Make any software agent-native with HKUDS CLI-Anything — route between four modes: install ready-made CLI harnesses via the CLI-Hub package manager (`pip install cli-anything-hub`, then `cli-hub list/search/info/install/launch`), give agents the autonomous discovery meta-skill (`npx skills add HKUDS/CLI-Anything --skill cli-hub-meta-skill`), generate a new harness from any codebase or GitHub repo via the 7-phase pipeline (`/plugin install cli-anything` → `/cli-anything <path>`), or iterate with `/cli-anything:refine`, `:test`, `:validate`. 40+ production harnesses (GIMP, Blender, LibreOffice, OBS, ComfyUI, Ollama, Godot, QGIS, …), 2,461 passing tests, Click CLIs with REPL + `--json` output. Use when agents must drive real desktop/server software without GUI automation. Triggers on: cli-anything, cli-hub, cli-anything-hub, agent-native cli, make software agent-native, cli harness generation, /cli-anything, harness refine, HKUDS cli.
Make any software agent-native with HKUDS CLI-Anything — route between four modes: install ready-made CLI harnesses via the CLI-Hub package manager (`pip install cli-anything-hub`, then `cli-hub list/search/info/install/launch`), give agents the autonomous discovery meta-skill (`npx skills add HKUDS/CLI-Anything --skill cli-hub-meta-skill`), generate a new harness from any codebase or GitHub repo via the 7-phase pipeline (`/plugin install cli-anything` → `/cli-anything <path>`), or iterate with `/cli-anything:refine`, `:test`, `:validate`. 40+ production harnesses (GIMP, Blender, LibreOffice, OBS, ComfyUI, Ollama, Godot, QGIS, …), 2,461 passing tests, Click CLIs with REPL + `--json` output. Use when agents must drive real desktop/server software without GUI automation. Triggers on: cli-anything, cli-hub, cli-anything-hub, agent-native cli, make software agent-native, cli harness generation, /cli-anything, harness refine, HKUDS cli.
allowed-tools
Bash Read Write Edit Glob Grep WebFetch
compatibility
Cross-platform wrapper for the CLI-Anything ecosystem usable from Claude Code (marketplace plugin), Codex (bundled skill installer), OpenCode (commands), OpenClaw, Pi, Hermes, Qodercli, GitHub Copilot CLI, and Goose. Routes agent-team architecture to `harness`, Claude plugin marketplace browsing to `ccpi-marketplace`, and no-codebase GUI/browser automation to `browser-harness`.
CLI-Anything (HKUDS) bridges AI
agents and the world's software: instead of brittle GUI automation, it wraps
real applications (Blender, GIMP, LibreOffice, OBS, Godot, QGIS, …) in
structured, agent-first CLIs — Click commands, stateful REPL, --json
output, undo/redo — generated and validated through a 7-phase pipeline with
2,461 passing tests across 40+ harnesses. This skill is the routing-first
wrapper: pick the right mode, install the right surface, and drive the
build → refine → validate loop.
When to use this skill
The user wants an agent to control real software (image/video/audio
editing, office, 3D, GIS, game engines, diagramming, streaming) through a
CLI instead of screenshots or RPA
The user asks to install cli-anything-hub / use cli-hub
(list, search, info, install, update, uninstall, launch)
The user wants agents to autonomously discover and install CLIs via
the CLI-Hub meta-skill
The user wants to generate a new CLI harness from a local codebase or
GitHub repo with /cli-anything, or asked how to install the
CLI-Anything plugin/skill for Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, OpenClaw, Pi,
Hermes, Qodercli, or GitHub Copilot CLI
The user wants to expand or verify an existing harness with
/cli-anything:refine, /cli-anything:test, or /cli-anything:validate
When not to use this skill
The user wants to design a domain-specific agent team (agents +
skills scaffolding), not a software CLI wrapper → use harness
The user is browsing/installing Claude plugins generally → use
ccpi-marketplace
The target has no codebase and no API and must be driven through a
real browser/GUI session → use browser-harness (or playwriter for an
already-open browser)
The user only needs web scraping/extraction → use scrapling
Prerequisites
Requirement
Notes
Python 3.10+
CLI-Hub and generated harnesses are Python/Click based
Target software
Harnesses call the real backend — install the upstream app (GIMP, Blender, …) too
Prefer the registry first — building is the fallback, not the default.
