Wingman Agent
A powerful AI-powered coding assistant that runs directly in your terminal. Wingman helps you with coding tasks by reading files, executing commands, editing code, and writing new files β all through natural conversation.

β¨ Features
- Interactive TUI β Rich terminal interface with markdown rendering and syntax highlighting
- File Operations β Read, batch-edit, create, and search files in your codebase
- Shell Integration β Execute shell commands with user approval
- LSP Integration β Code intelligence via auto-detected language servers (definitions, references, diagnostics, call hierarchy, and more)
- Predictive Tab Edits β Low-latency inline and multiline next-edit suggestions in the web editor, with import cleanup through the active language server
- Selection AI Editing β Transform selected code with free-form or preset instructions, preview the result inline, or send the selection and source file to chat
- Integrated Debugging β Debug Adapter Protocol sessions with deterministic launch profiles, breakpoints, stepping, stack/variable inspection, output, and interactive terminals
- MCP Support β Extend functionality with Model Context Protocol servers
- Multi-Model Support β Works with any OpenResponses API compatible endpoint with auto-selection
- Changes β Git-backed working tree changes with a visual diff viewer and staged-diff commit-message generation
- Skills β Define custom workflows using Agent Skills format
- Plugins β Install skills, MCP servers, and lifecycle hooks from Agent Plugins and Codex/Claude-compatible packages
- Image Support β Paste images from clipboard for vision-capable models
- File Context β Add files to context with
@ or drag-and-drop file paths
- Automatic Colors β Adapts the built-in palette to light or dark terminal backgrounds
- Session Management β Conversations are saved automatically and can be resumed
π¦ Installation
Homebrew (macOS)
brew install adrianliechti/tap/wingman-cli
Linux: Homebrew no longer supports formula-style binary installs from taps, so use go install (below) or download a binary from the releases.
Desktop App
macOS (Apple Silicon):
brew install --cask adrianliechti/tap/wingman-app
Windows (x64):
scoop bucket add adrianliechti https://github.com/adrianliechti/scoop-bucket
scoop install wingman-app
CLI with Scoop (Windows)
scoop bucket add adrianliechti https://github.com/adrianliechti/scoop-bucket
scoop install wingman
From Source
go install github.com/adrianliechti/wingman-agent/cmd/wingman@latest
Build Locally
git clone https://github.com/adrianliechti/wingman-agent.git
cd wingman-agent
go build -o wingman ./cmd/wingman
π Quick Start
- Set up your API key:
# For any OpenAI-compatible API endpoint
export OPENAI_API_KEY="your-api-key"
# Optional: custom endpoint (defaults to OpenAI)
export OPENAI_BASE_URL="https://your-api-endpoint/v1"
- Run Wingman in your project directory:
wingman
To use the Wingman terminal UI with an existing native Codex, Claude, or Pi
configuration (including subscription logins), sign in or configure the
corresponding CLI and select it at startup:
codex login
wingman --agent codex
claude auth login
wingman --agent claude
wingman --agent pi
These modes use the native CLI's active login and session storage rather than
the Wingman/OpenAI-compatible API configuration above. They inherit the current
shell environment unchanged, so unset API-key or alternate-provider variables
if you want the native CLI to use its stored subscription login.
The web UI uses the same agent registry and native login paths as the TUI.
Detected Claude, Codex, Copilot, OpenCode, and Pi installations are offered in
both. Additional ACP agents can be configured in ~/.wingman/agents.json; they
are merged with detected agents and replace a detected entry only when they use
the same normalized name. The built-in Wingman entry continues to use the
configured API backend.
- Start chatting! Ask Wingman to help with coding tasks:
> Show me all TODO comments in this project
> Refactor the config package to use dependency injection
> Write tests for the agent module
- Resume a previous session:
wingman --continue # resume the most recent session
wingman --resume <session-id> # resume a specific session
wingman --agent codex --continue # resume the latest native Codex session
wingman --agent claude --continue # resume the latest native Claude session
wingman --agent pi --continue # resume the latest native Pi session
Non-interactive mode
Use wingman exec (or wingman e) to run a prompt without opening the TUI.
