/axi — Agent eXperience Interface Router

AXI is not a protocol. It is 10 design principles for agent-ergonomic CLIs that beat both raw CLI and MCP on success, cost, duration, and turns (axi.md, kunchenguid/axi).

This skill is the main router for the AXI catalog (official + community). It picks the right AXI, installs/runs it agent-first (npx -y <axi>), and teaches the principles when you build or review agent-facing CLIs.

North Star

Depth	File
10 principles (full spec)	rules/principles.md
Official + community catalog	rules/catalog.md
AXI vs MCP vs raw CLI vs mktg tools	rules/prefer-axi.md
Build / review an AXI	rules/build.md
Benchmark numbers	rules/benchmarks.md
Upstream build-skill snapshot	references/upstream-axi-skill.md

Workflow (escalation)

0. Unclear — User wants "the right tool." Detect domain → route via the table. Explain out loud.
1. Use — An AXI exists for the domain. Prefer npx -y <axi> … (zero global install). Fall back to global binary if already on PATH.
2. Ambient — Repeated sessions in one domain → suggest <axi> setup hooks (SessionStart) after explicit user opt-in.
3. Build / review — Designing an agent-facing CLI → load rules/principles.md + rules/build.md. Do not invent a parallel MCP server first.
4. Missing AXI — No catalog entry → prefer the least-bad existing path (mktg skill, raw CLI, MCP) per rules/prefer-axi.md, and offer to scaffold a new AXI.

On Activation (every time)

1. Restate the domain in one sentence ("You need GitHub PR/CI triage" / "You need live browser extraction").
2. Probe availability (non-blocking):
   • which gh-axi chrome-devtools-axi 2>/dev/null; npx -y gh-axi --version 2>/dev/null | head -1
   • Optional: mktg doctor --json --fields checks and note cli-gh, cli-gh-axi, cli-chrome-devtools-axi.
3. Route via the AXI Routing Table. Always say why: "I'm using gh-axi instead of raw gh / GitHub MCP because AXI wins on cost and success for GitHub tasks."
4. Prefer content-first invocation: run the AXI with no args once to see live state + help[] next steps, then follow those templates.
5. If the user is building a CLI for agents → skip catalog routing; open principles + build rules.
6. Never silently fall back to MCP when an AXI exists for that domain.

AXI Routing Table

Need	AXI	Install / run	Layer
GitHub issues, PRs, CI runs, releases, secrets, projects	gh-axi	npx -y gh-axi (needs gh auth login)	Official
Browse, click, fill, extract, tables, Lighthouse	chrome-devtools-axi	npx -y chrome-devtools-axi	Official
Human review of HTML artifacts (annotate → agent feedback)	lavish-axi	npx skills add kunchenguid/lavish-axi / see catalog	Official
Local Claude/Codex/Cursor/Copilot/Grok quota windows	quota-axi	see rules/catalog.md	Official
Jujutsu history	jj-axi	community	VCS
npm registry inspect	npm-axi	community	Packages
SQLite inspect / capped queries	sqlite-axi	community	Data
Slack read/search/draft	slack-axi	community	Comms
Gmail/Calendar/Docs/Drive/Slides (draft-only mail)	gws-axi	community	Workspace
Harvest time tracking	harvest-axi	community	Ops
Spec-driven agent workflow (AXI-in-skill demo)	specops	community	Process
Git-backed record sheets	gitsheets-axi	community	Data
Metabase SQL/MBQL	metabase-axi	community	Analytics
Otter.ai transcripts	otter-axi	community	Meetings
Notion pages/databases	notion-axi	community	Docs
ClickUp tasks	clickup-axi	community	Tasks
Databricks jobs/runs	databricks-axi	community	Data
AWS host/deploy	aws-axi	community	Cloud
Docker app lifecycle	docker-axi	community	Cloud
DynamoDB	dynamodb-axi	community	Data
PostgreSQL	pg-axi	community	Data
MongoDB	mongodb-axi	community	Data
Elasticsearch	elasticsearch-axi	community	Data
Kubernetes workloads	kubernetes-axi	community	Cloud
Redis	redis-axi	community	Data
Celery queues	celery-axi	community	Cloud
Oracle DB	oracle-axi	community	Data
tmux / herdr / WezTerm sessions	cyber-mux	community (overlaps /tmux, /herdr)	Terminal
GitLab issues / MRs / pipelines	glab-axi	community	VCS
Design / review agent CLI ergonomics	(this skill → principles)	read rules	Meta
Marketing playbook (brand, content, publish)	/cmo	mktg skills	Out of scope

Full URLs + one-liners: rules/catalog.md.

