Agent skill
ct
Guide for using the ct (CommonTools) binary to interact with charms, recipes, and the Common Fabric. Use this skill when deploying recipes, managing charms, linking data between charms, or debugging recipe execution. Triggers include requests to "deploy this recipe", "call a handler", "link these charms", "get data from charm", or "test this recipe locally".
Install this agent skill to your Project
npx add-skill https://github.com/majiayu000/claude-skill-registry/tree/main/skills/devops/ct
SKILL.md
CT CLI
The ct binary is the CLI for CommonTools. Use --help for current commands:
deno task ct --help # Top-level commands
deno task ct charm --help # Charm operations
deno task ct check --help # Type checking
Environment Setup
Identity key (required for most operations):
ls -la claude.key # Check for existing
deno task ct id new > claude.key # Create if missing
Environment variables (avoid repeating flags):
export CT_API_URL=http://localhost:8000 # or https://toolshed.saga-castor.ts.net/
export CT_IDENTITY=./claude.key
Local servers: See docs/development/LOCAL_DEV_SERVERS.md
Quick Command Reference
| Operation | Command |
|---|---|
| Type check | deno task ct check pattern.tsx --no-run |
| Deploy new | deno task ct charm new pattern.tsx -i key -a url -s space |
| Update existing | deno task ct charm setsrc pattern.tsx --charm ID -i key -a url -s space |
| Inspect state | deno task ct charm inspect --charm ID ... |
| Get field | deno task ct charm get --charm ID fieldPath ... |
| Set field | echo '{"data":...}' | deno task ct charm set --charm ID path ... |
| Call handler | deno task ct charm call --charm ID handlerName ... |
| Trigger recompute | deno task ct charm step --charm ID ... |
| List charms | deno task ct charm ls -i key -a url -s space |
| Visualize | deno task ct charm map ... |
Core Workflow: setsrc vs new
Critical pattern: After initial deployment, use setsrc to iterate:
# First time only
deno task ct charm new pattern.tsx ...
# Output: Created charm bafyreia... <- Save this ID!
# ALL subsequent iterations
deno task ct charm setsrc pattern.tsx --charm bafyreia... ...
Why: new creates duplicate charms. setsrc updates in-place.
JSON Input Format
All values to set and call must be valid JSON:
# Strings need nested quotes
echo '"hello world"' | deno task ct charm set ... title
# Numbers are bare
echo '42' | deno task ct charm set ... count
# Objects
echo '{"name": "John"}' | deno task ct charm set ... user
Gotcha: Stale Computed Values
charm set does NOT trigger recompute. Run charm step after:
echo '[...]' | deno task ct charm set --charm ID expenses ...
deno task ct charm step --charm ID ... # Required!
deno task ct charm get --charm ID totalSpent ...
See docs/development/debugging/cli-debugging.md for debugging patterns.
Troubleshooting
| Issue | Fix |
|---|---|
| Commands hang | Check Tailnet connection for *.ts.net URLs |
| Permission denied | chmod 600 claude.key |
| JSON parse error | Check nested quotes, no trailing commas |
| Local servers not responding | ./scripts/restart-local-dev.sh --force |
References
packages/patterns/system/default-app.tsx- System charms (allCharms list lives here)docs/common/workflows/handlers-cli-testing.md- Handler testingdocs/development/debugging/cli-debugging.md- CLI debugging
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