OpenRig skills — the index (start here)

You're running inside OpenRig. OpenRig ships a set of skills — small documents that tell you when to do something and how. This file is the map: what ships, when to reach for each, and how to load it. If you don't know which skill applies, or nothing is projected into your context, start here.

How OpenRig context works (30 seconds)

Skills are progressive disclosure: a skill's name + description sit in your context ambiently (the "hot tier"); its body loads only when you open it. So you don't pre-read everything — you pattern-match a skill's "when" to your moment, then open just that one. This file recommends skills from the shipped set. (For bounded procedures, open agent-operated-workflows; for ongoing agent-backed applications, open agent-operated-software.)

Every row below names how to reach the skill — already-hot, or an exact load path. No row is a dead end.

Loading an entry on demand — rig context get

Don't guess a file path or a name. Go ask → ref → load in three steps:

1. Discover — run rig context list for every shipped entry's ref and name. The when for each is the index below (or rig context list --json, which carries each entry's purpose) — match your moment there.
2. Select — match your moment to a row's when and take its ref. Refs are canonical full paths that mirror the library layout — skills/<namespace>/<name> (e.g. skills/core/rig-lifecycle, skills/process/systematic-debugging). A unique bare name (e.g. watchdog) also resolves; any slash-bearing ref is an exact lookup and fails loud if it does not exist.
3. Load — rig context get skills/<namespace>/<name>:

rig context get skills/core/rig-lifecycle

The router itself is available through both forms it teaches: rig context get openrig-skills and rig context get skills/core/openrig-skills.

The content is served from the installed CLI, so what you load always matches your running version — no path-guessing, no frozen-fork drift. (The daemon assembles the same bundle rig context preview shows an operator — get is the agent-facing pull.)

The index

Membership rule (layout.skills[*].edges.length > 0): this index recommends skills from the public product edges. Optional procedures remain available through rig context list without a recommendation here.

Always loaded — the universal spine (open its body when its moment hits)

These are auto-delivered to every rig; their name+description are already in your context. Open the body when the "when" matches.

• forming-an-openrig-mental-model — first boot, or you're unsure how the pieces fit. The runtime mental model.
• openrig-operating-model — you do not know where context or work belongs, or you are about to duplicate knowledge. The two-tree placement and trace-to-root model.
• openrig-user — you need a rig CLI command (send / queue / ps / whoami / scope / broadcast). The daily CLI surface.
• applying-a-permission-policy — a rig or seat has a permission policy attached, or you're setting one up: translate it into the live harness configuration.
• claude-compaction-restore — you just compacted (Claude). Restore from durable evidence before resuming real work.
• delegating-work — deciding who should do a task: you, a spawned subagent, or a durable peer seat that already holds the context.
• loading-addressable-markdown — a task names Markdown as path#h2-slug or path#h2-slug/h3-slug outside the context-pack library.
• session-compaction-and-restore — preparing for, or recovering from, compaction (any runtime). The write- and read-side protocol.
• queue-handoff — you're passing durable work to another seat or ending your turn. The queue is the work ledger, not chat.
• refocusing — invoke as refocusing when a long-running seat may have lost the product outcome, crossed a major boundary, or compacted and needs a fresh path-based trace.
• seat-continuity-and-handover — handing your seat's work across a restart or to another owner.
• orienting-to-an-inherited-seat — you just inherited an existing seat through a planned handover and need to verify its identity, state, and testimony.
• retiring-and-inheriting-a-seat — you're planning a seat transition and need to retire the current occupant into a fresh successor without losing continuity.
• mission-slice-sop — you're working a mission/slice (the SDLC: intent → mini-requirements + proof contract → build → QA → proof). The operating manual.
• messaging-the-human — composing a message to the human. Plain language, no insider jargon.
• agent-operated-workflows — a bounded real-world procedure needs an agent to interpret state and operate exact tools, or you are deciding whether ordinary code should own the loop.
• agent-operated-software — you are designing or operating an ongoing application whose live backend includes OpenRig agents.
• software-for-agents — compatibility redirect for the former agent-operated-software name; remove in 0.6.0.
• openrig-skills — this index (you're reading it). Always loaded; the entry point to everything below.

