ai-adapter

One configuration for all your AI coding agents.

Manage and sync your AI agent configuration across Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, VS Code, OpenCode and more.

# Get started in 3 commands
pip install ai-adapter
ai-adapter init
ai-adapter start <your-config-repo-url>

            ┌─────────────┐
            │  ai-adapter  │
            └──────┬──────┘
       ┌───────────┼───────────┐
       ▼           ▼           ▼
 ┌─────────┐ ┌─────────┐ ┌─────────┐
 │ Claude  │ │  Codex  │ │  Cursor │
 │  Code   │ │   CLI   │ │  rules  │
 └─────────┘ └─────────┘ └─────────┘
     ▼           ▼           ▼
 ┌─────────┐ ┌─────────┐ ┌─────────┐
 │ VS Code │ │ OpenCode│ │ OpenClaw│
 └─────────┘ └─────────┘ └─────────┘

Agent Plugins 1.0.0 Compliant

ai-adapter natively supports the Agent Plugins 1.0.0 open standard (agent-plugins.org) — the vendor-neutral packaging format for skills + MCP servers backed by AWS, Microsoft, OpenAI, Anysphere, and Vercel. Build, validate, and distribute portable plugin packages with:

ai-adapter plugin build my-plugin
ai-adapter plugin validate ./my-plugin

Your skills and MCP servers become portable across Copilot, Cursor, Codex, VS Code, AWS Kiro and more — with a single plugin.json manifest.

A CLI tool for managing AI agent instruction files (.github/instructions etc.) and scripts in groups. Easily share and migrate settings across environments.

---

Features

• Agent Plugins 1.0.0 Compliant: Native support for the industry-standard plugin format — plugin build scaffolds a portable package, plugin validate checks plugin.json / mcp.json / skills/ against the spec (name rules, server types, ${PLUGIN_ROOT} placeholders, reserved env keys, SKILL.md frontmatter)
• Centralized Management: All data is consolidated under ~/.ai-adapter/. Centrally manage settings across projects
• Environment Switching: Switch agent settings and scripts per environment (e.g., work, home)
• GitHub Sync: Use ai-adapter sync to sync ~/.ai-adapter/ with a GitHub remote. Easy team sharing and PC migration
• Agent Binding: Bind agent names to environments for automatic resolution based on context
• Skill Management: Manage and deploy skills in SKILL.md format (.github/skills/)
• Command Management: Manage and deploy VS Code custom command definitions (.github/commands/)
• Prompt Management: Manage and deploy prompt templates for AI agents (.github/prompts/)
• MCP Server Management: Centrally manage MCP server settings and output in each tool format
• OpenCode Integration: Generate opencode.json/opencode.jsonc (JSONC with comments) with MCP, skills (.claude/skills, .agents/skills compat paths supported), prompts, and agents; symlink .opencode → .github
• OpenClaw Integration: Export MCP servers and skills to OpenClaw format (--format openclaw)
• Cursor Integration: Export MCP servers and skills to Cursor format (--format cursor → .cursor/mcp.json + .cursor/rules/*.mdc); legacy .cursorrules (--format cursorrules) and plugin packages (--format cursor-plugin → ~/.cursor/plugins/local/) for migration (design 07)
• Codex CLI Integration: Generate AGENTS.md for OpenAI Codex CLI (ai-adapter codex install)
• Root-Level Agent Management: Manage AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md, etc. as first-class artifacts, deployable to project root
• Runtime Monitor (Runtime Plane): ai-adapter monitor discovers AI agent sessions running in Orca / VS Code / Zed and reports what they are doing — read-only observability (never sends input, never changes IDE settings, never stops processes)

---

Supported Tools

Tool	Status	Integration
GitHub Copilot	✅ Partial	.github/ (agents, skills, commands, prompts, bins) + .mcp.json
Claude Code	✅ Partial	.github/ fallback + --format claude → .claude/ native paths (agents, skills, user MCP)
OpenCode	✅ Full	ai-adapter opencode install → opencode.json/opencode.jsonc (+ .opencode symlink); sub-agent get --format opencode --scope user → ~/.config/opencode/agents/
Codex CLI	✅ Full	ai-adapter codex install → AGENTS.md
Cursor	✅ Skills + MCP	--format cursor → .cursor/rules/*.mdc + .cursor/mcp.json; --format cursorrules (legacy) → .cursorrules; --format cursor-plugin → ~/.cursor/plugins/local/<project>/
OpenClaw	✅ Partial	--format openclaw → ~/.openclaw/ (MCP + skills)
Orca	✅ Partial	Shared ~/.claude/skills/ + .mcp.json via OpenClaw-style export
Gemini CLI	✅ Full	ai-adapter gemini install → .gemini/ (settings.json, commands/*.toml, GEMINI.md); --with-extension → ~/.gemini/extensions/<name>/; command/prompt get --format gemini → TOML
Zed	✅ Full	ai-adapter zed install → AGENTS.md + .agents/skills/ (Zed discovery path); zed validate checks settings.json/SKILL.md; skill get-all --format zed
Agent Plugins 1.0.0	✅ Full	ai-adapter plugin build/validate (portable packages)

Not supported yet:

Tool	Status	Notes
Continue	❌ Planned	.continuerc.json rules export is a future task

Per-file-type details: LLM Tool Specification Comparison.

---

Installation

Prerequisites

• Python 3.10+
• uv (package management)

# Also installable via pip
pip install ai-adapter

# Or use uv
uv pip install ai-adapter

Upgrade

# Upgrade via pip
pip install --upgrade ai-adapter

# Upgrade via uv
uv pip install --upgrade ai-adapter

# Upgrade to the latest development version
cd ai-adapter && git pull && uv sync && uv pip install -e .

Development Version

git clone <repository-url>
cd ai-adapter
uv sync
uv pip install -e .

