claude-cli

name	claude-cli
description	Invoke Anthropic's Claude Code CLI from Codex for external reviews, second opinions, and file-based analysis. Use when the user asks to call Claude or Claude Code, compare Codex with Claude, run a quick one-shot prompt through Claude, or launch a background Claude review over many files, diffs, or a prepared context file.

Claude CLI

Use this skill when you want a second model's output without leaving the current Codex session. It covers both tiny prompts and large reviews where Claude should read files from disk.

Quick Start

Quick prompt, foreground:

$HOME/.claude/skills/claude-cli/scripts/claude-run.sh \
  --prompt-text "Explain what tf_interpolate() does in 5 bullets." \
  --model sonnet

Large review, background:

Use Codex's long-running exec_command session for concurrency, not shell-detached nohup. Launch the Claude command with a short yield_time_ms, keep the returned session_id, continue your other work, and later poll that session with write_stdin.

Typical Codex sequence:

1. Write a prompt file if the task is non-trivial.
2. Start scripts/claude-run.sh via functions.exec_command with yield_time_ms around 1000.
3. If the tool returns a session ID instead of final output, keep working.
4. Later call functions.write_stdin with empty input to poll the session.
5. When the command finishes, read result.txt or use the returned stdout.

Workflow

1. Choose the prompt shape. Use --prompt-text for short questions. Use --prompt-file for long prompts, reviews, or anything involving variadic flags like --add-dir or --allowedTools.

2. Keep large reviews path-based. Inline only small snippets or diffs. For large codebases, create a context file with a neutral summary, numbered questions, and absolute file paths. Let Claude read the files itself.

3. Pass file access explicitly. Use --target for every file or directory Claude needs to read. The launcher adds the parent directories via --add-dir=.... It also appends target paths to the staged prompt, so a short request such as “summarize this file” works. Add extra roots with --add-dir when the prompt references other paths.

4. Default to read-only review tools. The launcher defaults to Read,Grep,Glob plus --permission-mode bypassPermissions. Only widen tools if the task genuinely needs edits or shell execution.

5. Prefer Codex session-based backgrounding. Detached shell backgrounding with nohup ... & was experimentally unreliable: Claude often wrote a valid answer but the process did not terminate cleanly. From Codex, the reliable concurrent pattern is a long-running exec_command session plus later polling with write_stdin.

6. Prefer JSON output for automation. The launcher stores the raw Claude response in output.json by default and extracts the final text into result.txt. Read result.txt for the answer and stderr.log if the job fails.

Reliable Calling Rules

• Prefer stdin over a positional prompt whenever the command also uses --add-dir or --allowedTools. Both flags are variadic and can swallow a trailing prompt.
• If you call claude directly, use --allowedTools=Read,Grep,Glob and --add-dir=/path with the = form.
• Do not share --continue or --resume sessions across concurrent jobs. The launcher uses --no-session-persistence by default to avoid stale state.
• Unset CLAUDECODE before invoking the CLI. The launcher does this for you.
• Do not rely on shell-detached background runs. Use Codex's long-running exec sessions for concurrent work.

Review Prompt Pattern

For reviews, write prompts like this:

You are reviewing code for bugs, regressions, and missing tests.

Focus:
- API behavior
- edge cases
- tests

Files to inspect:
- /abs/path/file1.R
- /abs/path/file2.R

Questions:
1. What bugs or regressions do you see?
2. What tests are missing?
3. What changes are required before merge?

Keep the framing neutral. Do not preload Claude with your own diagnosis unless you explicitly want it to critique that diagnosis.

Resources

• Script: scripts/claude-run.sh Launch Claude in the foreground and stage a reproducible job directory.
• Script: scripts/claude-job-status.sh Inspect a job directory produced by claude-run.sh.
• Reference: references/cli-patterns.md Concise notes on the tested invocation pattern, failure modes, and prompt design.

Read the reference if you need to call claude manually instead of going through the launcher.