bash-simplicity

name	bash-simplicity
description	Bash command conventions. One command per call, use dedicated tools over shell equivalents, check wiki for approved commands. Load this skill before running Bash commands.
user-invocable	false

Bash Simplicity

Why This Matters

A complex command feels efficient: do more in one call. But the more complex the command, the higher the probability it triggers a permission prompt. A permission prompt blocks the agent until the user responds. If the user doesn't see it for an hour, that hour is lost.

Simple commands are faster than complex ones because they never wait for a human. Ten simple commands that execute instantly are faster than one complex command that waits an hour for approval. The agent's goal is to complete work; a blocked prompt completes nothing.

The entire plugin system exists to remove the user as the bottleneck. Every permission prompt puts them back in the critical path.

Three tiers of execution speed. Always use the highest tier available:

Tier	Method	Speed	Example
1	Dedicated tools (Read, Edit, Write)	WILL run immediately, zero permission chance	Read(file_path: "repo/src/foo.ts")
2	Simple Bash (one command, no operators)	MAY run immediately if pre-approved	pnpm typecheck, grep -rn pattern repo
3	Complex Bash (operators, plumbing)	WILL trigger a permission prompt	pnpm typecheck 2>&1; echo $?

Prefer tier 1 over tier 2. Use tier 2 only when no dedicated tool exists. NEVER use tier 3.

The Bash Tool Is Not a Terminal

The Bash tool is a managed environment, not a raw shell. It already captures stdout, stderr, and the exit code automatically. There is NEVER a reason to add shell plumbing. Every shell operator triggers a permission prompt that blocks the user for zero benefit.

If the Bash tool already does it, do not do it yourself:

You want to...	The tool already does it	Do NOT add
Get the exit code	Returned automatically	; echo $?, ; echo "Exit code: $?"
Capture stderr	Captured automatically	2>&1, 2>/dev/null
Limit output	Returned in full	| head, | tail, | grep
Run the next step	Make a separate tool call	&&, ;, ||
Pass output to another command	Write to a tmp file	$(...), backticks
Run inline code	Use Read/Edit tools	node -e, python -c

One command per Bash call. No operators. No plumbing. If the command has a ;, &&, |, $(), 2>&1, or 2>/dev/null in it, it is wrong.

Use Dedicated Tools

Dedicated tools are faster, require no permission, and produce better output. MUST use them instead of Bash equivalents when one exists:

Instead of	Use
cat, head, tail	Read tool
sed, awk	Edit tool
echo >, cat <<EOF	Write tool

Search is Bash-only. Claude Code has no built-in Grep or Glob tools; it relies on the OS (they were removed in 2.1.117). Prefer rg (faster, respects .gitignore). Search files with one of:

Use case	Bash command
Search file contents	rg <pattern> <path> (preferred) or grep -rn <pattern> <path>
Find files by name	rg --files <path> or find <path> -name <pattern>
List directory entries	ls <path>

Reserve Bash for these and for commands that never had a dedicated tool: build tools, test runners, git, package managers, system commands.

JSON: prefer jq. For JSON files, default to jq for field extraction rather than Read or grep. Reading a large JSON file with the Read tool dumps the whole structure (base64 blobs, embedding vectors, inlined doc strings) into context for the rest of the session; grep can't navigate JSON structure.

Use case	Bash command
Extract a field	jq '.field' file.json
Strip a noisy field	jq 'del(.bigField)' file.json
Pull values from an array	jq '.[].itemId' file.json

Each is one command with no operators. The one-command-per-call rule still holds. Read and grep remain right for small JSON where the structure is unknown, malformed JSON, and cross-file string search.

These commands are denied in project settings and will always be rejected. Do not attempt them: cd, cat, sed, awk, head, tail, sleep, kill, pkill

sleep is denied because foreground sleeping burns a turn to accomplish nothing. To wait on a condition, use the Monitor tool; to collect a background task's output, use TaskOutput/TaskGet. MUST NOT build a poll-and-sleep loop.

lsof is allowed and useful for reading state (finding what holds a port). It MUST NOT be used as a step toward stopping a process: the answer to "something is on the port" is TaskStop, or asking the user, never kill.

