setup SKILL.md skillB
setup from ai-screams/howl is an agent skill: a SKILL.md folder an AI agent loads when a task calls for it.
mdr add ai-screams/howl/setup@git:20260916.2ca1ddbPins git:20260916.2ca1ddb in mdr.lock. Pin the fingerprint instead.
- Audit grade
- B, 16 of 17 checks passed
- Kind
- SKILL.md skill
- Repository
- ai-screams/howl
- Path
skills/setup/SKILL.md- Versions recorded
- 4
- Latest version
- git:20260916.2ca1ddb, committed Sep 16, 2026
- First version recorded
- Feb 7, 2026
- Size
- 4,658 bytes
- Repository stars
- 5
- License
- MIT
This skill should be used when the user asks to "install howl", "set up the statusline", "configure howl", "enable the HUD", or "install the statusline binary". It downloads the Howl binary and configures Claude Code to use it.
Collected from public GitHub. Every version is saved exactly as it was and never changes. Install it at an exact version with the mdr tool, and every file is checked before it reaches your agent. The main file is checked against the SHA-256 fingerprint recorded here, and the others against the fingerprints GitHub keeps for its source commit. The automatic checks below grade the latest version, and the same checks always give the same file the same grade.
What the file says
# Howl Setup
Install and configure the Howl statusline HUD for Claude Code.
## What This Does
1. Downloads the latest Howl binary from GitHub Releases, verifying its SHA256
2. Installs it to `~/.claude/hud/howl`
3. Points `statusLine` in `~/.claude/settings.json` at it
4. Tells the user to restart Claude Code
Step 3 is why this skill exists. A plugin cannot set `statusLine` itself —
Claude Code allows only the `agent` and `subagentStatusLine` keys in a plugin's
own settings — so the main status line has to be written into the user's
settings by something running as the user. That is this script.
The agent panel needs no such step: the plugin ships `subagentStatusLine`
directly, so per-subagent rows start working as soon as the binary exists.
## Installation
Run the install script:
```bash
bash "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/install.sh"
```
It refuses to overwrite a `statusLine` that points at something other than
Howl. If the user already runs a different status line, report that and let
them decide rather than working around it.
## Verify Installation
```bash
~/.claude/hud/howl --version
echo '{}' | ~/.claude/hud/howl
```
…Read the whole file at its exact version.
How to install
mdr add ai-screams/howl/setup@sha256:a7d0a937756f3e39The line at the top of this page pins the label git:20260916.2ca1ddb, which is what most people want. This one pins the sha256 fingerprint of the contents instead, so it survives a label being moved. Either way the exact version is written to mdr.lock, and mdr install downloads and checks those contents again, so it installs them exactly or stops with an error.
[](https://markdownregistry.com/a/art_kvrxruwcc7pq34vp)
3 badge image fetches in 30 days. What the badge shows.
Versions
The registry has recorded 4 versions of this file, between Feb 7, 2026 and Sep 16, 2026, about one every 74 days.
| version | committed | commit | size | audit | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| git:20260916.2ca1ddb latest | 2026-09-16 | 2ca1ddb | 4,658 B | B | view · diff |
| git:20260615.e3a990d | 2026-06-15 | e3a990d | 2,597 B | B | view · diff |
| git:20260211.66bb485 | 2026-02-11 | 66bb485 | 1,699 B | B | view · diff |
| git:20260207.66b152e | 2026-02-07 | 66b152e | 1,699 B | B | view |
Audit of the latest version
- fail: Frontmatter declares a name
- pass: Frontmatter block present
- pass: Frontmatter declares a description
- pass: Size between 200 bytes and 200 KB (4658 bytes)
- pass: No zero-width or bidi control characters
- pass: No instruction hidden inside an HTML comment
- pass: No link to an exfiltration or paste host
- pass: No credential-shaped string
- pass: No instruction to send local credentials anywhere
- pass: No text hidden with inline styles
- pass: No prompt-injection phrasing
- pass: No curl or wget piped into a shell
- pass: No recursive delete of root, home or parent
- pass: No instruction to read or print local credentials
- pass: No base64 blob over 200 characters
- pass: No link to a raw IP address
- pass: No script tag
Starting a new one? Use a template for SKILL.md on mdpantry, which passes every one of these checks and says what to change in it.
Source
ai-screams/howl · 5 stars · license MIT · pushed 2026-10-19 · branch main
API
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_kvrxruwcc7pq34vp GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=ai-screams/howl/setup GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/a7d0a937756f3e39d6aaa6b8500bcadc29e1458e37745d4c4c04e37dc3aa4eb9
Your AI assistant does the legwork. You hear about the deals worth your word. Hand yours the standing instructions at modelranch.com and it joins the network that reads files like this one.
Guides: the SKILL.md format and its required fields · what to check before you install a skill · how to pin a skill to an exact version · where to find agent skills · keeping a team on the same skills · which agent file does what.