Step 2 — Use the ecosystem via CLI-Hub
pip install cli-anything-hub
cli-hub list # browse the registry
cli-hub search image # search by keyword
cli-hub info gimp # inspect one CLI
cli-hub install gimp # install from CLI-Hub
cli-hub launch gimp # run an installed CLI
cli-hub update gimp # update
cli-hub uninstall gimp # remove
CLI-Hub v0.2.0+ also serves public CLIs from multiple install sources
(pip, npm, brew, bundled/system tools) via public_registry.json.
If a harness wraps desktop software (GIMP, Blender, LibreOffice, …),
install that upstream application too.
Find appropriate CLI software in CLI-Hub and complete the task: ...
Works with Claude Code, Codex, OpenClaw, Nanobot, Antigravity, and other
SKILL-compatible agents. The monorepo's per-harness skills are also
discoverable: npx skills add HKUDS/CLI-Anything --list.
Step 4 — Generate a new harness (7-phase pipeline)
The pipeline runs: 1 Analyze → 2 Design → 3 Implement (Click CLI + REPL +
JSON + undo/redo) → 4 Plan tests → 5 Write tests → 6 Document (+ Phase 6.5
SKILL.md generation) → 7 Publish (setup.py, PATH install).
Other platforms (Codex, OpenCode, OpenClaw, Pi, Hermes, Qodercli, Copilot
CLI, Goose) follow the same methodology — install commands are in
references/commands.md.
If /cli-anything is unrecognized: /reload-plugins, verify with
/help cli-anything, reinstall from the marketplace, and only on older
builds try the legacy /cli-anything:cli-anything form.
Step 5 — Refine, test, validate
/cli-anything:refine ./gimp # broad gap analysis
/cli-anything:refine ./gimp "batch processing and filters"# focused
/cli-anything:test ./gimp # run tests, update TEST.md
/cli-anything:validate ./gimp # check against HARNESS.md
Refinement is incremental and non-destructive — run it repeatedly to push
coverage toward production quality. HARNESS.md is the methodology SOP
(source of truth) the validator checks against.
Step 6 — Use a generated CLI
cd <software>/agent-harness && pip install -e .
cli-anything-gimp --help# discoverable via --help/which
cli-anything-gimp --json layer add -n "BG"# structured output for agents
cli-anything-gimp # bare command → stateful REPL
Every harness ships dual modes (REPL + subcommands), --json on every
command, and a generated SKILL.md at skills/cli-anything-<name>/SKILL.md.
This skill folder is plugin-installable through the standard oh-my-skills
flow so the wrapper, references, and installer script land on disk for any
supported agent runtime:
# Project install (writes into .agents/skills/cli-anything/)
npx skills add https://github.com/akillness/oh-my-skills --skill cli-anything
# Global install for every detected agent
npx skills add -g https://github.com/akillness/oh-my-skills --skill cli-anything
# Target specific agents
npx skills add -g https://github.com/akillness/oh-my-skills --skill cli-anything -a claude-code -a codex -y
The skill also ships scripts/install.sh — a
one-shot CLI-Hub installer (venv-aware uv/pip selection, PEP 668-safe) with
an optional meta-skill install via CLI_ANYTHING_META_SKILL=1.
Output format
When the user asks cli-anything for help, return a compact brief:
# cli-anything Routing Brief## Scope- Mode: use-ecosystem | empower-agents | generate-harness | iterate-harness
- Target software: <nameorrepo> | undecided
- Agent platform: claude | codex | opencode | openclaw | pi | hermes | copilot | other
## Recommended next move- install-cli-hub | cli-hub-search | install-meta-skill | install-platform-plugin | run-/cli-anything | refine | test | validate
## Why- 2-3 bullets grounded in the user's packet
## Route-outs-`harness` for agent-team architecture (not software wrappers)
-`browser-harness` for no-codebase GUI/browser targets
-`ccpi-marketplace` for general Claude plugin browsing
Best practices
Search the registry before generating — 40+ harnesses already
exist; cli-hub search costs seconds, a 7-phase build costs a session.
Install the real backend — harnesses call actual software with zero
compromise dependencies; tests fail (not skip) when backends are missing.
Use --json for agent consumption — every command supports it;
human-readable tables are for debugging only.
Verify outputs, not exit codes — the methodology checks magic bytes,
ZIP/OOXML structure, pixel/audio analysis; do the same with artifacts.
Run /cli-anything:refine iteratively — a single generation pass
rarely covers all capabilities; each refine run is incremental.
Windows needs bash — install Git for Windows (bash + cygpath)
or use WSL before running plugin commands.