. If the installed copy was edited, show the diff and ask before deleting. Offer to copy the edits back into the module folder so they survive.
2. Strip the marked blocks from AGENTS.md and .gitignore.
3. Remove the module's entry from ckb.yaml.

Never remove scaffold directories or any content under them. src/ may hold the user's clones, openspec/ their specs. Say explicitly what was left behind and why, so nothing looks like an oversight.

Never remove wiki pages the module's skills created, and never lower kb_schema_version. Those pages are knowledge; the module produced them but does not own them, and they must stay readable without it. Say which page types (repository, component, spec) will now have no skill maintaining them.

Listing

On "what modules are available": list .agents/modules/*/module.yaml with each title and summary, marking which are installed per ckb.yaml. Keep it short — name, one line, installed or not.

Edge cases

• A module directory with no module.yaml — not a module. Report it as malformed; don't try to infer its contents from its file layout.
• The user asks for a capability no module provides — say so, and don't install a near-match hoping it fits. Offer to note it in wiki/query-gaps.md.
• ckb-upgrade brought a newer version of an installed module — the installed skill copies are stale. Offer to reinstall; show what changed before doing it.
• Markers missing at uninstall (someone hand-edited AGENTS.md) — don't guess at the block's boundaries. Show the fragment and ask the user to remove it, or point at exactly what to delete.
• A module's skill was renamed upstream — treat as collision (Step 2), ask. Don't delete the old name automatically.

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Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 — see LICENSE at the repository root, or http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0.