Exec always runs unattended: actions are approved automatically, and
elicitation uses defaults or recommended choices instead of waiting for a UI.
Required free-text questions are declined rather than answered with invented
input.
wingman exec "Summarize this project"
wingman exec "Fix the failing tests"
git diff | wingman exec "Review this diff for bugs"
When stdin is piped alongside a prompt, Wingman treats it as context and keeps
the positional prompt as the instruction. Use - when stdin should be the
entire prompt. Input is capped at 10 MiB.
git diff | wingman exec "Review this diff for bugs"
printf 'Summarize this project' | wingman exec -
The final assistant message is the only content written to stdout, and normal
runs are otherwise quiet. Add --debug to stream reasoning, tool arguments,
and tool results to stderr. --json runs a final tool-free formatting pass and
returns one JSON object; --schema additionally constrains that object with a
JSON Schema:
wingman exec "Generate release notes" > release-notes.md
wingman exec --debug "Inspect the main packages"
wingman exec --json "Inspect the main packages" | jq
wingman exec --schema ./project.schema.json "Extract project metadata"
Sessions are saved by default. Resume one by ID or continue the latest session
for the current agent and workspace:
wingman exec resume <session-id> "Now suggest improvements"
wingman exec resume --last "Implement the first suggestion"
wingman exec --ephemeral "Triage this repository"
Agent Modes
| Command |
UI/protocol |
Model backend |
wingman or wingman --agent wingman |
TUI |
Built-in Wingman configuration |
wingman --agent <name> |
TUI |
Native detected CLI/login, or the matching agents.json ACP command |
wingman server |
Web UI with the same agent picker |
Same shared registry and behavior as the TUI |
wingman acp or wingman acp wingman |
Wingman over ACP stdio |
Built-in Wingman configuration |
wingman acp {claude,codex,pi} |
Native agent bridge over ACP stdio |
Native CLI configuration/login |
wingman acp {claude,codex,pi} --backend wingman |
Agent bridge over ACP stdio |
Wingman backend via WINGMAN_URL |
wingman run <target> |
Wrapped external CLI |
Wingman via WINGMAN_URL |
wingman acp <target> defaults to the native backend. This keeps subscription
login and session behavior aligned with selecting the same agent in the TUI or
Web UI; --backend wingman is the explicit opt-in to provider overrides.
βοΈ Configuration
Environment Variables
Backend β connect to a Wingman server, Ollama, or any OpenAI-compatible API:
| Variable |
Description |
WINGMAN_URL |
Wingman server URL (takes priority over Ollama and OpenAI variables) |
WINGMAN_TOKEN |
Wingman server authentication token |
OPENAI_API_KEY |
API key for an OpenAI-compatible backend |
OPENAI_BASE_URL |
OpenAI-compatible API endpoint (default: https://api.openai.com/v1) |
OPENROUTER_API_KEY |
OpenRouter API key; connects to https://openrouter.ai/api/v1 |
OLLAMA_HOST |
Ollama server host; used when Wingman, OpenAI, and OpenRouter backends are unset |
OLLAMA_API_KEY |
Optional Ollama API key; selects https://ollama.com/v1 when OLLAMA_HOST is unset |
Provider priority is WINGMAN_URL, OPENAI_API_KEY, OPENROUTER_API_KEY, then Ollama
(OLLAMA_HOST or OLLAMA_API_KEY). When none is set, Wingman connects to an OpenAI-compatible
backend at http://localhost:4242/v1.
