| name | tool-wget |
| description | Use wget for robust non-interactive downloads, retries, and mirror-style fetch operations. Trigger when reliable file retrieval or resumable downloads are needed. |
tool-wget
When To Use
- Retrieve files reliably in non-interactive scripts.
- Resume large downloads and handle retries cleanly.
- Check URL reachability without full payload download.
Trusted Commands
wget -O output.bin https://example.com/file.bin
wget -c https://example.com/large-file.iso
wget --spider https://example.com/health
wget --tries=3 --timeout=20 https://example.com/archive.tgz
wget -qO- https://example.com/version.txt
Safe Defaults
- Use
-O for deterministic output paths.
- Use
-c for resumable transfers.
- Use
--spider when only availability checks are needed.
Common Pitfalls
- Destination files can be overwritten unexpectedly.
- Redirect and auth behavior may differ from curl/xh assumptions.
- Recursive options can cause excessive downloads if scope is not constrained.
Output Interpretation
--spider exit status indicates URL reachability.- Progress lines show throughput and transfer completion.
Why It Matters For Agents
- Reliable unattended download behavior is critical in setup automation.
- Resume and retry controls reduce flaky install workflows.
Repo Conventions
- Prefer idempotent download steps in setup scripts.
- Keep destination paths portable and user-agnostic.
Trigger Examples
- Should trigger: "Fetch this release tarball with resume support."
- Should trigger: "Verify a URL is reachable in CI without downloading it."
- Should not trigger: "Pretty-print this JSON document."
