What Is Jawfish?

Jawfish is a small package manager for reusable agentics:

1. Keep skills, prompts, and agents in one git repo on disk.
2. Install them globally or into a project.
3. Update them when upstream changes.

Quick Start

Install:

bun install --global jawfish

Initialize with the interactive setup:

jawfish init

Interactive setup creates machine config, creates or links the agentics repo, offers global starter installs, can import existing global provider skills, and then sets up the current project.

Use -y for noninteractive defaults:

jawfish init -y

Add a skill from a URL or local path:

jawfish add https://github.com/mattpocock/skills/blob/main/skills/productivity/handoff/SKILL.md

Browse repo entries:

jawfish list

Install everything from the manifest:

jawfish install

Update later:

jawfish update

How It Works

Jawfish reads packages from the git repo configured by agenticsRepo (default: ~/.jawfish/agentics) and writes tool-native files into the current project or your global tool config.

Imported files are copied into that repo, then copied into each installed project/global tool directory. Jawfish does not symlink: tools get normal native files, and each install can be managed independently. jawfish update re-fetches upstream sources into the repo, commits/pushes when possible, and reinstalls managed files where already installed.

Project installs are tracked in jawfish.json. Global installs are tracked in ~/.jawfish/jawfish.json.

Commands

| Command | What it does | | ---------------------------------- | ------------------------------------ | | jawfish add <name> | Install from your repo | | jawfish add <source> | Import from a URL or local file | | jawfish init [options] | Create or edit setup | | jawfish import-skills <provider> | Import global provider skills | | jawfish install <name> | Same as jawfish add <name> | | jawfish i <name> | Same as jawfish add <name> | | jawfish install | Reinstall everything in the manifest | | jawfish i | Same as jawfish install | | jawfish list | Browse available repo entries | | jawfish update [name] | Pull upstream changes | | jawfish upgrade | Upgrade jawfish itself | | jawfish remove <name> | Remove a managed install | | jawfish --version | Print jawfish version | | jawfish -v | Same as jawfish --version |

import-skills previews found skills and conflicts, then asks before writing. Add -y or --yes to import without the prompt.

list shows project/global install status. It accepts --type skill|agent|prompt, --installed project|global|both|none|any, and --raw for JSON output.

Jawfish pulls remote-backed repos before install/list and commits/pushes repo changes after add/import/update when an upstream exists.

init runs an interactive first-run machine setup when config is missing. It asks for the default tool, lets you choose the local agentics repo path, and can attach a remote git URL. Plain GitHub repo URLs are accepted and cloned into the chosen local repo. It inspects what Jawfish can see, writes repo ignore rules, creates the global manifest, offers registered repo entries as global starter installs, and can import existing global provider skills. If machine setup already exists, it offers project setup or machine reinitialize. The reinitialize menu shows the current local repo path and remote, and can change the default tool, change the agentics repo link, install global starter entries, or import existing global provider skills. If the linked repo is empty, import is offered before starter selection so imported skills can be installed in the same run. It does not create GitHub repositories, wipe repo contents, or ask branch questions.

init -y or init --yes uses noninteractive defaults. With no machine config, it creates ~/.jawfish/config.json, the configured/default agentics repo, repo ignore rules, and an empty global manifest. With machine config already present, it creates the project jawfish.json if missing.

Configuration

Add --global or -g to target your global tool config instead of the current project.

Jawfish currently supports codex, claude-code, hermes, openclaw, opencode, and pi.

defaultTool must be one of those supported tools. You can also set it with JAWFISH_DEFAULT_TOOL.

agenticsRepo points to the package repo. If unset, Jawfish uses ~/.jawfish/agentics. You can also set it with JAWFISH_AGENTICS_REPO.

Project installs go into .codex/, .claude/, .hermes/, skills/, .opencode/, or .pi/.

Global installs go into:

| Tool | Global root | | ------------- | ---------------------- | | codex | ~/.codex | | claude-code | ~/.claude | | hermes | ~/.hermes | | openclaw | ~/.openclaw | | opencode | ~/.config/opencode | | pi | ~/.pi/agent |

Develop

bun install
bun run typecheck
bun run test