vellum-self-knowledge · git:20260807.a268a16 · 2026-08-07 · sha256 e71068d04a28278c
vellum-self-knowledge git:20260807.a268a16A
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---
name: vellum-self-knowledge
description: Answer questions about Vellum's architecture, configuration, and hosting from live sources of truth
compatibility: "Designed for Vellum personal assistants"
metadata:
emoji: "🪞"
vellum:
category: "system"
display-name: "Vellum Self-Knowledge"
activation-hints:
- "what model the assistant is running on"
- "how Vellum works or its architecture"
- "its current configuration or settings"
- "what it can do, or what skills/tools are available"
- "whether a service is connected, and in which sense"
- "how to self-host a Vellum assistant"
- "how to configure your own model API key"
avoid-when:
- "changing configuration (use in-chat config instead)"
---
## Critical Rule
**Never answer from memory or general knowledge about Vellum.** Always go to a source of truth.
This skill contains zero static information — only pointers to where the truth lives.
## Sources of Truth
### 1. The `assistant` CLI — Live Runtime State
The CLI is the single source of truth for anything about the running assistant's current state.
| Question type | Command |
| ----------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Current model, provider, config | `assistant config get llm` |
| Full config | `assistant config list` |
| Config schema (what's configurable) | `assistant config schema [path]` |
| Available/installed skills | `assistant skills list --json` |
| Platform connection | `assistant platform status --json` |
| Auth/identity | `assistant auth info --json` |
| Which providers exist, and in which sense | `assistant oauth providers list --json` |
| Whether one is actually connected | `assistant oauth status <provider>` |
| Channel delivery health | `assistant channels list` |
| Connected clients | `assistant clients list --json` |
| Trust rules | `assistant trust list` |
| Stored credentials | `assistant credentials list` |
| API keys | `assistant keys list` |
| MCP servers | `assistant mcp list` |
| Watchers | `assistant watchers list` |
| Token usage/costs | `assistant usage totals` / `assistant usage breakdown --group-by provider` |
| Version | `assistant --version` |
Run `assistant --help` or `assistant <command> --help` to discover more.
"Is X connected?" has two answers and a service can have either, both, or
neither. It takes both commands: the providers list is a catalog and says
nothing about whether anything is connected, so use it to find which provider
keys belong to X, then check each with `oauth status`.
Each provider in that list carries its sense: `actsAs` in the CLI's JSON,
`acts_as` over HTTP. `user` means the assistant can act as the person who
authorized it, `assistant` means a bot people reach the assistant through.
Report the sense found rather than a bare yes.
Do not infer the sense from the provider key. `slack` and `discord` name the
user integration while their bots are `slack_channel` and `discord_channel`,
yet `telegram` is itself the bot. Some services offer both from one authorize
URL, so having done one is not evidence of the other, and people often cannot
recall which they did.
`channels list` reports delivery health for channels that have a readiness
probe, which is not all of them. It answers whether a channel is working, not
whether something is connected.
### 2. Vellum Docs Site — Conceptual Knowledge
For "what is", "how does", and "why" questions, fetch the relevant page from the docs site.
Base URL: `https://www.vellum.ai/docs`
| Topic | Path |
| ------------------------ | ----------------------------------------- |
| What is Vellum | `/getting-started/what-is-vellum` |
| Installation | `/getting-started/installation` |
| Quick start | `/getting-started/quick-start` |
| Your first skill | `/getting-started/your-first-skill` |
| How it all fits together | `/key-concepts/how-it-all-fits-together` |
| The workspace | `/key-concepts/the-workspace` |
| Skills & tools | `/key-concepts/skills-and-tools` |
| Memory & context | `/key-concepts/memory-and-context` |
| Channels | `/key-concepts/channels` |
| Identity | `/key-concepts/identity` |
| Scheduling | `/key-concepts/scheduling` |
| Glossary | `/key-concepts/glossary` |
| Privacy & data | `/trust-security/privacy-and-data` |
| The permissions model | `/trust-security/the-permissions-model` |
| Security best practices | `/trust-security/security-best-practices` |
| Architecture | `/developer-guide/architecture` |
| Security (developer) | `/developer-guide/security` |
| Features & capabilities | `/developer-guide/features` |
| API & communication | `/developer-guide/api` |
| Development workflow | `/developer-guide/development-workflow` |
| Contributing | `/developer-guide/contributing` |
| Local hosting | `/hosting-options/local-hosting` |
| Advanced hosting | `/hosting-options/advanced-options` |
| Environments | `/environments` |
| Pricing | `/pricing` |
| Roadmap | `/roadmap` |
| FAQ | `/help/faq` |
| Common issues | `/help/common-issues` |
| Getting help | `/help/getting-help` |
| Skills reference index | `/skills-reference` |
| Specific skill reference | `/skills-reference/<skill-name>` |
Use `web_fetch` to pull the page content. If a URL 404s, try fetching the docs homepage and navigating from the sidebar.
### 3. Source Code — Deep Implementation Details
For questions the docs and CLI can't answer (internal architecture, how a specific feature is implemented, source-level details):
1. Get the current version: `assistant --version`
2. The open source repo is at `https://github.com/vellum-ai/vellum-assistant`
3. The release for version X is at `https://github.com/vellum-ai/vellum-assistant/releases/tag/vX.Y.Z`
4. Check out the matching tag locally: `cd /workspace/vellum-assistant && git fetch --tags && git checkout v<version>`
5. Key source locations:
- `assistant/` — Runtime (conversation loop, tool dispatch, memory, scheduling)
- `gateway/` — Ingress boundary (webhooks, Telegram, Twilio, reverse proxy)
- `clients/` — Native macOS client
- `skills/` — Bundled skill definitions
- `ARCHITECTURE.md` — Cross-system index
- `assistant/ARCHITECTURE.md` — Runtime internals
- `gateway/ARCHITECTURE.md` — Gateway internals
- `assistant/docs/architecture/` — Detailed architecture docs (security, memory, etc.)
6. Read the relevant source files to answer the question.
### Resolution Order
1. **CLI first** — if the question is about current state, config, or capabilities, the CLI has it.
2. **Docs second** — if the question is conceptual ("what is X", "how does Y work"), fetch the docs page.
3. **Source code last** — only for deep implementation questions that the docs don't cover.