designing-clis SKILL.md skillA
designing-clis from technicalpickles/pickled-claude-plugins is an agent skill: a SKILL.md folder an AI agent loads when a task calls for it.
mdr add technicalpickles/pickled-claude-plugins/designing-clis@git:20251125.43bbfd3Pins git:20251125.43bbfd3 in mdr.lock. Pin the fingerprint instead.
- Audit grade
- A, 17 of 17 checks passed
- Kind
- SKILL.md skill
- Repository
- technicalpickles/pickled-claude-plugins
- Path
plugins/dev-tools/skills/designing-clis/SKILL.md- Versions recorded
- 1
- Latest version
- git:20251125.43bbfd3, committed Nov 25, 2025
- Size
- 4,489 bytes
- Repository stars
- 12
- License
- MIT
Use when building, improving, or reviewing command-line interfaces for better user experience - before implementing commands/output/errors, when users report confusion or frustration, or when CLI feels hard to use - provides UX principles, visual design techniques, and practical patterns for creating discoverable, delightful CLIs.
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
# Designing CLIs ## Overview Modern CLIs are conversations between human and machine. Great CLIs feel discoverable, responsive, and forgiving. Poor CLIs leave users guessing, waiting, and frustrated. **Core principle:** Every CLI interaction should answer: "What happened? What can I do? What's next?" ## When to Use **Building:** - Creating new CLI commands or tools - Designing output format, error messages, progress indicators - Planning CLI architecture (flags, subcommands, interaction model) **Improving:** - Enhancing existing CLI user experience - Adding features to existing commands - Making CLI "less confusing" or "easier to use" **Reviewing:** - Auditing CLI code for UX issues - Responding to user complaints about difficulty - Troubleshooting discoverability problems ## Quick Decision Framework | Working On | Read This | |------------|-----------| | New CLI under time pressure | practical-patterns.md (Priority Checklist) | | Adding to existing CLI | practical-patterns.md (Working with Existing CLIs) | | Fixing "confusing" CLI | practical-patterns.md (CLI UX Audit Checklist) | | Command structure, flags | ux-principles.md (Familiarity, Discoverability) | …
Read the whole file at its exact version.
How to install
mdr add technicalpickles/pickled-claude-plugins/designing-clis@sha256:52a570ec804e174cThe line at the top of this page pins the label git:20251125.43bbfd3, 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_xnw5d6ntf7a324qs)
4 badge image fetches in 30 days. What the badge shows.
Versions
The registry has recorded 1 version of this file, committed on Nov 25, 2025.
Audit of the latest version
- pass: Frontmatter block present
- pass: Frontmatter declares a name
- pass: Frontmatter declares a description
- pass: Size between 200 bytes and 200 KB (4489 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
Source
technicalpickles/pickled-claude-plugins · 12 stars · license MIT · pushed 2026-11-07 · branch main
API
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_xnw5d6ntf7a324qs GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=technicalpickles/pickled-claude-plugins/designing-clis GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/52a570ec804e174c9c1c886577d4a1695afe2c07278869defd1703eb29ed13e6
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.