amw-text-visual-cheatsheets

name

amw-text-visual-cheatsheets

description

Portable ASCII CLI command panels — tabular cheat sheets for gh, git, kubectl, deploy scripts — with macOS/Linux + Windows variants side by side. Triggers on "ASCII cheat sheet", "CLI reference panel in monospace", "command grid for a README", "gh cheat sheet". Does NOT trigger on "cheat sheet", "guide", "docs" alone — those are docs tasks. ASCII only; passes amw-validate-ascii.py. Use when creating an ASCII CLI cheat sheet. Trigger with "ASCII cheat sheet".

Text-Visual Cheatsheets — ASCII CLI command panels

Orchestrated by: SKILL.

Overview

Produces portable ASCII CLI command panels — tabular cheat sheets with rows for actions and columns for platforms (macOS/Linux bash/zsh + Windows PowerShell/CMD). Sections split by workflow stage. Destructive commands starred with footnote caveats. Width ceiling: 100 columns for GitHub READMEs, 80 for terminal --help. Every panel passes bin/amw-validate-ascii.py before delivery. ASCII only — no HTML or SVG output.

Examples

See the ## Panel format section below for a minimal standard-layout panel example.

Activation

No dedicated slash command — this skill has no matching /amw-* shortcut. Invoked by the design-principles orchestrator during Phase A (as a low-fi ASCII medium for CLI reference sketches) or Phase B (when the approved design requires a validated ASCII cheat-sheet artifact). The orchestrator may apply any column layout and platform-variant technique from this skill without command-layer restriction.

This skill is autonomous and self-contained — any agent (the main-agent, a sub-agent, or an external orchestrator) can use it by reading this SKILL.md and its references. The skill's techniques are NOT limited to what matching commands expose.

Position in flow

OUTPUT. Produces ASCII tables that summarize CLI workflows in a glanceable grid, with rows for actions and columns for platforms (macOS/Linux bash/zsh + Windows PowerShell/CMD). Embeds cleanly in READMEs, PR descriptions, CONTRIBUTING guides, and terminal --help output.

Scope is strictly command reference panels. Not flowcharts (../amw-text-visual-workflows/), architecture (../amw-text-visual-arch/), state machines (../amw-text-visual-state/), or retrospectives (../amw-text-visual-retro/). Not generic prose documentation either — if the user wants a paragraph-style guide, this is not the right skill.

Trigger conditions

• "ASCII cheat sheet for git"
• "CLI command panel for our deploy script"
• "gh reference grid I can put in the README"
• "terminal command table"
• "bash + powershell cheat sheet"
• "panel of common commands in ASCII"

Do NOT activate on broad "make docs" or "write a guide" requests. A multi-paragraph onboarding doc with inline commands is a documentation job, not a cheat-sheet panel.

Inputs expected

1. Task categories — grouping of commands (e.g. setup, daily workflow, review, deploy, rollback).
2. Command variants per platform — macOS/Linux bash/zsh and Windows PowerShell/CMD, if cross-platform parity matters. Single-platform is fine; just say so upfront.
3. Notes on flags, prerequisites, env vars — what must be installed, what shell-specific escaping applies, which flags are destructive.

If the user gives you commands for one platform only, ask whether they want the other — do not invent Windows variants of POSIX commands by guessing escaping rules.

Panel format (summary — full spec in TECH-panel-format)

Tabular layout: one action per row, one platform per column, left-aligned, fixed-width. Columns sized to longest cell + 2 spaces padding. Box corners +, verticals |, horizontals -. No tabs, no emoji, no variable-width glyphs. Width ceiling: 100 cols (README) / 80 cols (terminal --help).

Destructive commands: prefix action with *, add footnote below the table. Multi-workflow command sets: split into separate small panels with section headers. Placeholders use <...> brackets with a legend below.

Footer every panel with: last-verified date, source-doc link, owner tag.

Extended connection-arrow vocabulary (-->, ==>, ~~>, ..>, <--, <-->, ---▷, ───) — use sparingly; if a flow needs > 2 arrows, route to ../amw-text-visual-workflows/ instead.

See TECH-panel-format for the full

[TECH-panel-format.md] What it does · When to use · Standard layout · Column alignment · Highlighting critical / destructive commands · Categorizing into sections · Placeholders and context · Glyph and width standards · Extended connection types · Footer metadata · Cross-references authoring contract (layout / alignment / markers / placeholders / glyph standards / arrow vocabulary / footer).

Validation gate (MANDATORY)

Every panel this skill emits MUST pass ../../bin/amw-validate-ascii.py before being shown to the user.

The flow:

1. Draft the panel.
2. Write it to /tmp/amw-tvc-<slug>.txt.
3. Run python3 ../../bin/amw-validate-ascii.py /tmp/amw-tvc-<slug>.txt.
4. If PASS → present in a fenced code block.
5. If FAIL → apply every FIX: hint, re-run. Loop until PASS.
6. Never present an un-validated panel.

For tabular panels, ../../bin/amw-ascii-render.py in table mode guarantees column alignment by construction. Strongly recommended when the panel has more than 5 columns or more than 10 rows. See SKILL for the JSON schema.

