Augment

Purpose

Close the gap between what the user wants and what this setup can do — in the moment, without them leaving the conversation. This is the engine that makes a fresh Claude Code project grow into exactly the toolkit THIS user needs.

When to use this

• The user asks for a capability with no matching skill/command/agent (check the capability manifest: python3 .claude/engine/doctor.py --manifest).
• A [gap] nudge was injected by the real-time hook (.claude/state/needs.jsonl).
• The user explicitly says "augment", "find a skill for…", "add support for…".

Steps

1. Name the capability precisely

Restate what's missing as a short search phrase (e.g. "stripe payments", "deploy to fly.io", "supabase row level security"). Confirm with the user in one line.

2. Search the open ecosystem (across platforms)

python3 .claude/engine/skill_finder.py "<capability>" --json

This queries, in parallel and offline-tolerant: Anthropic's official skills, GitHub (topic + repo search), the MCP Registry, and Smithery (if SMITHERY_API_KEY is set). Results come back ranked by relevance with a trust score and flags. Set GITHUB_TOKEN first if available — it lifts GitHub's rate limit.

3. Vet before you trust (never auto-install blindly)

Reject or down-rank a candidate that is: brand-new (<30d) with no stars, has a vague or missing description, grants Bash with no constraint, or fetches remote code at runtime. Prefer: official (anthropic/skills), verified (Smithery), pinned commit SHAs, and repos with real usage. Show the user the top 1–3 with their trust/flags and let them pick when it's a close call.

4a. Install a good match

• Official skill / plugin: add it with /marketplace (enter <owner/repo> when prompted), then /plugin install <name>@<marketplace>.
• MCP server: claude mcp add <name> ... (it activates next session — tell the user). Record it in .mcp.json so the team gets it too.
• A SKILL.md in a repo: fetch it, read it end-to-end, then write it into .claude/skills/<name>/SKILL.md. Validate: python3 .claude/engine/skill_forge.py validate <path>.

4b. Nothing fits → forge it

Invoke the forge skill to author a detailed, project-specific skill. Do NOT settle for a generic one — a vague skill is worse than none.

4c. Found it another way? Teach the finder (self-extending discovery)

If the web search missed it but you located the capability another way — a specific GitHub org, a vendor's own JSON search endpoint, or simply "X lives at Y" — record that source so the engine searches it next time TOO, alongside the web. Discovery then heals and compounds:

# a whole org that publishes the skills you needed:
echo '{"kind":"github_org","org":"<org>","note":"has <capability> skills/servers"}' \
  | python3 .claude/engine/learn.py source-add
# or a queryable JSON endpoint, or a durable hint:
# {"kind":"http_json","name":"acme","url":"https://api.acme/s?q={query}","name_field":"slug","url_field":"link"}
# {"kind":"hint","name":"...","text":"For <X>, check <Y>"}

The next discovery run includes it automatically.

5. Make it real now, then learn

• Verify the new capability works (run it once if safe).
• Record what you added so the setup remembers:

echo '{"category":"stack","text":"Added <capability> via <skill/mcp>","tags":["augment"]}' \
  | python3 .claude/engine/learn.py add

• Tell the user the new command/skill is live and how to use it.

Output

A new, working capability in .claude/ (skill, command, or MCP server), vetted and validated, plus a one-line summary of what was added and how to invoke it.

Guardrails

• Never install a skill you haven't read. Never run a skill's setup script without inspecting it. Surface trust flags honestly.
• If discovery returns nothing and the domain is unfamiliar, ask the user one clarifying question rather than forging something generic.

Ecosystem note — codebase understanding → nodo

If the capability the user needs is understanding the codebase itself — architecture, blast radius, "what calls X", dependency/call graph, where a concept lives — that's the nodo sibling, not a web skill. If nodo is installed (.nodo/ or the /nodo skill exists), use /nodo and read .nodo/nodo-context.json. If not, offer to install it from the same marketplace: run /marketplace and enter shivae372/claude-bootstrap, then /plugin install nodo@claude-bootstrap (or clone shivae372/nodo). claude-bootstrap reads nodo's map automatically at session start.