Verification

ai-adapter --help
ai-adapter --version

---

Quick Start

# 1. Initialize
ai-adapter start https://github.com/YOUR-REPO/YOUR-CONFIG.git

# 2. Add an agent file (for .github/agents/, e.g. individual .agent.md files)
ai-adapter sub-agent add ~/my-agents/reviewer.md

# 2b. Add a root-level agent file (for project-root AGENTS.md/CLAUDE.md)
ai-adapter agent add ~/my-agents/AGENTS.md

# 3. Add an environment
ai-adapter env add myhome

# 4. Add a script
ai-adapter bin add --env myhome ~/scripts/deploy.sh

# 5. Add a skill (optionally with --env)
ai-adapter skill add ~/my-skills/database-schema
ai-adapter skill add --env myhome ~/my-skills/database-schema

# 6. Add an MCP server
ai-adapter mcp add github --command npx --args @modelcontextprotocol/server-github

# 7. Deploy to a project
cd your-project
ai-adapter sub-agent get reviewer      # → .github/agents/reviewer.md
ai-adapter agent get AGENTS            # → ./AGENTS.md (project root)
ai-adapter bin get --env myhome deploy   # → .github/bin/deploy.sh
ai-adapter skill get database-schema  # → .github/skills/database-schema/
ai-adapter skill get-all --env myhome # → deploy only myhome skills
ai-adapter mcp get                     # → .mcp.json

# 8. Deploy to OpenClaw (optional, requires OpenClaw installed)
ai-adapter mcp get --format openclaw          # → ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json
ai-adapter skill get-all --format openclaw    # → ~/.openclaw/skills/

# 8b. Deploy to Claude Code native paths (optional)
ai-adapter skill get-all --format claude      # → .claude/skills/
ai-adapter sub-agent get reviewer --format claude  # → .claude/agents/reviewer.md
ai-adapter mcp get --format claude --scope user    # → ~/.claude.json (merged)

# 9. Sync with GitHub (share settings)
ai-adapter sync

---

Command Reference

ai-adapter start <URL>

One-click setup of ~/.ai-adapter/ by linking with a GitHub remote repository. Attempts to clone, and if that fails, initializes as a new repository.

# Setup from a new or existing repository
ai-adapter start git@github.com:user/my-agent-config.git

ai-adapter init

Initializes the ~/.ai-adapter/ directory and configuration file (creates agents/, bin/, skills/, commands/, prompts/, instructions/, mcp/ directories). You can set a remote repository via the --remote option or an interactive prompt.

# Minimal initialization (remote can be set later)
ai-adapter init

# Initialize with a remote specified
ai-adapter init --remote git@github.com:user/my-agent-config.git

ai-adapter status

Displays the current status (registration counts, default environment, etc.).

ai-adapter status

ai-adapter add-all-rec

Batch-registers all files under .github/ and .mcp.json into ~/.ai-adapter/. Also discovers root-level files (AGENTS.md, AGENT.md, CLAUDE.md, copilot-instructions.md) and registers them into ~/.ai-adapter/instructions/. Run this after cloning a synced repository to automatically restore configuration from files.

# Run from the project root
ai-adapter add-all-rec

ai-adapter get-all-rec

Deploys all registered items across all categories to .github/ at once. The reverse of add-all-rec — runs sub-agent get-all + bin get-all + skill get-all + command get-all + prompt get-all + agent get-all (root instructions) + mcp get in a single command.

Option	Description
--force	Overwrite existing files without prompting
--env	Filter by environment name (only deploy items for this env)
--project-dir, -d	Target project directory (default: current directory)
--no-summary	Skip the diagnostic summary shown before deployment

# Deploy everything from ~/.ai-adapter/ to the current project
ai-adapter get-all-rec

# Deploy only items for a specific environment
ai-adapter get-all-rec --env remote

# Force overwrite to a specific project
ai-adapter get-all-rec --force --project-dir /path/to/project

# Skip the pre-deploy diagnostic summary
ai-adapter get-all-rec --no-summary

ai-adapter agent

Manages root-level agent instruction files (AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md, copilot-instructions.md). Deploys to project root (./) by default, or to each platform's user directory with --scope user.

Command	Description
agent add <path>	Add a root-level file to ~/.ai-adapter/instructions/
agent add-rec <dir>	Recursively register all files in a directory
agent get <name>	Copy to project root (./AGENTS.md etc.) (use --force to skip overwrite confirmation)
agent get-all	Copy all registered root-level files to project root
agent list	List registered root-level files
agent remove <name>	Remove a root-level file
agent remove-all	Remove all root-level files (supports --force)

agent get / agent get-all accept the following options:

Option	Description
--format <platform>	standard (default, project root), cursorrules (legacy .cursorrules at project root), codex, claude, opencode, gemini, zed, or cursor (unsupported → exit 2)
--scope project|user	project (default) deploys to the project root; user deploys to the platform's user directory
--target root|github-instructions|github-copilot	Deploy target: root (default) = project root, github-instructions = .github/instructions/, github-copilot = .github/copilot-instructions.md. Incompatible with --format (error when combined).
--project-dir <dir>	Target project directory (project scope only; ignored with a warning under --scope user)
--force	Skip overwrite confirmation

User-scope destinations and filenames:

--format	--scope user destination	Filename (mapped by get-all)
codex	~/.codex/	AGENTS.md
claude	~/.claude/	CLAUDE.md
opencode	~/.config/opencode/	AGENTS.md
gemini	~/.gemini/	GEMINI.md
zed	~/.config/zed/ (macOS/Linux), %APPDATA%\Zed\ (Windows)	AGENTS.md

With --scope user, get-all maps every registered file to the name its platform actually reads (e.g. AGENTS.md → CLAUDE.md for Claude Code). When the mapped name is already taken, the file keeps its original name and a warning is shown. User-scope deploys never modify any .gitignore.

