Discover shims

Discover Shims Skill

This skill helps you discover and catalog available Scoop shims, identifying valuable command-line tools that can replace default Windows commands.

When to Use

Trigger this skill when the user asks:

• "What tools are available?"
• "What commands can I use?"
• "What shims do I have?"
• "Explore my Scoop environment"

Steps

1. Scan Available Tools

Run both scoop shim list and scan PATH for Scoop-related directories:

# Get all shims
scoop shim list

# Get Scoop-related paths from PATH
$scoopPaths = $env:PATH -split ';' | Where-Object { $_ -match 'scoop' } | Where-Object { $_ -match '\\apps\\' }

# List executables in those directories
$scoopPaths | ForEach-Object {
    Get-ChildItem -Path $_ -Filter "*.exe" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
} | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Name

2. Analyze Each Command

For each command (from shim list and PATH), gather information:

# Get help information (skip if obviously a GUI program)
<cmd> --help

# Get Scoop package info
scoop info <cmd>

# Get source package (for commands from PATH)
scoop shim info <cmd>

IMPORTANT: Do NOT run --help on obviously GUI programs (e.g., firefox, vscode, notepad++). Running them will launch the application and interrupt the user. Use scoop info <cmd> to check the description and homepage instead.

Note: scoop shim info <cmd> returns the source package name (e.g., fchash comes from fastcopy). Use the Source field for tracking.

3. Determine Tool Value and Deduplicate

Based on the help info and Scoop info, determine if each command is:

• ✓ A valuable third-party command-line tool (record it)
• ✗ A programming language itself (skip - e.g., python, node, go, rust)
• ✗ A language's built-in tool (skip - e.g., pip, npm, cargo)
• ✗ A TUI program (skip - not suitable for Agent sessions)
• ✗ A GUI program (skip)
• ✗ An interactive editor (skip)
• ✗ A shell function/alias (skip - e.g., zoxide requires zoxide init powershell to create z alias, not a standalone shim)

If tool is unknown:

• Use scoop info <cmd> to get the homepage URL
• Visit the homepage to understand the tool's purpose
• Determine if it's a valuable third-party tool (not a language or built-in tool)

Deduplication rules:

• Use command name as unique key
• If same command appears in both shim list and PATH, record only once
• Prefer scoop shim info for source tracking (more reliable)
• If package provides multiple commands (e.g., ffmpeg, ffprobe), record each separately
• IMPORTANT: Do NOT use text processing tools (grep, awk, etc.) for deduplication. You already have all the information in the command outputs - analyze them directly.

Enrich each recorded tool:

• Replacement target: Read the scoop info Description field. If it mentions "alternative to X", "X clone", or "X replacement", infer that the tool replaces X. If Description is unclear, fall back to --help output. If no built-in equivalent exists, describe the capability without a "replaces" clause.
• Usage examples: Extract 1-2 common invocation patterns from --help output. Prefer the simplest, most frequent use case.
• Category: Assign each tool to a functional category based on its purpose (e.g., Text Search, File Finding, File Operations). If no existing category fits, create a new one or use System Utilities.

See the few-shot examples below the format template for guidance on inference patterns.

4. Write to Global Memory

IMPORTANT: If the <!-- scoop-shims start --> comment block already exists in your global memory file, you MUST replace the entire block content with the newly discovered tools. Do NOT skip, merge, or leave it unchanged.

Write discovered tools to your global memory file in a comment block:

<!-- scoop-shims start -->
Scoop is a package manager for Windows. These are the command-line tools that have already been installed. Before executing ANY CLI command, check this block FIRST for a suitable tool. These are faster and more capable than PowerShell cmdlets. Only fall back to PowerShell when no match found here:

## Text Search
- rg (ripgrep): replaces grep, recursive regex search, auto-respects .gitignore
  rg "TODO" --glob "*.ts"

## File Finding
- fd: replaces find, simpler syntax, auto-respects .gitignore
  fd "\.tsx$"

## File Viewing
- bat: replaces cat, built-in syntax highlighting and line numbers
  bat src/main.ts

## System Utilities
- lsd: replaces ls, with icons and colors
  lsd -la
<!-- scoop-shims end -->

Format rules:

• First line: actionable instruction telling the agent to prefer these tools over PowerShell cmdlets
• Group tools under functional category headers (e.g., Text Search, File Finding, File Operations)
• One tool per line
• Format: - cmd (package): replaces X, description (if has replacement) or - cmd (package): description (if no direct replacement)
• Include 1-2 example commands per tool showing common invocation patterns
• If comment block exists, replace entire block content ✗ WRONG: "The block already exists with 12 tools — skipping" ✓ CORRECT: Overwrite the entire block with newly discovered tools
• If a tool doesn't fit existing categories, create a new one or place under System Utilities

Few-shot examples for inferring replacement targets:

Example 1 — Command name differs from package name:

Found fchash in shim list → scoop info fchash fails (not a package name) → Use scoop shim info fchash → Source: fastcopy → scoop info fastcopy → "FastCopy is the fastest copy/backup software" → Inference: file hash tool, no direct built-in replacement → Output: - fchash (fastcopy): compute file hashes

Example 2 — Description implies replacement:

scoop info bat → "A cat(1) clone with syntax highlighting and Git integration" → Inference: "cat clone" → replaces cat → Output: - bat: replaces cat, built-in syntax highlighting and line numbers

Example 3 — Description and --help are unclear, visit homepage, then skip:

scoop info zoxide → "A smarter cd command" — unclear what it replaces → Visit homepage (https://github.com/ajeetdsouza/zoxide) → learn it requires zoxide init powershell to create z shell function → Detection: z is not a Scoop shim, it's a shell alias — skip → Action: skip (shell function, not a standalone executable)

Output

After scanning, inform the user:

• How many shims were scanned
• How many valuable tools were identified
• What was written to global memory

Notes

• This skill does NOT maintain hardcoded lists - let the Agent judge based on help info
• TUI/GUI programs are skipped as they're not suitable for Agent sessions
• The global memory block can be updated anytime by re-running this skill