Two Windows agent-loop friction fixes:
1. tools/mcp_tool.py (#56536): shutil.which(cmd, path=env_path) reads
executable extensions from the PARENT process PATHEXT, not the MCP
subprocess env — a stdio MCP config supplying both PATH and PATHEXT
could fail to resolve a command its own env can locate, and startup
then got a bare command name. On Windows, when the first which() call
misses and the config env carries PATHEXT (any key casing), retry the
resolution with the config's PATHEXT temporarily applied.
2. skills/ + optional-skills/ (#50606): 42 SKILL.md files that declare
platforms: [.., windows] used python3 in their command examples.
python3 does not exist on native Windows (the toolchain probe in the
system prompt reports python3=missing), so every copy-pasted example
burned a failed agent turn before self-correction. Replaced the
command word python3 -> python (python3-config / python3.x version
strings untouched). python is the spelling that exists in every
Hermes-managed environment (Windows native, uv-managed venvs on all
three OSes); agents on POSIX hosts additionally see the probed
toolchain line and adapt either way.
Four coding-agent CLI skills drifted from their live CLIs. Verified against live --help/npm and corrected:
- codex: --full-auto deprecated -> --sandbox workspace-write; --yolo -> --dangerously-bypass-approvals-and-sandbox (yolo kept as noted alias)
- claude-code: --effort levels low/medium/high/xhigh/max (dropped removed 'auto', added 'xhigh'); fixed stray table cell
- grok: --session-id is UUID-only for new sessions (cannot resume by name); rewrote the Session Continuation example; noted --max-turns now exists
- blackbox: wrong npm package (@blackboxai/cli is unrelated) -> @blackbox_ai/blackbox-cli; removed dead source-repo link and phantom session/info subcommands
Completes the Windows-gating coverage for the built-in skills/ tree. Every
bundled SKILL.md now carries an explicit platforms: declaration so the
loader (agent.skill_utils.skill_matches_platform) can skip-load skills
that don't fit the current OS.
74 skills declared cross-platform (platforms: [linux, macos, windows]):
Creative (16): ascii-art, ascii-video, architecture-diagram, baoyu-comic,
baoyu-infographic, claude-design, creative-ideation, design-md,
excalidraw, humanizer, manim-video, p5js, pixel-art,
popular-web-designs, pretext, sketch, songwriting-and-ai-music,
touchdesigner-mcp
Autonomous agents: claude-code, codex, hermes-agent, opencode
Data/devops: jupyter-live-kernel, kanban-orchestrator, kanban-worker,
webhook-subscriptions, dogfood, codebase-inspection
GitHub: github-auth, github-code-review, github-issues,
github-pr-workflow, github-repo-management
Media: gif-search, heartmula, songsee, spotify, youtube-content
MCP / email / gaming / notes / smart-home: native-mcp, himalaya,
pokemon-player, obsidian, openhue
mlops (non-broken): weights-and-biases, huggingface-hub, llama-cpp,
outlines, segment-anything-model, dspy, trl-fine-tuning
Productivity: airtable, google-workspace, linear, maps, nano-pdf,
notion, ocr-and-documents, powerpoint
Red-teaming / research: godmode, arxiv, blogwatcher, llm-wiki,
polymarket
Software-dev: debugging-hermes-tui-commands, hermes-agent-skill-authoring,
node-inspect-debugger, plan, requesting-code-review, spike,
subagent-driven-development, systematic-debugging,
test-driven-development, writing-plans
Misc: yuanbao
5 skills gated from Windows (platforms: [linux, macos]):
mlops/inference/vllm (serving-llms-vllm)
vLLM is officially Linux-only; Windows requires WSL.
mlops/training/axolotl
Axolotl's flash-attn + deepspeed + bitsandbytes stack is Linux-first.
mlops/training/unsloth
Requires Triton + xformers + flash-attn — Linux only in practice.
mlops/models/audiocraft (audiocraft-audio-generation)
torchaudio ffmpeg backend + encodec dependencies are Linux-first.
mlops/inference/obliteratus
Research abliteration workflow; relies on Linux-focused pytorch
kernels and MLX — no first-class Windows path.
Same strict-over-lenient policy as the optional-skills sweep: when the
underlying tool's Windows support is rough, missing, or WSL-only, gate the
skill. Easier to un-gate after verified Windows support lands than to leak
partial support that manifests as mid-task failures.
Combined with prior commits in this branch, every bundled SKILL.md
(skills/ + optional-skills/) now has a platforms: declaration.
Target: every skill's description fits in a one-line gateway menu and
leads with trigger keywords an agent would match on. Drops filler like
'Use this skill to', 'A skill for', 'This skill provides'.
Before: max description length was 791 chars (architecture-diagram),
74 of 81 built-in skills were >60 chars.
After: max 60, mean 54, all 81 built-in skills <=60.
Rewritten with double-quoted YAML scalars to preserve Chinese/arrow
glyphs (baoyu-comic, yuanbao, youtube-content).
Expands the claude-code skill with content from official docs and community
cheat sheets that was missing from v2.0:
Slash commands: /cost, /btw, /plan, /loop, /batch, /security-review,
/resume, /effort (with auto level), /mcp, /release-notes, /voice details
Keyboard shortcuts: Alt+P (model), Alt+T (thinking), Alt+O (fast mode),
Ctrl+V (paste image), Ctrl+O (transcript), Ctrl+G (external editor)
Ultrathink keyword for max reasoning on a specific turn
Rules directory: .claude/rules/*.md and ~/.claude/rules/*.md
Auto-memory: ~/.claude/projects/<proj>/memory/ (25KB/200 lines limit)
Environment variables: CLAUDE_CODE_EFFORT_LEVEL, MAX_THINKING_TOKENS,
CLAUDE_CODE_NO_FLICKER, CLAUDE_CODE_SUBPROCESS_ENV_SCRUB
MCP limits: 2KB tool desc cap, maxResultSizeChars 500K, transport types
Reorganized slash commands into Session/Development/Configuration groups
Reorganized keyboard shortcuts into Controls/Toggles/Multiline groups
Major rewrite of the claude-code orchestration skill from 94 to 460 lines.
Based on official docs research, community guides, and live experimentation.
Key additions:
- Two orchestration modes: Print mode (-p) vs Interactive PTY via tmux
- Detailed PTY dialog handling (trust + permissions bypass patterns)
- Print mode deep dive: JSON output, piped input, session resumption,
--json-schema, --bare mode for CI
- Complete flag reference (20+ flags organized by category)
- Interactive session patterns with tmux send-keys/capture-pane
- Claude's slash commands and keyboard shortcuts reference
- CLAUDE.md, hooks, custom subagents, MCP, custom commands docs
- Cost/performance tips (effort levels, budget caps, context mgmt)
- 10 specific pitfalls discovered through live testing
- 10 rules for Hermes agents orchestrating Claude Code
Teknium