ai-adapter agent add ~/my-agents/AGENTS.md
ai-adapter agent list
ai-adapter agent get AGENTS          # → ./AGENTS.md
ai-adapter agent get CLAUDE          # → ./CLAUDE.md
ai-adapter agent get AGENTS --format codex --scope user    # → ~/.codex/AGENTS.md
ai-adapter agent get-all --format claude --scope user      # → ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md (+ mapped names)
ai-adapter agent get AGENTS --target github-instructions   # → ./.github/instructions/AGENTS.md
ai-adapter agent get AGENTS --target github-copilot        # → ./.github/copilot-instructions.md
ai-adapter agent get AGENTS --format cursorrules           # → ./.cursorrules (legacy, single instruction)
ai-adapter agent get-all --format cursorrules              # → ./.cursorrules (all instructions concatenated)
ai-adapter agent remove AGENTS
ai-adapter agent remove-all --force

Note on .cursorrules: --format cursorrules writes the legacy project-root .cursorrules file for migration purposes only. Cursor officially recommends .cursor/rules/*.mdc (deploy with skill get-all --format cursor); prefer that for new setups. .cursorrules is a single file, so concatenation only makes sense with get-all.

ai-adapter sub-agent

Manages .agent.md files (for VS Code / GitHub Copilot agent definitions). Deploys to .github/agents/ (or .claude/agents/ with --format claude).

Command	Description
sub-agent add <path>	Add an agent file to ~/.ai-adapter/agents/
sub-agent add-rec <dir>	Recursively register all agents in a directory
sub-agent get <name>	Copy an agent to .github/agents/ (use --force to skip overwrite confirmation)
sub-agent get-all	Copy all registered agents to .github/agents/
sub-agent get <name> --format claude	Copy to .claude/agents/ as <name>.md (.agent.md renamed, tools converted)
sub-agent get-all --format claude	Copy all registered agents to .claude/agents/ (add --scope user for ~/.claude/agents/)
sub-agent get <name> --format opencode	Copy to .github/agents/ (add --scope user for ~/.config/opencode/agents/; original filename kept — OpenCode is extension-agnostic)
sub-agent get-all --format opencode	Copy all registered agents to .github/agents/ (add --scope user for ~/.config/opencode/agents/)
sub-agent list	List registered agents
sub-agent remove <name>	Remove an agent (use --keep-file to keep the file)
sub-agent remove-all	Remove all agents (supports --keep-file, --force)

All commands above accept --env <env> to filter or scope by environment (e.g. sub-agent add --env production reviewer.md, sub-agent list --env production). When adding with --env, an agent-env binding is created. When removing with --env, only the binding is removed (not the agent itself).

ai-adapter sub-agent add ~/dotfiles/agents/reviewer.md
ai-adapter sub-agent add --env production ~/dotfiles/agents/reviewer.md
ai-adapter sub-agent list --env production
ai-adapter sub-agent get reviewer
ai-adapter sub-agent remove reviewer --env production

ai-adapter env

Manages environment settings.

Command	Description
env add <name>	Add a new environment
env remove <name>	Remove an environment (cannot remove the default environment)
env list	List environments (* indicates the default environment)
env default	Show the current default environment name
env set-default <name>	Change the default environment
env link-agent <agent> <env>	Bind an agent to an environment
env unlink-agent <agent>	Unbind an agent
env remove-all	Remove all environments except the default (supports --force)

ai-adapter env add office
ai-adapter env list
ai-adapter env set-default office
ai-adapter env link-agent reviewer office
ai-adapter env remove-all --force

ai-adapter bin

Manages script files. [env] is optional; if omitted, environment resolution logic applies.

Command	Description
bin add --env <env> <path>	Add a script to ~/.ai-adapter/bin/ (environment resolution applies when --env is omitted)
bin add-rec <dir>	Recursively register all scripts in a directory
bin get --env <env> <name>	Copy a script to .github/bin/ (environment resolution applies when --env is omitted)
bin get-all	Copy all registered scripts to .github/bin/
bin list --env <env>	List scripts (when --env is omitted, shows all environments)
bin remove --env <env> <name>	Unregister a script (environment resolution applies when --env is omitted)
bin remove-all	Unregister all scripts (supports --force)
bin add-path	Output and apply shell configuration to add .github/bin/ to PATH

ai-adapter bin add --env myhome ~/scripts/deploy.sh
ai-adapter bin list
ai-adapter bin get deploy
ai-adapter bin remove deploy
ai-adapter bin remove-all --force

The --env flag is optional; when omitted, environment resolution logic applies.

ai-adapter skill

Manages skills (directories containing SKILL.md).

Command	Description
skill add <path>	Add a skill directory to ~/.ai-adapter/skills/
skill add-rec <dir>	Recursively register all skills in a directory
skill get <name>	Copy a skill to .github/skills/ (add --format for other targets)
skill get <name> --format cursor-plugin	Install a skill as a Cursor plugin package at ~/.cursor/plugins/local/<project>/ (manifest + skills/)
skill get-all	Copy all registered skills to .github/skills/
skill get-all --format openclaw	Copy all registered skills to ~/.openclaw/skills/
skill get-all --format cursor	Deploy skills to .cursor/rules/ as *.mdc (Cursor rules)
skill get-all --format cursor-plugin	Install all skills as a Cursor plugin package at ~/.cursor/plugins/local/<project>/
skill get-all --format claude	Deploy skills to .claude/skills/ (add --scope user for ~/.claude/skills/)
skill get-all --format zed	Deploy skills to Zed's discovery path .agents/skills/ (add --scope user for ~/.agents/skills/)
skill list	List registered skills (filter with --tag)
skill remove <name>	Remove a skill (use --purge to also delete files)
skill remove-all	Remove all skills (supports --purge, --force)
skill search <keyword>	Search skills by keyword (filter with --tag)
skill link-agent <skill> <agent>	Bind a skill to an agent

All commands above accept --env <env> to filter or scope by environment, and --agent <agent> on add commands for env resolution (e.g. skill add --env production ~/skills/db/, skill get-all --env staging).

ai-adapter skill add ~/skills/database-schema/
ai-adapter skill add --env production ~/skills/database-schema/
ai-adapter skill list --env production
ai-adapter skill get database-schema
ai-adapter skill get-all --env staging --force
ai-adapter skill search prisma

ai-adapter mcp

Manages MCP server settings.

