Interactive CLI

Skillset's interactive CLI defines when prompts appear, how they inherit command safety, and how automation avoids them.

Cross-command workflow reference; no registry feature id.

Skillset uses prompts only to complete missing human intent. The underlying planner, registry, or operation remains authoritative for available choices, validation, diagnostics, and writes.

When Skillset Prompts

Prompts require TTY stdin and stdout, a non-CI environment, and human-readable output. An explicitly supplied value skips only its matching picker; it does not bypass a write confirmation.

Mutation routes show their ordinary plan or readiness report before a shared Proceed? confirmation. The default is No. Declining or cancelling leaves source, generated output, provider indexes, and locks unchanged. Ctrl-C exits with status 130.

Avoid Prompts in Automation

Supply every required argument rather than relying on a picker.
Use --yes only after the plan is fully specified and the mutation is intended.
Request JSON or JSONL where the command supports machine output.
Run through non-TTY stdin/stdout in CI or pipelines.

JSON, JSONL, raw protocol execution, pipes, non-TTY processes, CI, and explicit --yes writes never prompt. Missing required input in those modes fails with a diagnostic rather than guessing.

Shared behavior such as --root, --json, and --yes is defined in CLI flag conventions.

Route Ownership

Route	Prompted choice	Contract owner
`init`	Adoption intent, targets, automation	Setup survey and initialization plan
`create`	Name, parent, targets, automation	Setup plan
`new`	Source kind, identity, placement, preset or hook intent	Source planners and canonical registries
`test`	Declaration or ad hoc runtime input	Test inventory and retained runner
`lookup`	Subject, view, target lens, field	Lookup APIs and ordinary report
`reconcile`	Managed path and approved direction	Reconcile preview and write operation
`marketplace update`	Catalog when ambiguous	Marketplace readiness and atomic update plan

Prompt descriptions and disabled reasons remain visible at narrow terminal widths. Searchable lists preserve filtering, keyboard navigation, disabled rows, and cancellation; those controls do not create a second command contract.

Failure and Safety Cases

Situation	Result
Required input is missing outside a TTY	Non-zero diagnostic; no prompt and no write
User declines confirmation	Successful cancellation with no mutation
User presses Ctrl-C	Exit 130 with no mutation
A choice becomes stale before apply	The owning operation revalidates and refuses the stale plan
A disabled choice is selected	The prompt shows the owner-provided reason and blocks selection