Guide · Agent skill
How to use the Agent-Operated Workflows agent skill
Updated · written with AI from the project's own documentation and checked against our catalogue data
The agent-operated-workflows skill is a design guide that tells an AI agent how to carry out a bounded real-world procedure when the current conditions are messy or only partly known. Instead of replaying a fixed script, the agent inspects state, picks one safe action, verifies the result, records a checkpoint and escalates to a human when something is ambiguous or destructive. This guide explains what the skill does, how to install it, how to trigger it and what to watch for, so you can use it whether or not you have used agent skills before.
Agent-Operated Workflowsmvschwarz/openrig · Apache-2.0 Download the skill Quick start
- 1Download the ZIP. Get the skill ZIP from this page and unzip it.
- 2Choose an install location. Use ~/.claude/skills/ for personal use or the project's .claude/skills/ folder for one project.
- 3Or upload in the Claude apps. Go to Settings → Capabilities → Skills and upload the ZIP.
- 4Describe a bounded procedure. Ask for a task with a clear outcome, a stop condition and uncertain current state.
- 5Check the inspection plan. Review the read-only checks the agent proposes before approving any change.
- 6Review checkpoints and escalations. Confirm the checkpoints are recorded and stop on any destructive ambiguity to decide yourself.
What the skill makes the agent do
The skill defines an Agent-Operated Workflow: a bounded procedure with a start and stop condition, where the agent owns the control loop. The agent observes the state, interprets it, sequences bounded actions, verifies their effects, adapts and escalates genuine ambiguity. Deterministic code still performs the exact actions; it is not expected to understand every state of a messy system.
The skill also helps decide whether a task should be run by agent judgment or by ordinary code. Agent judgment fits a happy path that is predictable but an environment that varies. Ordinary code fits a closed state space, such as a parser or a fixed data transformation, where the skill itself says code is simpler and more reliable.
- Inspect with side-effect-free reads or an explicit plan mode before acting.
- Choose one bounded action from what was observed, not a replay of the happy path.
- Verify the effect at the place that could prove it wrong.
- Record a checkpoint so another agent can resume.
- Stop at the declared condition, or escalate with evidence and the decision needed.
Install the skill from the ZIP
Download the ZIP for this skill from this page and unzip it. For a personal install, place the skill folder inside ~/.claude/skills/. For a single project, place it inside that project's .claude/skills/ directory. The skill's main file is SKILL.md.
If you use the Claude apps instead, upload the ZIP under Settings → Capabilities → Skills.
Trigger the skill with natural requests
You do not need a special command. The skill's description tells the agent when to use it: a bounded procedure with a predictable happy path but variable or partly knowable state, an operation that must resume from verified evidence, or a question about whether agent judgment or ordinary code should own a procedure. Describe the task in those terms and the agent can load the skill.
Examples of requests that fit:
- Plan a maintenance run on an existing server where the current state varies between machines.
- Design a runbook for an upgrade that must survive a partial failure and be resumable.
- Help me decide whether this data-cleaning job should be agent-driven or a plain script.
What it needs and safety notes
The listed requirements are nothing. The skill runs no scripts and uses no network access, according to its listing. It is a single SKILL.md file, so it only shapes how the agent reasons and plans.
The skill is explicit that humans own destructive ambiguity. An agent following it should stop and ask in those cases rather than act alone. An interrupted or timed-out change is treated as indeterminate: it should not be assumed failed, and should not be retried blindly.
Tips for getting good results
Give the agent the outcome you want and the stop condition, so it knows when the procedure is finished. Ask it to name the read-only checks it will run before any change. Keep checkpoints somewhere durable so a different agent or a person can pick the work up later.
The skill suggests promoting a workflow to a reusable recipe only after it has been proven in use, rather than designing one up front.
- Name the stop condition and the outcome in the request.
- Ask for the inspection plan before any mutation.
- Keep the runbook separate from the tools that perform exact actions.
What people use it for
- Planning an upgrade or maintenance run on existing systems whose state differs from machine to machine.
- Designing a runbook that can resume after a partial failure without repeating completed steps.
- Deciding whether a recurring data job should be a deterministic script or an agent-driven procedure.
- Reviewing a tool design so that it exposes narrow, independently readable actions and clear failure messages.
Frequently asked questions
How do I install the agent-operated-workflows skill?
Download the ZIP from this page and unzip it into ~/.claude/skills/ for personal use or into a project's .claude/skills/ folder. In the Claude apps, upload the ZIP under Settings → Capabilities → Skills.
Is the agent-operated-workflows skill free?
The skill is listed under the Apache-2.0 licence. Check the licence text in the source repository for the terms that apply to your use.
Does this skill require any other tools or software?
Its listing states no requirements. It runs no scripts and uses no network access, and it consists of a single SKILL.md file.
Is it safe to let an agent use this skill?
The skill itself runs no scripts and makes no network calls. It tells the agent to stop and ask a human when an operation is destructive or ambiguous, and to treat interrupted changes as indeterminate rather than retrying them blindly.
When should I not use this skill?
Skip it for simple, fully predictable tasks such as a parser or a fixed data transformation. The skill itself says ordinary code is better in those cases.
How is this different from a normal runbook or script?
A script replays fixed steps. This skill guides an agent to inspect the current state, choose one safe action, verify it and checkpoint progress, which suits procedures where conditions vary.
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Our verdict
This skill suits developers and teams designing resumable runbooks or maintenance on existing systems where the state varies, and anyone deciding where agent judgment should sit in an automated process. It is not the right choice for simple, fully predictable tasks, where ordinary code is the better fit, or for destructive operations that you want an agent to complete without a human.
Download the skill