Command	Description
mcp add <name>	Add an MCP server setting (with --command, --args, etc.)
mcp add --file <path>	Batch-import MCP server settings from .mcp.json
mcp remove <name>	Remove an MCP server setting
mcp list	List MCP servers (filter with --tool, --env)
mcp get --path <dir>	Export MCP settings to .mcp.json (default: current directory)
mcp get --env <env>	Export MCP settings filtered by environment
mcp get --format openclaw	Export MCP settings to ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json (server-name-based merge)
mcp get --format cursor	Export MCP settings to .cursor/mcp.json (Cursor format)
mcp get --format claude --scope user	Merge MCP settings into ~/.claude.json (.bak backup, other keys preserved)
mcp get --format vscode	Export MCP settings to .vscode/mcp.json (VS Code servers + type: stdio format)
mcp get --format gemini	Merge MCP settings into .gemini/settings.json or ~/.gemini/settings.json (.bak backup, other keys preserved)
mcp remove-all	Remove all MCP server settings (supports --force)

# Interactive addition
ai-adapter mcp add github --command npx --args @modelcontextprotocol/server-github

# Batch-import from .mcp.json
echo '{"mcpServers":{"github":{"command":"npx","args":["@modelcontextprotocol/server-github"]}}}' > .mcp.json
ai-adapter mcp add --file .mcp.json

# List
ai-adapter mcp list

# Export to current directory (standard format)
ai-adapter mcp get
# Export only servers for a specific environment
ai-adapter mcp get --env remote
# Export to a specified directory
ai-adapter mcp get --path /path/to/project
# Export to OpenClaw format (~/.openclaw/openclaw.json)
ai-adapter mcp get --format openclaw
# Export to OpenClaw format with custom path (no merge, new file)
ai-adapter mcp get --format openclaw --path /path/to/output

ai-adapter plugin

Builds and validates Agent Plugins 1.0.0 packages (https://agent-plugins.org/).

Command	Description
plugin build <name>	Scaffold a new 1.0.0 package layout (plugin.json, mcp.json, skills/)
plugin validate <path>	Validate a plugin package against the 1.0.0 spec
plugin validate --json	Output the validation result as JSON
plugin validate --strict	Treat warnings (e.g. missing mcp.json) as failures too

Exit codes reflect the result: 0 on success, non-zero on failure — safe to use in CI.

# Scaffold a new portable plugin
ai-adapter plugin build my-plugin --description "AI agent skills and MCP servers"

# Validate a plugin package
ai-adapter plugin validate ./my-plugin
# → ✓ Plugin package is valid.

# JSON output for CI
ai-adapter plugin validate ./my-plugin --json

The plugin build name must follow the 1.0.0 rules: 1-64 chars, lowercase alphanumeric / hyphens / periods, no leading/trailing separator. plugin validate checks plugin.json manifest ($schema, name, author, field types), mcp.json (type: stdio|streamable-http|sse, single-token command, ${PLUGIN_ROOT} paths, reserved env keys, HTTPS for non-loopback URLs), and skills/ (SKILL.md with name/description frontmatter).

ai-adapter command

Manages VS Code custom command definitions (.sh, .py, .js, etc.).

Command	Description
command add <path>	Add a command file to ~/.ai-adapter/commands/
command add-rec <dir>	Recursively register all files in a directory
command get <name>	Copy a command to .github/commands/
command get <name> --format opencode --scope user	Copy to ~/.config/opencode/commands/ (OpenCode auto-discovers user commands)
command get <name> --format gemini	Convert to Gemini TOML at .gemini/commands/<name>.toml (nested dir/name supported)
command get-all	Copy all registered commands to .github/commands/
command list	List registered commands
command remove <name>	Remove a command
command remove-all	Remove all commands (supports --force)

All commands above accept --env <env> to filter or scope by environment, and --agent <agent> on add commands for env resolution.

ai-adapter command add ~/scripts/deploy.sh
ai-adapter command add --env production ~/scripts/deploy.sh
ai-adapter command list --env production
ai-adapter command get deploy
ai-adapter command remove deploy

ai-adapter prompt

Manages prompt templates for AI agents.

Command	Description
prompt add <path>	Add a prompt file to ~/.ai-adapter/prompts/
prompt add-rec <dir>	Recursively register all files in a directory
prompt get <name>	Copy a prompt to .github/prompts/
prompt get <name> --format gemini	Convert to Gemini TOML at .gemini/commands/<name>.toml
prompt get-all	Copy all registered prompts to .github/prompts/
prompt list	List registered prompts
prompt remove <name>	Remove a prompt
prompt remove-all	Remove all prompts (supports --force)

All commands above accept --env <env> to filter or scope by environment, and --agent <agent> on add commands for env resolution.

ai-adapter prompt add ~/prompts/code-review.md
ai-adapter prompt add --env production ~/prompts/code-review.md
ai-adapter prompt list --env production
ai-adapter prompt get code-review
ai-adapter prompt remove code-review

ai-adapter opencode

Manages OpenCode integration settings.

Command	Description
opencode alias	Create a symbolic link .opencode → .github
opencode install	Generate opencode.json in the current directory (includes MCP, skills, prompts, and agents)
opencode install --format jsonc	Generate opencode.jsonc with explanatory comments (prompts if opencode.json already exists; both files may coexist)
opencode install --with-compat-skills	Add .claude/skills and .agents/skills to skills.paths (default keeps .github/skills only)
opencode uninstall	Remove opencode.json / opencode.jsonc
opencode validate	Validate opencode.json (or opencode.jsonc) schema and agent file formats; opencode.jsonc alone is valid, opencode.json takes precedence
opencode validate --fix	Automatically fix array-format tools to object format
opencode validate --config-only	Validate only the config file (skip agent file validation)

# Create an alias from .opencode to .github
ai-adapter opencode alias

# Generate an opencode.json with MCP servers, skills, and agents
ai-adapter opencode install

# Generate opencode.jsonc with comments instead
ai-adapter opencode install --format jsonc

# Include .claude/skills and .agents/skills in skills.paths
ai-adapter opencode install --with-compat-skills

# Remove
ai-adapter opencode uninstall

# Validate and fix agent files
ai-adapter opencode validate
ai-adapter opencode validate --fix

ai-adapter codex

Manages Codex CLI integration. Generates AGENTS.md in plain Markdown for OpenAI Codex CLI, and deploys MCP servers / skills to Codex native paths.

