Link - Skills

Why Skills

MCP gives Link structured tool calls, but it should not be the only path. If an agent can run local commands, it can use Link through lnk without an MCP server, background viewer, or extra client configuration. From a source checkout, the same workflows work with python3 link.py.

The skills are intentionally proactive. Retrieval should load before work that may depend on previous context, health should load before trusting a changed wiki, ingest should load when raw files appear, and memory should load after important decisions or at session end so the agent can propose durable memory for review.

lnk serve is optional

The web viewer is only for humans. Skills, CLI commands, and MCP tools all read the same local Markdown wiki directly.

Included Skills

The repo ships official skill folders under skills/:

Skill	Use it for	First command
`link-health`	Start of Link work, after installs/upgrades, interrupted writes, backups, repair, validation.	`lnk health`
`link-retrieve`	Before answering context-sensitive work: bounded query packets, briefs, graph summaries, benchmarks.	`lnk query "..."`
`link-ingest`	When raw files are present: source ingest, stale sources, memory proposals, post-ingest checks.	`lnk ingest-status`
`link-memory`	After important user-approved decisions or session end: propose, remember, recall, review, explain, update, archive, restore, forget.	`lnk session-end`

Use Them

Point your agent at the skill folder it supports, or copy the relevant SKILL.md into that agent's local skill directory.

skills/link-health/SKILL.md
skills/link-retrieve/SKILL.md
skills/link-ingest/SKILL.md
skills/link-memory/SKILL.md

Then use natural prompts that map to the skills:

is Link ready?
start with Link before we continue
seed this project into Link
query Link for the release process
end this session with Link memory proposals
ingest raw/notes.md into Link
remember that I prefer short release notes

Rules For Agents

Two additions with 1.6: if Link session hooks are installed, the startup brief arrives automatically — skip the manual brief and go straight to bounded task recall. And when a brief reports a memory backlog, offer the user a read-only lnk consolidate pass instead of letting captures pile up.

Prefer lnk health when readiness is unclear, especially after an install, upgrade, restore, or broad wiki edit.
Start with lnk start for readiness plus memory context, and use lnk session-end to capture proposal-only memory candidates at the end of meaningful work.
Use lnk seed . ~/link from a project directory when the user's wiki has no project context yet.
Prefer lnk query, lnk brief, and lnk graph-summary over reading the whole wiki.
Use lnk ingest-status before touching raw sources.
Do not silently create durable memory; use lnk remember only when the user asks or approves a proposal.
Run lnk validate and lnk health after ingest or broad wiki edits.

Use MCP when you want structured tool calls inside an MCP client. Use skills when you want a lightweight, lazy-loaded CLI workflow.