wsl-skill

name	wsl-skill
description	Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) commands for running Linux tools on Windows.
allowed-tools	process_manager shell
metadata	{"author":"opencompany","version":"1.0","category":"terminal"}

WSL Skill (Windows Subsystem for Linux)

Use this skill when the host is Windows but you need Linux tools. WSL provides a full Linux environment alongside Windows.

Detect WSL

{"operation": "start", "name": "wsl-check", "command": "wsl --status"}

If this succeeds, WSL is available.

Running Linux Commands from Windows

Prefix any Linux command with wsl to run it inside the default WSL distro:

{"operation": "start", "name": "wsl-cmd", "command": "wsl bash -c 'uname -a && cat /etc/os-release'"}

Install Linux packages

{"operation": "start", "name": "wsl-apt", "command": "wsl sudo apt-get update && wsl sudo apt-get install -y curl jq"}

Run a Linux server

{"operation": "start", "name": "wsl-server", "command": "wsl python3 -m http.server 8080"}

Access Windows files from WSL

Windows drives are mounted at /mnt/:

{"operation": "start", "name": "wsl-ls", "command": "wsl ls -la /mnt/c/Users/"}

Access WSL files from Windows

{"operation": "start", "name": "wsl-path", "command": "wsl wslpath -w ~"}

WSL Management

Task	Command
List distros	wsl --list --verbose
Default distro	wsl --set-default Ubuntu
Shutdown all	wsl --shutdown
Run in specific distro	wsl -d Ubuntu bash -c "command"
Check status	wsl --status

Path Conversion

Direction	Command
Windows -> WSL	wsl wslpath -u 'C:\Users\me\file.txt'
WSL -> Windows	wsl wslpath -w '/home/me/file.txt'

Networking

WSL2 shares the Windows network stack. Services started in WSL are accessible on localhost from Windows:

• WSL server on port 8080 -> http://localhost:8080 from Windows browser

Guidelines

• Always prefix with wsl when running from a Windows process_manager
• Use wsl bash -c "..." for multi-command pipelines
• Windows paths use \, WSL paths use / -- use wslpath to convert
• WSL has its own package manager (apt) separate from Windows
• For long-running servers in WSL, use process_manager start (handles lifecycle)