Command	Description
codex install	Generate AGENTS.md in the current directory from registered agents, instructions, and skills
codex install --force	Overwrite existing AGENTS.md without prompting
codex uninstall	Remove AGENTS.md from the current directory
mcp get --format codex	Merge MCP servers into .codex/config.toml (project scope; comment-preserving text-splice)
mcp get --format codex --scope user	Merge into ~/.codex/config.toml
skill get-all --format codex	Deploy skills to .agents/skills/ (project)
skill get-all --format codex --scope user	Deploy to ~/.agents/skills/ (user, spec-compliant path)
skill get-all --format codex --scope user --also-codex-dir	Also mirror into ~/.codex/skills/ (compat opt-in)

# Generate AGENTS.md for Codex CLI
ai-adapter codex install

# Force overwrite
ai-adapter codex install --force

# Remove
ai-adapter codex uninstall

# MCP → .codex/config.toml (comments in other sections preserved)
ai-adapter mcp get --format codex
ai-adapter mcp get --format codex --scope user

# Skills → .agents/skills/ (spec-compliant path)
ai-adapter skill get-all --format codex --scope user

Codex native paths:

• Project: .codex/config.toml, .agents/skills/
• User: ~/.codex/config.toml, ~/.agents/skills/
• auth.json is never read or written (security)

ai-adapter vscode

Manages VS Code editor configuration under .vscode/. Covers MCP server export (mcp.json) and extension recommendations (extensions.json). User settings (settings.json), debug configs (launch.json), and task definitions (tasks.json) are detected by scan but not managed.

Command	Description
vscode install	Generate .vscode/mcp.json from registered MCP servers (merge with .bak backup)
vscode install --project-dir <path>	Generate .vscode/mcp.json in a specific project
vscode extension add <id>	Add an extension to .vscode/extensions.json recommendations
vscode extension list	List recommended extensions
vscode validate	Validate .vscode/mcp.json and .vscode/extensions.json (JSON parse + schema)
vscode validate --json	Structured JSON output for CI
mcp get --format vscode	Export MCP settings to .vscode/mcp.json (same as install)

# Generate .vscode/mcp.json from registered MCP servers
ai-adapter vscode install

# Add a recommended extension
ai-adapter vscode extension add ms-vscode.copilot-chat

# List recommended extensions
ai-adapter vscode extension list

# Validate VS Code configuration
ai-adapter vscode validate
ai-adapter vscode validate --json

VS Code MCP format (differs from Claude Code's .mcp.json):

{
  "servers": {
    "github": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-github"],
      "env": { "GITHUB_TOKEN": "${env:GITHUB_TOKEN}" }
    }
  }
}

• Uses servers key (not mcpServers) with type: "stdio" entries
• Env values use VS Code's ${env:KEY} setting-variable syntax
• Only stdio servers are exported; http/sse servers are skipped with a warning
• Merge preserves unmanaged servers and takes a .bak backup

VS Code paths:

• .vscode/mcp.json — MCP server definitions (managed)
• .vscode/extensions.json — recommended extensions (managed)
• .vscode/settings.json, .vscode/launch.json, .vscode/tasks.json — detected by scan only

ai-adapter gemini

Manages Gemini CLI configuration under .gemini/ (project) or ~/.gemini/ (user). Covers MCP export (settings.json mcpServers), custom commands (Markdown → TOML), context deployment (GEMINI.md), extension manifests, and validation.

Command	Description
gemini install	Generate .gemini/settings.json, .gemini/commands/*.toml, and GEMINI.md from the store
gemini install --scope user	Same, deployed under ~/.gemini/
gemini install --project-dir <path>	Install into a specific project (default: current directory)
gemini install --with-extension	Also generate ~/.gemini/extensions/<name>/gemini-extension.json
gemini validate	Validate settings.json, command TOMLs, and extension manifests
gemini validate --json	Structured JSON output for CI
command get <name> --format gemini	Convert one command to .gemini/commands/<name>.toml
prompt get <name> --format gemini	Convert one prompt to .gemini/commands/<name>.toml
mcp get --format gemini	Merge MCP servers into .gemini/settings.json (.bak backup)

# Install everything from the store into .gemini/
ai-adapter gemini install

# Install into ~/.gemini/ (user scope)
ai-adapter gemini install --scope user

# Install + generate an extension manifest (registered via gemini extensions install)
ai-adapter gemini install --with-extension

# Validate the configuration
ai-adapter gemini validate
ai-adapter gemini validate --json

Gemini settings.json format (standard mcpServers key, ${ENV_KEY} env references):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "github": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-github"],
      "env": { "GITHUB_TOKEN": "${GITHUB_TOKEN}" }
    }
  }
}

• Merge preserves unmanaged servers and non-MCP keys (model, theme, …); a .bak backup is taken
• Commands/prompts export as TOML (description + triple-quoted prompt); nested commands (dir/name) become .gemini/commands/dir/name.toml
• --with-extension writes the manifest only to ~/.gemini/extensions/<name>/ (Gemini does not read project-root manifests) and prints the gemini extensions install registration command

Gemini CLI paths:

• .gemini/settings.json / ~/.gemini/settings.json — MCP servers (managed)
• .gemini/commands/**/*.toml / ~/.gemini/commands/**/*.toml — custom commands (managed)
• GEMINI.md / ~/.gemini/GEMINI.md — context instructions (managed)
• ~/.gemini/extensions/<name>/gemini-extension.json — extension manifests (generated by --with-extension)

ai-adapter zed

Manages Zed editor configuration. Instructions deploy as AGENTS.md (project root or the OS-specific Zed user directory); skills deploy to Zed's actual discovery path .agents/skills/ (project) / ~/.agents/skills/ (global) — not .zed/skills/, which Zed never searches. settings.json is validate-only in Phase A: Zed's settings carry user-owned editor preferences (theme, font, LSP), so ai-adapter never generates or merges them.

