mason

Agent kit for working on canonical/chisel-releases. Packages the tribal knowledge needed to author and review chisel slice definition files (SDFs) so an AI coding agent can pick it up on demand.

what's in here

skills/
  CHISEL.md                        # shared reference (format, branch model, schema versions, sources of truth)
  write-slice/
    SKILL.md                       # 10-step authoring workflow
    deb-list                       # python script to inspect .deb contents before authoring
    try-cut                        # bash script to test slices against the current checkout
  review-slice/
    SKILL.md                       # review checklist (CI checks, style, deps, rejection reasons)
src/plugins/opencode/              # opencode slash-command shims
.claude-plugin/                    # claude code plugin manifest
AGENTS.md                          # agent entrypoint -- references all three skill files

skills

Each skills/<name>/SKILL.md is a self-contained briefing an agent loads on demand.

skill	purpose
write-slice	Author new SDFs: validate target, build dep tree, inspect packages with deb-list, design slices, write + format + test + commit. Stops at local commits. After work, proposes a docs-alignment review against chisel-docs.
review-slice	Review SDFs: CI checks, dependency validation, naming & formatting rules, forward-port requirements, common rejection reasons.

CHISEL.md is shared reference material both skills depend on: SDF format, chisel.yaml schema versions (v1/v2/v3), branch model, canonical slice names, multiarch quirks, sources of truth, and external links.

deb-list

Python helper at skills/write-slice/deb-list. Inspects a .deb package before authoring slices:

$ deb-list bash
package: bash  version: 5.3-2ubuntu1  arch: amd64

Depends: base-files (>= 2.1.12), debianutils (>= 5.6-0.1)

files (lexicographic):  [x]=executable  [f]=file  [l]=symlink
  [f] 0644 root/root  /etc/bash.bashrc
  [x] 0755 root/root  /usr/bin/bash
  [l] 0777 root/root  /usr/bin/rbash -> bash
  [f] 0644 root/root  /usr/share/doc/bash/copyright
  ...

maintainer scripts present: postinst  (re-run with --scripts to view)

Requires apt-get + dpkg-deb and a populated apt cache.

try-cut

Bash helper at skills/write-slice/try-cut. Runs chisel cut from the current chisel-releases checkout into a temp root without managing the directory manually:

try-cut [--arch ARCH] <pkg>_<slice> [...]

Passes chisel's output through unchanged and returns its exit code. Useful for quickly validating a new SDF before committing.

plugin integrations

client	how
claude code	/plugin marketplace add rockcrafters/mason then /plugin install mason@mason
opencode	add "plugin": ["$MASON/src/plugins/opencode"] to ~/.config/opencode/opencode.json
codex	ln -s "$MASON/skills/write-slice" ~/.codex/skills/write-slice
copilot cli	ln -s "$MASON/AGENTS.md" AGENTS.md in project root
gemini cli	ln -s "$MASON/GEMINI.md" GEMINI.md in project root

$MASON = wherever you cloned this repo.

sources of truth

The skills defer to three upstream projects. When in doubt:

tool behaviour (canonical/chisel) > docs (canonical/chisel-docs) > conventions (canonical/chisel-releases) > this repo

status

WIP. Layout and naming subject to change.