Senior engineer CLI expertise for AI agents — workflows, safety guardrails, gotchas, and anti-patterns across cloud, IaC, containers, databases, dev tools, and platforms
日本語に翻訳 name: swe-cli-skills
description: "Senior engineer CLI expertise for AI agents — workflows, safety guardrails, gotchas, and anti-patterns across cloud, IaC, containers, databases, dev tools, and platforms"
SWE CLI Skills
man pages for machines — Your agent knows the commands. We teach it the workflows.
This skill provides expert-level CLI knowledge for the tools software engineers use daily. Each guide encodes senior engineer judgment — not reference docs, but operational workflows, safety guardrails, flag gotchas, error recovery, and composition patterns.
When to Use This Skill
Load a specific CLI guide when:
You need to run complex CLI operations (multi-step workflows, piped commands)
You're unsure about flag ordering, safety checks, or non-interactive alternatives
You encounter a CLI error and need the actual fix (not generic advice)
You need to compose multiple CLIs together (e.g., aws → jq → xargs)
Available CLI Guides
Guides are organized by category. Read the category index or jump directly to a CLI guide.
☁️ Cloud (skills/cloud/)
CLI File Use For AWS CLI skills/cloud/aws.mdS3 filter ordering, IAM auth, EC2 queries, JMESPath, Lambda gcloud skills/cloud/gcloud.mdGCP project/config management, GKE, Cloud Run, IAM, logging Azure CLI skills/cloud/azure.mdResource groups, AKS, App Service, RBAC, ARM deployments
🏗️ Infrastructure as Code (skills/iac/)
CLI File Use For Terraform skills/iac/terraform.mdState management, import workflows, safe apply, workspace migration
🐳 Containers & Orchestration (skills/containers/)
CLI File Use For Docker skills/containers/docker.mdBuild cache, multi-stage builds, compose v2, cleanup, debugging kubectl skills/containers/kubectl.mdContext safety, namespace gotchas, rollout/rollback, pod debugging Helm skills/containers/helm.mdValues precedence, upgrade resets, rollback, chart debugging
🔀 Git & Version Control (skills/git-vcs/)
CLI File Use For Git skills/git-vcs/git.mdNon-interactive alternatives, rebase, merge, conflict resolution GitHub CLI skills/git-vcs/gh.mdPR workflows, issue management, releases, Actions
🛠️ Dev Tools (skills/dev-tools/)
CLI File Use For jq skills/dev-tools/jq.mdJSON filtering, select vs map, array ops, shell variable injection sed skills/dev-tools/sed.mdStream editing, in-place substitution, macOS vs Linux portability make skills/dev-tools/make.mdBuild automation, Makefile patterns, phony targets, variables curl skills/dev-tools/curl.mdAuth headers, multipart uploads, API debugging, response handling SSH/SCP skills/dev-tools/ssh.mdTunneling, ProxyJump, key management, agent-safe patterns
📦 Package Managers (skills/package-managers/)
CLI File Use For npm skills/package-managers/npm.mdDependency management, scripts, workspaces, publishing, lockfiles pip & uv skills/package-managers/pip-uv.mdVirtual envs, dependency resolution, uv acceleration, constraints
🗄️ Databases (skills/databases/)
CLI File Use For psql skills/databases/psql.mdConnection strings, non-interactive queries, backup/restore, meta-commands redis-cli skills/databases/redis.mdConnection, key operations, debugging, persistence, cluster management
🚀 Platforms & Services (skills/platforms/)
CLI File Use For Stripe CLI skills/platforms/stripe.mdWebhook testing, API debugging, fixtures, payment flow testing Sentry CLI skills/platforms/sentry.mdRelease management, sourcemap uploads, deploy tracking Vercel CLI skills/platforms/vercel.mdDeployments, env vars, serverless functions, domains Firebase CLI skills/platforms/firebase.mdHosting deploy, Firestore rules, auth emulators, Cloud Functions flyctl skills/platforms/fly.mdApp deployment, scaling, secrets, regions, Machines API
Quick Reference: Critical Gotchas
These are the highest-impact mistakes — check the full guide for details:
AWS S3 : --exclude must come BEFORE --include (left-to-right evaluation)Terraform : Always terraform plan after terraform import (detects drift)Docker : Copy dependency files before source code (cache optimization)kubectl : ALWAYS verify kubectl config current-context before applyHelm : helm upgrade RESETS values not specified — use --reuse-valuesGit : Use git --no-pager and --no-edit flags (agents have no TTY)SSH : Use BatchMode=yes to prevent password prompt hangspsql : Always use -v ON_ERROR_STOP=1 in scripts (psql continues after errors by default)Redis : NEVER use KEYS * in production — use SCAN instead (blocks server)gcloud : Always set --project explicitly in automation (don't rely on default project)npm : Use npm ci in CI/CD, not npm install (ensures reproducible builds)sed : sed -i behaves differently on macOS vs Linux — use -i.bak for portabilitymake : Indentation MUST be real tabs, not spaces (invisible error)Stripe : stripe listen webhook secret changes on every restart — update your env varSentry : Sourcemap --url-prefix must exactly match browser request pathsVercel : vercel without --prod deploys to preview, not productionFirebase : firebase deploy without --only deploys EVERYTHING
Token Efficiency
This skill uses a category sub-index architecture . Instead of loading all CLI guides at once:
Read this root SKILL.md to find the right category
Read only the specific CLI guide you need (e.g., skills/cloud/aws.md)
This keeps token usage minimal — load one guide (~200-400 lines) instead of the entire library.
Each Guide Contains
Setup & Auth — Installation and credential configurationCore Workflows — The 20% of commands covering 80% of usageFlag Gotchas — Ordering traps, version quirks, surprising defaultsError Patterns — Real error messages → real fixesAnti-Patterns — "Never do X because Y" with safe alternativesComposability — How to pipe this CLI with othersAgent Constraints — Non-interactive alternatives, TTY workarounds