Load when your role or task calls for it (repo-shipped, profile-selected)

These ship in the OpenRig repo and reach a seat when its profile selects them. To use one, select it in your profile's uses.skills, or open it directly at packages/daemon/specs/agents/shared/skills/core/<skill>/SKILL.md.

• openrig-software-factory — a user wants continuing reviewed work: manual/team, queue-only orchestration or an explicit Workflow; add one or two seats to the running starter when useful, with context, ownership, concurrency, spend and permission limits. Load rig context get skills/core/openrig-software-factory/SKILL.md.
• openrig-architect — authoring a rig or topology (NOT for changing OpenRig itself — that's developing-openrig).
• openrig-cmux — driving the cmux terminal provider.
• openrig-herdr — opening/managing seat terminals via the default proof-gated provider.
• agent-startup-and-context-ingestion — a seat is booting and ingesting its startup context.
• topology-mutation-and-seat-management — adding, removing, renaming seats or otherwise mutating rig topology.
• rig-lifecycle — rig up / down / pause / resume lifecycle operations.
• rig-bundles-and-shareable-artifacts — packaging or installing a rig bundle / shareable artifact.
• cross-host-rig-commands — reaching seats or queues on another host (--host).
• openrig-upgrade — upgrading OpenRig or the daemon.
• agent-starters — composing an agent's starter context / priming packs.
• specification-system — authoring or reading AgentSpecs and rig specs.
• human-in-the-loop — deciding when to involve the human vs. proceed on your own authority.
• watchdog — monitoring or recovering a seat (health, restore, stuck state).
• session-source-fork — forking a session's source/context.
• context-engineering — designing context systems. Provisional and non-normative: current OpenRig skills, explicit rulings, and measured practice outrank it on any conflict.

Pod handbooks (load when you're in that pod):

• orchestration-team — you're orchestrating a rig: dispatching, monitoring, keeping the loop moving.
• development-team — you're on the dev pod: building and shipping product changes.
• review-team — you're reviewing: fresh scrutiny, anti-slop, empirical verification.
• oversight-team — you're in an oversight pod: monitor boundaries and route findings without taking over the work.

Product-management craft (load when shaping/reviewing work):

• requirements-writer — turning intent into clear requirements.
• plan-review — reviewing a plan before it's built.
• exec-summary — writing a decision-ready summary for a human.
• office-hours — running a structured advisory / decision session.
• context-builder — assembling the context a task or seat needs.
• backlog-capture — capturing and shaping backlog items.
• ui-mockup — producing a UI mockup for a slice.

Vendored craft — load when you're coding (ships with upstream provenance)

General engineering skills OpenRig ships as vendored copies. Open when the task matches; they carry "modified by OpenRig" provenance.

• verification-before-completion — about to claim done / passing / fixed: run the check and read the output first.
• systematic-debugging — debugging: find the root cause before the fix.
• agent-browser — driving a browser (screenshot / screencast) from an agent.
• frontend-design — designing frontend / UI.
• dogfood — web-QA / dogfooding a shipped UI.

When OpenRig itself misbehaves

Run rig context get help: the one help guide for your installed version, from symptom to next step, known problems, and a useful report to the OpenRig team if you are still stuck. If rig won't run, read daemon/docs/reference/help.md inside the installed @openrig/cli package, or https://www.openrig.dev/help/agents (the same text).

Developing OpenRig itself

If you're changing OpenRig's own source in a clone of the openrig repository, use that repository's developing-openrig skill (in the checkout's .claude/skills/ or .agents/skills/). It maps the architecture, the areas where a small change has a large effect, and which tests to run before a pull request.

Need more than what ships here?

This index covers the shipped surface. Your project, rig or machine may add its own skills and routers. Check the skills your working directory loads before concluding that something doesn't exist.