| name | env-lookup |
| description | Resolves environment variables, including tool-agnostic abstractions like $AI_CONFIG_DIR and $MEMORY_DIR. Use when any skill or agent needs to look up an environment variable or resolve a path from the environment. |
| model | haiku |
| tools | ["Bash"] |
Environment Variable Lookup
Platform Detection
Before looking up any variable, determine the platform by running
uname 2>/dev/null:
- If output is
Linux or Darwin → Unix. Look up variables with
printenv <VAR>. Empty output or non-zero exit means the variable is not set.
- If the command fails or returns nothing → Windows. Look up variables with
powershell -Command "[System.Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable('<VAR>')".
Empty output means the variable is not set.
Apply the platform-appropriate command for every lookup throughout this skill.
Variable Alias Resolution
$AI_CONFIG_DIR and $MEMORY_DIR are tool-agnostic abstractions that map to
tool-specific variables depending on the executing environment. Before resolving
either, determine which tool is running this skill:
- GitHub Copilot / GitHub Copilot CLI →
$AI_CONFIG_DIR = $COPILOT_HOME
- Claude Code →
$AI_CONFIG_DIR = $CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR
- Unknown tool → report that
$AI_CONFIG_DIR cannot be resolved because the
executing tool could not be identified.
$AI_CONFIG_DIR
- Apply the alias resolution above to determine the concrete variable name.
- Look up the concrete variable using the platform-appropriate command.
- If not set, report that the variable was not found. If set, return its value.
$MEMORY_DIR
$MEMORY_DIR resolves to the _memory directory that is a sibling of the AI
config directory (e.g. if $AI_CONFIG_DIR is /home/user/.config/ai/claude,
then $MEMORY_DIR is /home/user/.config/ai/_memory).
- Apply the alias resolution above to determine the concrete variable for
$AI_CONFIG_DIR.
- Look up the concrete variable using the platform-appropriate command.
- If not set, report that
$MEMORY_DIR could not be resolved because
$AI_CONFIG_DIR is not set.
- If set, append
/../_memory to the value and return the result as the value
of $MEMORY_DIR.
All other variables
Look up the variable using the platform-appropriate command. If not set, report
that $<VAR> is not set in the environment. If set, return its value.