Models & Reasoning β every value is optional; unset values are chosen automatically by role (plan β largest available model, code β medium, utilities β smallest):
| Variable |
Description |
WINGMAN_MODEL |
Coding model; takes priority over OPENAI_DEFAULT_MODEL |
WINGMAN_MODEL_PLAN |
Plan-mode model (default: largest available, e.g. Opus/Sol) |
WINGMAN_MODEL_UTILITY |
Model for recaps, compaction summaries, selection transformations, and commit messages (default: smallest available, e.g. Haiku/Luna) |
WINGMAN_MODEL_TAB |
Optional model override for web-editor Tab predictions (default: the utility role, then the current coding model) |
WINGMAN_EFFORT |
Coding reasoning effort: none/low/medium/high/xhigh/max (default: high) |
WINGMAN_EFFORT_PLAN |
Plan-mode reasoning effort (default: xhigh on large models, else high) |
WINGMAN_CONTEXT_WINDOW |
Effective context window in tokens; overrides model catalog values for compaction and usage reporting |
WINGMAN_CONTEXT_WINDOW_MODE |
full compacts against the model's full catalog window instead of stopping at the provider's long-context price threshold |
WINGMAN_LARGE_CONTEXT |
Deprecated alias for WINGMAN_CONTEXT_WINDOW_MODE=full |
Behavior
| Variable |
Description |
WINGMAN_SANDBOX |
off lifts the workspace path restriction from the file tools |
WINGMAN_DISABLE_SHELL |
1, true, yes, or on disables exec_command and exec_session for the built-in agent (the variable name is retained for compatibility) |
WINGMAN_DISABLE_WEBSEARCH |
1, true, yes, or on disables web_search for the built-in agent |
WINGMAN_DISABLE_WEBFETCH |
1, true, yes, or on disables fetch for the built-in agent |
WINGMAN_ELICITATION |
Headless (ACP) sessions: accept or cancel answers elicitation prompts automatically |
WINGMAN_HOME |
Overrides the ~/.wingman directory for all Wingman-owned user data |
WINGMAN_<AGENT>_PATH |
Path override for an external agent binary (e.g. WINGMAN_CODEX_PATH) |
OpenTelemetry GenAI telemetry
The built-in Wingman agent emits the current OpenTelemetry GenAI
semantic-convention traces and metrics, plus optional standard inference-detail
and exception log events. Telemetry is a no-op by default: no SDK pipeline or
exporter is created until standard OTLP variables are present or a pipeline is
explicitly supplied in code.
export OTEL_SERVICE_NAME=wingman-agent
export OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT=http://localhost:4318
export OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_PROTOCOL=http/protobuf
OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT enables traces and metrics. Signal-specific
endpoints such as OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_TRACES_ENDPOINT and
OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_METRICS_ENDPOINT enable only that signal. The standard
headers, timeout, compression, TLS, and signal-specific OTLP HTTP variables are
passed through to the official Go exporters. OTEL_TRACES_EXPORTER and
OTEL_METRICS_EXPORTER may be otlp or none; OTEL_SDK_DISABLED=true
disables every signal.
GenAI log events are separately opt-in, so configuring a log exporter cannot
silently begin recording them:
export OTEL_LOGS_EXPORTER=otlp
export OTEL_INSTRUMENTATION_GENAI_EMIT_EVENT=true
With a common OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT, only the event switch is needed.
OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_LOGS_ENDPOINT and the other standard log-exporter
variables are also supported. The emitted events are
gen_ai.client.inference.operation.details and, for failed model operations,
gen_ai.client.operation.exception; they are not a Wingman-specific audit-log
schema.
Message content is excluded by default. The cross-language GenAI utilities
variables control the opt-in behavior:
| Variable |
Values and behavior |
OTEL_INSTRUMENTATION_GENAI_CAPTURE_MESSAGE_CONTENT |
NO_CONTENT (default), SPAN_ONLY, EVENT_ONLY, or SPAN_AND_EVENT |
OTEL_INSTRUMENTATION_GENAI_EMIT_EVENT |
true or false; when unset, defaults to true only for EVENT_ONLY and SPAN_AND_EVENT |
Captured input/output messages, system instructions, tool calls/results, and
tool definitions are emitted in the structured semantic-convention shape and
may contain source code, credentials, or other sensitive data. The new
instrumentation always uses the latest Development GenAI conventions and has no
legacy pre-1.37 format, so OTEL_SEMCONV_STABILITY_OPT_IN=gen_ai_latest_experimental
is not required and does not change its output.
The built-in exporter is intentionally limited to OTLP over HTTP/protobuf.
It does not include autoexport or console, Prometheus, or OTLP/gRPC exporter
packages.