Command	Description
zed install	Deploy AGENTS.md (instructions concatenated) + .agents/skills/ from the store
zed install --scope user	Same, under the OS-specific Zed user dir + ~/.agents/skills/
zed install --project-dir <path>	Install into a specific project (default: current directory)
zed install --force	Overwrite existing AGENTS.md / skill directories without prompting
zed validate	Check AGENTS.md existence, settings.json JSON parse, SKILL.md frontmatter
zed validate --json	Structured JSON output for CI
skill get-all --format zed	Deploy all skills to .agents/skills/ (--scope user → ~/.agents/skills/)
agent get <name> --format zed --scope user	Deploy an instruction to the Zed user dir as AGENTS.md

# Install everything from the store (AGENTS.md + .agents/skills/)
ai-adapter zed install

# Install into the OS-specific Zed user directory
ai-adapter zed install --scope user

# Validate the configuration
ai-adapter zed validate
ai-adapter zed validate --json

Zed paths (OS-dependent user dir via config.get_zed_user_dir()):

Path	Scope	Managed
AGENTS.md / <Zed user dir>/AGENTS.md	Project / User	zed install
.agents/skills/<name>/SKILL.md / ~/.agents/skills/	Project / User	zed install, skill get-all --format zed
.zed/settings.json / <Zed user dir>/settings.json	Project / User	zed validate (detect-only)
<Zed user dir>/keymap.json, .zed/tasks.json	User / Project	scan (detect-only)

• User dir: ~/.config/zed/ (macOS/Linux, XDG config dir), Windows %APPDATA%\Zed\
• Zed does not support nested skills — each skill must be a direct child of the skills root
• Zed's MCP servers use the context_servers key in settings.json; merge support is a Phase B feature

Claude Code Integration

ai-adapter deploys to Claude Code's native paths (.claude/) with the --format claude option. Existing .github/ deployment remains the default (--format standard).

Command	Description
skill get-all --format claude	Deploy skills to .claude/skills/ (--scope user → ~/.claude/skills/)
sub-agent get <name> --format claude	Deploy an agent to .claude/agents/<name>.md (.agent.md renamed, array tools converted)
sub-agent get-all --format claude	Deploy all agents to .claude/agents/ (--scope user → ~/.claude/agents/)
mcp get --format claude --scope user	Merge MCP servers into ~/.claude.json (.bak backup; projects etc. preserved)
mcp get --format claude	Project scope → .mcp.json (same as --format standard; Claude Code reads it natively)

# Skills → .claude/skills/ (project) or ~/.claude/skills/ (user)
ai-adapter skill get-all --format claude
ai-adapter skill get-all --format claude --scope user --force

# Agents → .claude/agents/ (.agent.md is renamed to .md; tools become object format)
ai-adapter sub-agent get reviewer --format claude
ai-adapter sub-agent get-all --format claude --scope user

# User-scope MCP → ~/.claude.json (merges mcpServers, keeps Claude Code's own keys)
ai-adapter mcp get --format claude --scope user

Key design principles:

• Native paths — project deploys go to .claude/agents/ and .claude/skills/; user deploys to ~/.claude/ via --scope user
• .agent.md → .md — Claude Code reads plain .md agent files; array-format tools is converted to object format on deploy (the store copy is never modified)
• Project MCP = .mcp.json — Claude Code reads project MCP servers from .mcp.json (already produced by mcp get --format standard); --format claude --scope project writes the same file
• User MCP = ~/.claude.json — only the mcpServers key is merged; other keys (project history, permissions) are preserved verbatim, and a .bak backup is taken first
• doctor validates ~/.claude.json — the mcpServers subtree shape is checked read-only during ai-adapter doctor
• scan detects project .claude/ — ai-adapter scan reports .claude/agents/ and .claude/skills/ with tool claude (alongside the existing user-scope detection)

OpenClaw Integration

ai-adapter can export configurations to OpenClaw (a personal AI assistant with multi-channel gateway) using the --format openclaw option on existing commands.

Command	Description
mcp get --format openclaw	Export MCP servers to ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json (server-name-based merge preserves existing servers)
skill get-all --format openclaw	Deploy skills to ~/.openclaw/skills/ (preserves non-ai-adapter skills)

# Export MCP servers to OpenClaw format
ai-adapter mcp get --format openclaw

# Export MCP servers to a custom location (new file, no merge)
ai-adapter mcp get --format openclaw --path /path/to/output

# Deploy all skills to OpenClaw
ai-adapter skill get-all --format openclaw --force

Key design principles:

• ${VAR} format for env values — resolved by OpenClaw at load time from ~/.openclaw/.env
• Server-name-based merge — existing non-ai-adapter MCP servers in openclaw.json are preserved
• .bak backup — existing openclaw.json is backed up before modification
• No format conversion needed for skills — both tools use SKILL.md with YAML frontmatter

ai-adapter bin add-path

Outputs and applies shell configuration to add the current project's .github/bin/ to PATH. This allows you to run .github/bin/add_task.sh directly as add_task.sh.

# Interactively select a shell configuration file
ai-adapter bin add-path

# Write directly to zshrc
ai-adapter bin add-path --shell zshrc
ai-adapter bin add-path --shell bash_profile

ai-adapter uninstall

Removes ~/.ai-adapter/ and restores the initial state.