Instructions

1. Confirm the three inputs (categories, platform variants, notes). One bundled question for missing pieces.
2. Group commands into sections; never emit a single monolithic table for mixed workflows.
3. Draft each panel with aligned columns.
4. Add the footer (last-tested date, source link, owner).
5. Run the validation gate per panel. Loop until PASS.
6. Present each panel in its own fenced code block under a section header.
7. If the user intends to commit this to a repo, suggest a canonical location (e.g. <docs/cli-cheatsheet.md>). Do not write until approved.

Technique selection and references

Every technique is a single TECH-*.md file under ./references/. Each file has the same TOC: What it does · When to use · How it works · Minimal example · Gotchas · Cross-references. Read only the one whose topic matches.

• TECH-category-sections —

[TECH-category-sections.md] What it does · When to use · How it works · Minimal example · Gotchas · Cross-references split by workflow stage with section headers.

• TECH-destructive-command-marker

[TECH-destructive-command-marker.md] What it does · When to use · How it works · Minimal example · Gotchas · Cross-references — * prefix + footnote caveat.

• TECH-legend-and-placeholders

[TECH-legend-and-placeholders.md] What it does · When to use · How it works · Minimal example · Gotchas · Cross-references — <branch> convention + legend caption.

• TECH-side-by-side-platforms

[TECH-side-by-side-platforms.md] What it does · When to use · How it works · Minimal example · Gotchas · Cross-references — macOS/Linux vs Windows columns.

Completion checklist

Before reporting complete (FAIL on any item triggers a remediation loop):

• Inputs captured verbatim — no silent paraphrasing.
• At least one TECH-*.md consulted and cited.
• Output passes ## Non-negotiables.
• No AI-slop per ai-slop-avoid.

[ai-slop-avoid.md] I. Visual style · II. Typography · III. Layout · IV. Content and copy · V. Interaction and motion · VI. Color · Self-check workflow · VII. Content density principle (positive stance) · VIII. Content anti-patterns (T-042) · IX. Anti-AI-cliché visual checklist (T-044) · X. Production-test tells (taste-skill, MIT)

• Every panel passes bin/amw-validate-ascii.py.
• Cross-skill hand-offs documented.
• Filename is descriptive English (gh-cheatsheet.md, not out.txt).

Output

TWO outputs (ASCII panels + job-completion report). Full contract in skill-completion-and-output-contract and project-output-routing.

[project-output-routing.md] When to consult this doc · Detection order · Per-artifact-type default subpath · Reconciliation when multiple candidates match · Edge cases · Quick-reference algorithm (pseudo-code) · Cross-references Report path: $MAIN_ROOT/reports/webdesigner/<ts>_<slug>_<hash>.md. Every artifact MUST be linked from the report.

Prerequisites

• runtime_binaries: python3 >= 3.8
• python_packages: none
• npm_packages: none
• mcp_servers: none
• scripts: ../../bin/amw-validate-ascii.py (mandatory), ../../bin/amw-ascii-render.py table (strongly recommended for >5 columns or >10 rows)

Resources

• SKILL — orchestrator.
• SKILL — validation contract.
• SKILL — sibling for workflow diagrams.
• SKILL — sibling for architecture.
• SKILL — sibling for state machines.
• SKILL — sibling for retrospectives.
• SKILL / SKILL — if the user wants the cheat sheet as a styled HTML page instead of ASCII, these are the reference-doc skills to route to.
• /amw-ascii-to-svg — if the user wants the panel as an SVG image (rare — usually the ASCII is the point).

How to invoke via existing commands

No dedicated slash command. Invoke via:

• Direct skill activation — phrases like "ASCII cheat sheet for the deploy script" trigger this skill.
• /amw-sketch — when the cheat sheet is part of a broader docs planning effort.

Non-negotiables

• Every panel passes ../../bin/amw-validate-ascii.py before delivery. No exceptions.
• Column alignment is exact — no off-by-one pipes, no ragged edges.
• 100-column README ceiling; 80-column terminal --help ceiling.
• No tabs.
• No emoji or variable-width glyphs.
• Every panel carries a last-tested date and a source link.
• No fabricated commands. If the user has not supplied a Windows variant, ask rather than invent one from pattern-matching.
• Destructive commands are starred and explained in a footnote.
• Does NOT emit HTML or SVG. ASCII only.

Error Handling

Failure mode	Recovery
Column widths blow past 100 cols because of one long command	Shorten by using a shell variable at the top of the panel (REPO=org/repo) and referencing $REPO in each cell. Note the variable in the legend.
macOS and PowerShell commands diverge wildly for one row	Split into two rows with clear labels (Clone (macOS), Clone (Windows)) — consistency is worth more than a forced single row.
User only uses one platform	Drop the Windows column. Footer note: Tested on macOS 14 only.
Commands stale quickly (e.g. evolving gh flags)	Put last-tested date in footer; bold in reviewer-checklist: "verify before merging".
Destructive command with no safe alternative	Star it, footnote the danger, and include a dry-run flag if the tool supports one (--dry-run, -n).
Commands with secrets or tokens	Never inline tokens. Use a placeholder ($GH_TOKEN) and point to a secret manager in the footer.
User wants the cheat sheet as a styled web page	This skill produces the ASCII source of truth. Route to ../amw-shadcn-ui/ / ../amw-tailwind-4/ / ../amw-ascii-to-html/ for a styled HTML rendering.