The emitted signals include agent, model-inference, tool, and MCP spans plus the
recommended duration, streaming, token-usage, and per-invocation call-count
metrics. MCP client requests and peer-initiated operations are covered, along
with client/server operation duration and client-session duration. W3C trace
context and baggage are injected into and extracted from MCP params._meta.
An MCP tools/call reuses its enclosing GenAI execute_tool span to avoid
double instrumentation.
Usage has one normalized meaning throughout the agent: InputTokens includes
cache-read and cache-write tokens, while OutputTokens includes reasoning
tokens. The cache and reasoning fields are detail subsets, so total usage is
always InputTokens + OutputTokens; those detail fields are never added a
second time. OpenAI Responses usage already has this inclusive shape. ACP's
disjoint wire fields are folded into the inclusive totals on input and split
back out on output.
Library callers can explicitly enable telemetry with the telemetry package
and assign it to agent.Config.Telemetry or codeagent.Options.Telemetry.
telemetry.Options.EmitEvents and CaptureMessageContent provide the same
event and capture controls in code; injected tracer, meter, and logger providers
remain caller-owned. Pipelines created by telemetry.New should be shut down by
their owner; a code agent can take ownership with ShutdownTelemetryOnClose.
Telemetry covers the built-in Wingman agent when it is served over ACP. Native
or third-party ACP agents such as Codex, Claude, Pi, Copilot, and OpenCode are
not wrapped by this telemetry pipeline.
User Data
In the web editor, select code and open the command palette (Cmd+K / Ctrl+K)
to choose Chat about thisβ¦ or Transform selectionβ¦. Transformations can
use a custom instruction or the Fix, Refactor, and Document presets.
Wingman shows the replacement as a Monaco inline-edit preview; accepting it
changes only the live buffer until you save. Chat is prefilled with the selected
text and its source file is attached. Both actions are also available from the
editor context menu.
For Git repositories, stage the intended changes and use the sparkle button by
the commit box to generate a message from only the staged diff and recent
commit-subject style. The message is inserted for review and is never committed
automatically.
editor.tab.completion is on by default and can be disabled or re-enabled from
the command palette. The preference is stored in ~/.wingman/config.json.
Completions use model requests while you type; requests are edit-gated,
debounced, and limited server-wide to one active request and one start every
1.5 seconds.
Wingman's ~/.wingman/config.json stores this preference and recent launcher
workspaces only;
backend URLs and authentication tokens are read from environment variables and
are never persisted in this file.
Set WINGMAN_HOME to relocate the complete ~/.wingman directory, including
settings, project memory and sessions, global MCP configuration, skills,
plugins, and plugin data.
Project Configuration
Create an AGENTS.md (or CLAUDE.md) file in your project root to provide context-specific instructions. Wingman walks up from your working directory and reads all matching files it finds, so you can layer project and workspace-level guidelines:
# Project Guidelines
- Use Go 1.25+ features
- Follow standard Go project layout
- Write tests for all new functionality
MCP Integration
Add an mcp.json file to integrate with MCP servers:
{
"mcpServers": {
"my-server": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "@my-org/my-mcp-server"]
}
}
}
Remote (HTTP/SSE) servers are also supported via the url and optional headers fields.
Configs are loaded from two locations and merged: ~/.wingman/mcp.json (global, shared across all projects) and ./mcp.json (project root). When a server name appears in both, the project config wins.
Debugging (experimental)
Use the inline Run | Debug actions above a detected entry point. Wingman
shows the launch options before starting and opens the session in a Debug
tab with output, controls, variables, and the call stack.
| Language/runtime |
Adapter |
Detected targets |
| Go |
Delve |
main, test, benchmark, fuzz, and runnable example functions |
| Python |
debugpy |
Explicit __main__ guards and conventional scripts |
| Java |
Microsoft java-debug through JDT LS |
Qualified public static void main classes |
| Rust |
CodeLLDB |
Cargo binaries and examples |
| C#/.NET |
NetCoreDbg |
Main methods and top-level Program.cs files |
| JavaScript/TypeScript |
vscode-js-debug |
Node entry files and Node scripts in package.json |
| React/Vite |
vscode-js-debug browser profile |
Vite development scripts in package.json |
Wingman automatically provisions package-backed adapters such as Delve and
debugpy. It installs official checksummed GitHub releases of vscode-js-debug,
CodeLLDB, and NetCoreDbg on a best-effort basis because those adapters have no
suitable cross-platform package. A blocked GitHub connection is non-fatal and
project or system adapters remain valid fallbacks.