MUST NOT use node -e or python -c to run inline scripts. These trigger permission prompts. If you need to read a file, use the Read tool. If you need to process data, do it in your response, not in a shell script.

When a Bash Command Is Denied

If a Bash call is denied, do NOT retry the same command and do NOT ask the user to approve it. Before anything else, check for a tool equivalent or shell plumbing that can be decomposed:

• cat/head/tail → Read tool
• sed/awk → Edit tool
• |, 2>&1, &&, ;, $() → split into separate calls; the Bash tool already captures stdout, stderr, and exit code

Worked example: pnpm --filter <package> typecheck 2>&1 | grep -c "error TS" is denied because of the pipe and redirection. The fix is to run pnpm --filter <package> typecheck alone (the Bash tool returns the full output and exit code), then count "error TS" occurrences in the returned output yourself. No pipe, no redirection, no retry. (grep itself is allowed; the deny is on the shell plumbing around it.)

Background Tasks

When you start a background task with run_in_background, you receive a task ID. That ID is how you manage the task later:

• Stop it: use TaskStop with the task ID
• Check output: use TaskGet or Read on the output file
• List running tasks: use TaskList

MUST NOT use kill or pkill to stop background tasks. These are denied and will fail. Use TaskStop instead. It cleanly shuts down the process and updates internal tracking.

If a process was started outside your session (by the user in a terminal), you cannot stop it with TaskStop. Ask the user to restart or stop it themselves.

Port conflicts (EADDRINUSE)

When a dev server fails with EADDRINUSE, a process from a previous session is occupying the port. Follow this sequence:

1. Check TaskList. If the task is listed, use TaskStop.
2. If TaskList is empty, the process is from outside your session. lsof -i :<port> MAY be used to name it for the user. Then ask: "Port N is in use by <process> from a previous session. Can you stop it?"
3. MUST NOT attempt kill, pkill, or ask for permission to kill. These are denied and waste turns.

Do not retry the server start until the user confirms the port is free.

Cross-Project Searching

When looking at another project's code, search with Bash directly using the project path. MUST keep it to one simple command per call: no pipes, no -exec, no 2>&1 | head.

Wrong: find {path}/repo -name "*.ts" -exec grep -l "pattern" {} \; 2>/dev/null | head -10 Right: grep -rln --include="*.ts" "pattern" {path}/repo

Wrong: ls {path}/repo/src/components/ | head Right: ls {path}/repo/src/components/

All project paths are known and predictable (see simpleapps:wiki Cross-Project Wiki Access). Use the known path; do not search the entire filesystem.

Subagent Responsibility

Subagents do NOT inherit this skill. They see only the prompt you give them. The primary agent MUST brief every subagent on bash-simplicity before delegating shell work, and owns the output that comes back.

Every subagent prompt that touches Bash MUST include a one-liner: "One command per Bash call. No operators. Use dedicated tools (Read, Edit, Write) over their shell equivalents (cat, sed, awk, echo >). Search with Bash directly, preferring rg (then grep -rn, find, ls); there are no built-in Grep/Glob tools."

If a subagent returns a command containing any forbidden operator (see the table above), that is the primary agent's failure. Reject and ask for a re-plan, or translate into separate simple calls. Do not execute it. A subagent violating this is running on a stale prompt; fix the prompt.

Parallel subagents each need their own briefing.

Check Before Prompting

Before running a command that will trigger a permission prompt, check the wiki and project settings for approved commands. The wiki documents which commands are pre-approved and how to invoke them. Unnecessary permission prompts interrupt the user's flow.

pnpm:* is pre-approved: any command in package.json scripts runs without permission via pnpm <script>. If a tool needs to run repeatedly (linters, formatters, test runners), it SHOULD be a package.json script so it can run via pnpm without prompting. Suggest adding missing scripts when you notice the gap.