Option	Description
--force	Remove without showing a confirmation prompt
--keep-git	Keep the Git repository (.git) and remove only data

ai-adapter uninstall
ai-adapter uninstall --force
ai-adapter uninstall --keep-git

ai-adapter sync

Syncs ~/.ai-adapter/ with a GitHub remote.

ai-adapter sync

Internally, the following steps are executed:

1. Check Git repository (run git init if uninitialized)
2. git add -A && git commit
3. git pull --rebase origin main
4. git push origin main

ai-adapter scan

Discovers installed AI agent configurations across tools (Claude, Codex, Cursor, OpenCode, VS Code, Gemini CLI, Zed) and shows a summary. For Claude Code this covers both the user scope (~/.claude/) and the project's .claude/agents/ + .claude/skills/ (reported with tool claude). Gemini CLI detection covers ~/.gemini/, .gemini/, project-root GEMINI.md, and installed extension manifests. Zed detection covers the OS-specific user directory (settings.json, AGENTS.md, keymap.json) and project .zed/settings.json / .zed/tasks.json.

Option	Description
--json	Machine-readable JSON output (for CI integration)
--project-dir	Target project directory (default: current directory)

ai-adapter scan                     # Human-readable summary
ai-adapter scan --json              # JSON output
ai-adapter scan --project-dir /path # Scan a specific project

Security: authentication files (auth.json, .credentials.json, .env, *.key) are automatically excluded from results.

ai-adapter doctor

Health diagnostics and auto-fix for your AI environment.

Option	Description
--json	Machine-readable JSON output
--fix	Apply detected fixes (with backup)
--dry-run	Preview fixes without applying
--force	Skip confirmation for destructive actions

ai-adapter doctor              # Health summary
ai-adapter doctor --fix        # Auto-fix with backup
ai-adapter doctor --fix --dry-run  # Preview fixes

Checks: installed tools, available updates, compatibility issues, configuration validation.

ai-adapter monitor

Runtime Plane command: discovers AI agent sessions running in Orca, VS Code, and Zed, and reports what they are doing. Read-only — it never sends input to agents, never changes IDE settings, and never stops processes.

Option	Description
--json	Machine-readable JSON envelope ({"sessions": [...]})

ai-adapter monitor          # Plain table: HOST / PROJECT / AGENT / STATE / AGE
ai-adapter monitor --json   # JSON output (lowercase enum values, ISO 8601 datetimes)

STATE is derived from the canonical status: ACTIVE (working / waiting / blocked), INACTIVE (idle / done), UNKNOWN (cannot be determined — never guessed).

Observation sources per host (design: Coverage > Precision):

Host	Discovery path	Source / Confidence
Orca	Official CLI (orca terminal list --json, orca worktree ps --json)	cli / high
VS Code	Process observation fallback (ps + host attribution)	process / low
Zed	Process observation fallback (ps + host attribution)	process / low

VS Code sessions resolve PROJECT by correlating open-window folders (windowsState in VS Code globalStorage/storage.json) with per-window directory handles (lsof); a session is attributed only when exactly one open folder maps to its window root — ambiguity is never guessed, so shared runtimes (e.g. copilot-runtime) may show -. AGE comes from ps etime for all process-observation sessions.

VS Code / Zed sessions report status: unknown until an official session API (e.g. Zed ACP) becomes available — process existence alone is never promoted to working/waiting/done. Missing hosts are skipped gracefully; an empty result is not an error.

ai-adapter setup

Apply named profiles to register skills / MCP / agents / commands in bulk.

Command	Description
setup apply <profile>	Apply a named profile
setup list	List available profiles

Option	Description
--dry-run	Preview without making changes
--yes	Skip confirmation prompt
--install-missing	Auto-install skills not found locally

ai-adapter setup list                # List profiles
ai-adapter setup apply web-development  # Apply profile
ai-adapter setup apply web-development --dry-run  # Preview

ai-adapter pack

Apply collections of profiles in sequence.

Command	Description
pack install <name>	Apply a pack (multiple profiles)
pack list	List available packs

ai-adapter pack list           # List packs
ai-adapter pack install starter  # Apply pack

ai-adapter skill install

Install skills from local cache or GitHub.

Option	Description
--source	Source: github:user/repo
--force	Overwrite existing skill

ai-adapter skill install database-schema
ai-adapter skill install my-skill --source github:example/ai-skills

ai-adapter optimize

Analyze and optimize your AI environment configuration.

Option	Description
--json	Machine-readable JSON output
--apply	Apply recommended optimizations
--dry-run	Preview changes (default for --apply)
--force	Skip confirmation prompts

ai-adapter optimize              # Read-only analysis
ai-adapter optimize --apply      # Apply optimizations
ai-adapter optimize --apply --dry-run  # Preview

ai-adapter version

Show installed skill versions and available updates.

ai-adapter version

---

Data Storage

All data is stored under ~/.ai-adapter/.
Project-level files are deployed to .github/ (may change in future versions).

~/.ai-adapter/
├── config.json                 # Main configuration file
├── agents/                     # AI agent .agent.md files (managed by sub-agent)
│   ├── reviewer.md
│   ├── implementer.md
│   └── researcher.md
├── bin/                        # Script files
│   ├── deploy-prod.sh
│   └── deploy-staging.sh
├── skills/                     # Skill directories
│   ├── database-schema/
│   │   ├── SKILL.md
│   │   └── examples/
│   └── security-review/
│       └── SKILL.md
├── instructions/               # Root-level agent files (managed by agent)
│   ├── AGENTS.md
│   └── CLAUDE.md
└── mcp/                        # MCP server settings
    └── servers.json

This directory can be turned into a Git repository and synced across multiple PCs via GitHub.

Environment Resolution Priority

When --env is omitted in add / add-rec commands (for bin, skill, command, prompt):

1. If the --agent option is explicitly specified, the bound environment of that agent is used
2. If the relevant agent exists in agent_bindings, its bound environment is used
3. If neither applies, default_env (default: "default") is used

For list, get, get-all, remove, remove-all commands, --env acts as a filter. Items with no env set (universal) are always included regardless of the filter.

---

Configuration File

All settings are stored in ~/.ai-adapter/config.json.

