List, install, and inspect the editable prompts behind the brain's AI phases, so extract, synth, wiki, and adr produce the shape of output you want.
pks brain skill <list|init|show> [options]$ pks brain skill listShow all five skills and where each resolves from
$ pks brain skill show brain-extractPrint the prompt text extract would use right now
$ pks brain skill init brain-extractCopy the default out to a personal editable file
$ pks brain skill init brain-extract --agentsInstall into the repo so Claude and Codex share it
Each AI phase of the brain is driven by a prompt file — a skill. There are five: brain-extract, brain-synth-cluster, brain-synth-habits, brain-wiki-page, and brain-adr. Every one ships as an embedded default, and every one can be replaced by a copy you edit.
If the extracts are not capturing what matters to you, or the ADRs are the wrong shape, this is the surface to change. Nothing else in the group needs to be touched.
list and show. Both read local files only.init --agents, which writes into the repository's .agents/skills/. Without one it falls back to writing under the working directory.pks brain skill list
All five skills print with, for each, whether it resolves from the embedded default or a customized override, a short content hash, and which command uses it.
The status is a resolution check rather than a content diff — it tells you that some path in the lookup hierarchy won, not what changed inside it.
pks brain skill show brain-extract
The resolved body prints to stdout with a header comment naming the source path (or the embedded default) and the content hash. It walks the same hierarchy the AI phases walk, so this is exactly the text that would be sent.
Output is raw markdown rather than console markup, so it pipes and redirects cleanly:
pks brain skill show brain-adr > ./adr-prompt.md
pks brain skill init brain-extract
The embedded default is copied to ~/.claude/skills/brain-extract/SKILL.md — personal, applying across all your projects. Edit that file and the next pks brain extract picks it up automatically.
To share the prompt with a repository and with Codex as well as Claude Code:
pks brain skill init brain-extract --agents
That writes to the repository's .agents/skills/brain-extract/SKILL.md. The repository root is found by walking up from the working directory looking for a .git entry; if none is found, the file is written under the working directory instead.
--target picks an arbitrary destination directory, and is mutually exclusive with --agents. An existing file is never overwritten unless --force is passed.
Changing a prompt does not retroactively change existing output. After editing:
pks brain extract --force
pks brain status flags extracts whose stored skill hash differs from the currently-resolved skill, which is how you find what is stale.
pks brain skill list
The skill you installed now reports as customized rather than embedded, and its hash matches what pks brain skill show prints.
Takes no options.
| Flag | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
--target <dir> | ~/.claude/skills/<name>/ | Destination directory for the copied skill. |
--agents | false | Install into the current repository's .agents/skills/<name>/, shared between Claude Code and Codex. |
--force | false | Overwrite an existing file instead of refusing. |
The positional argument NAME is required and must be one of the five known skills.
Takes no options. The positional argument NAME is required.
Exit code 1 on init or show. The skill name is not one of the five. Run pks brain skill list for the exact spellings.
Exit code 1 when both --target and --agents are passed. They are mutually exclusive. Pick one.
init refuses to write. A SKILL.md already exists at the destination. Pass --force to replace it.
Edits had no effect on output. Existing extracts are not regenerated automatically. Run the affected phase with --force.
--agents wrote outside the repository. No .git entry was found walking up from the working directory, so the write fell back to the working directory. Run from inside the repository.
brain-extractbrain-synth-cluster and brain-synth-habitsbrain-adr