{"slug": "stop-re-explaining-your-codebase-to-every-ai-agent-cast-skills", "title": "Stop re-explaining your codebase to every AI agent — `cast-skills`", "summary": "Developer Pedro Castanha released cast-skills, a CLI tool that bootstraps cross-tool AI skills for project knowledge. It installs native SKILL.md files into Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, and Codex, and auto-converts for Cursor and Windsurf, enabling agents to load only relevant context per session instead of re-explaining the entire codebase.", "body_md": "Every session, the agent forgets:\n\nSo you re-explain. It rewrites. Context drifts. Tokens burn.\n\nDumping a 40k-token `AGENTS.md`\n\ninto every prompt is not a strategy. It’s a tax.\n\nI wanted something simpler: **write project knowledge once**, in a format agents already understand, and install it into **every tool I actually use**.\n\nThat’s [ cast-skills](https://github.com/pedrocastanha/cast-skills).\n\n```\nnpx cast-skills\n```\n\n`cast-skills`\n\nis a small CLI that bootstraps **cross-tool AI skills** for your machine (or project):\n\n| Skill | Job |\n|---|---|\n`using-project-skills` |\nAlways-on router. When you start a feature/fix/refactor, it loads project context and routes work through the right module + workflow. |\n`creating-project-skills` |\nBootstrapper (`/skill-creator` ). Reads the repo, asks sharp questions, generates a project skill tree. |\n`explaining-changes` |\nAfter non-trivial work, offers a beginner-friendly explanation (ELI5 → runtime) as Markdown/HTML. |\n\nSkills use the open [ SKILL.md](https://agentskills.io) format — progressive disclosure: the agent loads what it needs, not your entire wiki every turn.\n\ncast-skills is built around Anthropic's Agent Skills approach: instead of loading one massive prompt every session, the agent progressively loads only the knowledge it needs.\n\nThe wizard auto-detects what you have and drops skills in the right place:\n\n| Tool | Where it goes | Format |\n|---|---|---|\n| Claude Code | `~/.claude/skills/` |\nnative `SKILL.md`\n|\n| GitHub Copilot | `~/.copilot/skills/` |\nnative |\n| Gemini CLI | `~/.gemini/skills/` |\nnative |\n| Codex | `~/.agents/skills/` |\nnative |\n| Cursor |\n`.cursor/skills/` (project) |\nconverted `.mdc`\n|\n| Windsurf |\n`.windsurf/rules/` (project) |\nconverted rules |\n\nNative tools get `SKILL.md`\n\nas-is. Cursor/Windsurf get an auto-converted format so you’re not maintaining six copies by hand.\n\n```\nnpx cast-skills\n# or\nnpm i -g cast-skills && cast-skills\n```\n\nRequires Node ≥ 18.\n\n`using-project-skills`\n\n`explaining-changes`\n\nThe point isn’t another chatbot persona. It’s **stable project memory** that survives sessions and tools.\n\nMost of us don’t live in one harness.\n\nMonday: Claude Code.\n\nTuesday: Cursor on a design-heavy UI.\n\nWednesday: Copilot in a boring enterprise repo.\n\nIf “project brain” only works in one tool, you still re-explain on Tuesday.\n\n`cast-skills`\n\noptimizes for **write once → run everywhere that speaks skills/rules**.\n\nIf your team has no conventions, the bootstrapper will still force a few useful questions. That’s a feature.\n\n```\ncd your-repo\nnpx cast-skills\n```\n\nPick the tools you use → let it install the three skills → start a real task and see if the agent stops inventing your architecture from scratch.\n\nRepo: [github.com/pedrocastanha/cast-skills](https://github.com/pedrocastanha/cast-skills)\n\nnpm: [npmjs.com/package/cast-skills](https://www.npmjs.com/package/cast-skills)\n\nIf you try it, tell me:\n\nIssues and PRs welcome — especially path fixes for tool updates (these CLIs move the goalposts often).", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/stop-re-explaining-your-codebase-to-every-ai-agent-cast-skills", "canonical_source": "https://dev.to/pedrocastanha/stop-re-explaining-your-codebase-to-every-ai-agent-cast-skills-3dac", "published_at": "2026-07-15 01:12:25+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-07-15 01:56:40.003235+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["developer-tools", "ai-agents", "large-language-models", "ai-infrastructure"], "entities": ["Pedro Castanha", "cast-skills", "Anthropic", "Claude Code", "GitHub Copilot", "Gemini CLI", "Codex", "Cursor"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/stop-re-explaining-your-codebase-to-every-ai-agent-cast-skills", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/stop-re-explaining-your-codebase-to-every-ai-agent-cast-skills.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/stop-re-explaining-your-codebase-to-every-ai-agent-cast-skills.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/stop-re-explaining-your-codebase-to-every-ai-agent-cast-skills.jsonld"}}