Disambiguation

User says	Route to	Not	Why
"check the PR / CI / issues"	gh-axi	raw gh, GitHub MCP	AXI: 100% success @ $0.050 vs CLI 86% / MCP ~$0.10–0.15
"open this page / click / fill form / extract table"	chrome-devtools-axi	chrome-devtools-mcp, agent-browser	Combined ops + --query; 100% @ $0.074, 4.5 turns
"scrape this URL I already have" (static content)	firecrawl / exa-contents	chrome-devtools-axi	Don't pay for a browser when fetch/crawl is enough
"search the web for X" (unknown URLs)	exa-search / Exa MCP	chrome-devtools-axi	Semantic search ≠ browser automation
"automate Instagram/TikTok login post"	/cmo + browser profile / mktg publish	chrome-devtools-axi alone	Marketing distribution is /cmo's job
"help me market / write copy / SEO"	/cmo	/axi	AXI routes tools; CMO routes marketing skills
"build a CLI for my agent"	/axi principles + build	MCP-first design	Principled CLI beats MCP on the published benches
"use MCP for GitHub/browser"	Prefer matching AXI first	Eager MCP schemas	MCP schema overhead ~2.3× input tokens in GitHub bench (185K vs 79K)
"what's my Cursor/Claude quota"	quota-axi	guessing from UI	Local-first usage windows for routing-aware agents
"review this HTML with humans"	lavish-axi	paste into chat	Annotation loop back to the agent

First 5 Minutes (new machine)

1. Confirm Node 20+ for npx.
2. For GitHub work: gh auth login once, then npx -y gh-axi (home view).
3. For browser work: npx -y chrome-devtools-axi open https://example.com --query "Example".
4. Optional ambient context: npm i -g gh-axi && gh-axi setup hooks (restart session).
5. Tell the user which AXI you chose and the one-line why.

Guardrails

• Prefer AXI when a catalog entry exists for that domain. Explain the preference; don't debate protocol religion.
• Zero-install first: npx -y <axi> … before asking the user to npm i -g.
• Follow help[]: AXI outputs next-step command templates — use them; don't invent flags.
• Fail loud: unknown flags must error (exit 2). Never invent flags and trust unscoped output.
• No interactive prompts. If a required value is missing, fail with a structured error + suggested command.
• Pipe for tokens: | head, | rg on AXI stdout is encouraged; don't dump full snapshots into context when --query exists.
• Skills never call skills. /axi orchestrates tool choice; leaf AXIs execute. Exception: /cmo owns marketing — hand off explicitly.
• Hooks are opt-in. Never run setup hooks without clear user intent.
• TOON on the wire. When building AXIs, stdout is TOON; keep internals on JSON. Spec: https://toonformat.dev/

Anti-Patterns

Anti-pattern	Why it's wrong	Do this instead
Loading full MCP tool schemas for GitHub/browser when an AXI exists	Schema tax balloons input tokens every turn	Route to gh-axi / chrome-devtools-axi
navigate then separate snapshot every click	Doubles turns; AXI combines ops	open, click --query, fill … --submit
Dumping full page snapshots into context	Burns the token budget	--query "…", pipe filters, truncation + --full
Silent fallback to raw gh because "I know the flags"	Raw CLI loses accuracy on the GitHub bench	Use gh-axi; keep gh only for gaps AXI doesn't wrap yet
Building a new MCP server before an AXI CLI	Protocol choice ≠ ergonomics	Apply the 10 principles; ship CLI + optional skill + optional hooks
Presenting the entire catalog as a menu	Shifts the decision to the human	Recommend 1 AXI with a one-line why
Using browser AXI for static URL fetch	Overkill cost/latency	firecrawl / exa-contents / curl

Error Recovery

Failure	Fix
npx / network blocked	Install global once: npm i -g gh-axi (or the needed AXI); retry
gh-axi auth error	gh auth login (and gh auth refresh -s project when Projects need scope)
chrome-devtools-axi bridge stale	chrome-devtools-axi stop then retry; or new CHROME_DEVTOOLS_AXI_SESSION=…
STALE_REF on click	Re-snapshot / open --query and use the new @g:… ref
Unknown command (navigate)	Read AXI help[] / --help — prefer open, not MCP verb names
No AXI for domain	Use prefer-axi fallback; offer to scaffold per rules/build.md

Progressive Enhancement

Level	What /axi can do
L0	Route by domain; run via npx -y with no prior setup
L1	Binaries on PATH; faster cold start
L2	setup hooks ambient home views for Claude Code / Codex / OpenCode
L3	Multiple community AXIs installed; quota-aware routing via quota-axi
L4	Team ships internal AXIs using principles + contributor catalog workflow

Attribution

Principles, catalog, and benchmarks from AXI / kunchenguid/axi (MIT). This mktg skill is the router + catalog orchestrator adapted for /cmo-style activation; the upstream build-skill snapshot lives in references/upstream-axi-skill.md.