{
  "version": 1,
  "default_env": "default",
  "agent_bindings": [
    { "agent": "reviewer", "env": "myhome" },
    { "agent": "implementer", "env": "office" }
  ],
  "agents": [
    { "name": "reviewer", "description": "Agent for code review" },
    { "name": "implementer", "description": "Agent for implementation" }
  ],
  "envs": [
    { "name": "default", "description": "Default environment" },
    { "name": "myhome", "description": "Home development environment" },
    { "name": "office", "description": "Office development environment" }
  ],
  "bins": [
    { "name": "deploy-prod.sh", "env": "myhome", "description": "Production deployment" },
    { "name": "format-all.sh", "env": "default", "description": "Code formatting" }
  ],
  "skills": [
    {
      "name": "database-schema",
      "description": "Database schema design and review knowledge",
      "path": "skills/database-schema",
      "tags": ["database", "prisma", "schema"],
      "agent": "reviewer",
      "env": "production"
    }
  ],
  "commands": [
    { "name": "deploy", "content": "#!/bin/bash\necho deploy", "env": "production" }
  ],
  "prompts": [
    { "name": "code-review", "content": "Review checklist...", "env": "staging" }
  ],
  "mcp_servers": [
    {
      "name": "github",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@modelcontextprotocol/server-github"],
      "env_keys": ["GITHUB_TOKEN"],
      "enabled": true,
      "tools": ["vscode", "claude", "cursor"]
    }
  ]
}

---

Use Cases

Sharing LLM configuration files between office and home

# Office PC
ai-adapter init
ai-adapter agent add ~/company-agent.md
ai-adapter env add office
ai-adapter sync

# Home PC
git clone <your-ai-adapter-repo> ~/.ai-adapter
ai-adapter agent get company-agent   # → .github/agents/company-agent.md

Migrating to a new PC

# New PC
git clone <your-ai-adapter-repo> ~/.ai-adapter
ai-adapter bin list                  # Check registered scripts
ai-adapter bin get deploy-prod       # Deploy the required scripts

Different agent settings per project

ai-adapter env add project-a
ai-adapter env add project-b
ai-adapter agent add reviewer-a.md
ai-adapter env link-agent reviewer-a project-a

# Running in project-a automatically uses the project-a environment
cd /path/to/project-a
ai-adapter bin add deploy.sh

---

Development

Development Environment

uv sync
uv pip install -e .

Running Tests

Tests must run inside the sandbox directory (.testbox/): the suite operates on Path.cwd() / ".github" (backup → delete → restore), and running it from the repo root can permanently destroy .github/workflows if interrupted.

# All tests (sandboxed — safe)
bash scripts/run_tests.sh

# Verbose output
bash scripts/run_tests.sh -v

# Single test file / module
bash scripts/run_tests.sh tests/test_env.py
bash scripts/run_tests.sh tests/test_env.py -k add   # keyword filter

# Pytest (optional; cwd is isolated per-test by tests/conftest.py)
uv run pytest

run_tests.sh uses pytest (not unittest discover) intentionally: tests/conftest.py, which chdirs every test into a fresh temp directory, is a pytest plugin. Under a bare unittest run, add_to_gitignore() walks up from .testbox/ to the real repo's .git and appends test artefacts to the real .gitignore, polluting the repository.

Linter and Type Checking

uv run ruff check .
uv run ruff format .
uv run mypy src/

---

Project Structure

ai-adapter/
├── pyproject.toml              # Project settings, dependencies, entry points
├── README.md                   # This file
├── LICENSE                     # MIT License
├── .gitignore                  # Git ignore settings
├── src/
│   └── ai_adapter/
│       ├── __init__.py         # Version information
│       ├── __main__.py         # python -m ai_adapter support
│       ├── cli.py              # CLI entry point (registers all subcommands)
│       ├── config.py           # Read/write ~/.ai-adapter/config.json
│       ├── models.py           # Data models (dataclass)
│       ├── diff.py             # Sync diff comparison
│       ├── git.py              # Git operation wrapper
│       ├── sync.py             # sync command (GitHub sync)
│       ├── agent_format.py     # Agent file YAML format utilities
│       ├── agent_plugins.py    # Agent Plugins 1.0.0 validation (plugin.json / mcp.json / skills)
│       ├── commands/           # Subcommand implementations
│       │   ├── agent.py        # agent subcommand
│       │   ├── bin.py          # bin subcommand
│       │   ├── command.py      # command subcommand
│       │   ├── env.py          # env subcommand
│       │   ├── get_all_rec.py  # get-all-rec subcommand (deploy everything + summary)
│       │   ├── instruction.py  # instruction subcommand (root AGENTS.md etc.)
│       │   ├── mcp.py          # mcp subcommand
│       │   ├── plugin.py       # plugin subcommand (Agent Plugins build/validate)
│       │   ├── prompt.py       # prompt subcommand
│       │   └── skill.py        # skill subcommand
│       └── providers/          # External tool integrations
│           ├── opencode.py     # OpenCode integration (install/alias/uninstall)
│           ├── openclaw.py     # OpenClaw integration (MCP + skills export)
│           ├── cursor.py       # Cursor integration (MCP + skills export to .cursor/)
│           └── codex.py        # Codex CLI integration (AGENTS.md generation)
├── tests/
│   ├── __init__.py
│   ├── test_config.py
│   ├── test_agent.py
│   ├── test_env.py
│   ├── test_bin.py
│   ├── test_skill.py
│   ├── test_mcp.py
│   ├── test_sync.py
│   ├── test_git.py
│   ├── test_cli.py
│   ├── test_cursor.py          # Cursor integration tests
│   └── test_instruction.py
└── examples/
    └── sample-config.json      # Sample configuration file

---

Tech Stack

Category	Technology
Language	Python 3.10+
CLI Framework	Click
Configuration File	JSON (standard library)
Testing	pytest — sandboxed via scripts/run_tests.sh into .testbox/, with per-test cwd isolation (tests/conftest.py)
Package Management	uv

---

License

MIT License