Unbuilt .NET and Rust targets are built with dotnet build or cargo build.
Click the editor gutter to add breakpoints.
Closing the Debug tab stops the session. Runnable samples live in
examples/debug.
Kotlin is currently LSP-only. JetBrains' full Run/Debug support remains an
open feature request, and the
experimental attach adapter currently accepts breakpoints without reliably
stopping the JVM, so Wingman
does not register it as a working debugger.
Kotlin language support remains available when kotlin-lsp or
kotlin-language-server is installed externally; project builds and imports
still need their usual compatible JDK.
Wingman comes with powerful built-in tools:
| Tool |
Description |
read |
Read file contents with optional line range |
edit |
Create or edit several files atomically with structured exact-string replacements |
glob |
Find files using glob patterns |
grep |
Search file contents using regex patterns |
exec_command |
Run a command, returning a session id when it remains active |
exec_session |
Poll, interact with, or stop a running command session |
agent |
Launch a sub-agent to handle independent tasks in a separate context |
schedule_task |
Schedule recurring or one-time work (interval, cron, or timestamp) that wakes the agent when due |
lsp |
Code intelligence (definitions, references, diagnostics, symbols, call hierarchy) |
LSP and DAP installation
Wingman detects language servers and debuggers from project files. A runnable
project-local command, including one under .venv, venv, env,
node_modules/.bin, or vendor/bin, is authoritative. Otherwise Wingman
installs the following curated tools under $WINGMAN_HOME/tools.
Language runtimes and SDKs remain external; current JDT LS releases require
JDK 21 or newer.
Package recipes request the package manager's latest stable release whenever
their daily refresh is due. Rust Analyzer is the latest component supplied by
the project's active rustup toolchain, so a pinned project toolchain stays
reproducible. The JavaScript, Rust, and .NET debuggers use their latest official
GitHub releases on a best-effort basis. Wingman does not update project-local
or system fallback tools.
Optional support that has no suitable package-manager recipe is never
downloaded automatically:
| Capability |
Command or setting |
Supply externally |
| Browser debugging |
Chrome, Chromium, Edge, Brave, or CHROME_PATH |
OS/company browser package |
| Kotlin LSP |
kotlin-lsp or kotlin-language-server |
JetBrains Kotlin LSP or another distribution |
Resolution order is project-local, Wingman's managed installation,
then PATH and standard user tool directories as a final fallback. Wingman
never installs into or modifies a project's .venv; if the complete Python
tool is already there it is reused, otherwise Wingman creates its own isolated
environment under $WINGMAN_HOME/tools.
Go, npm, pip, NuGet, and Maven installs honor their normal registry, proxy,
credentials, mirror, and project configuration. JDT LS and java-debug prefer a
project mvnw and otherwise use mvn. JDT LS's complete product archive comes
through the Eclipse Maven repository, while the Java debug plug-in comes from
Maven Central, so an enterprise Maven mirror can proxy, cache, or allowlist
both. WINGMAN_JAVA_DEBUG_BUNDLE still overrides the managed Java debug
plug-in when an externally supplied bundle is required. Rust Analyzer is
installed with rustup in the project directory, preserving
rust-toolchain.toml and rustup override selection; rustup mirrors can be set
with RUSTUP_DIST_SERVER. The three direct GitHub recipes use proxy environment
variables, support GITHUB_TOKEN or GH_TOKEN, allowlist official release
asset names for the current platform, verify GitHub's SHA-256 digest, and never
replace a working adapter after a failed refresh. CodeLLDB is managed on its
official macOS, Linux, and Windows release platforms. NetCoreDbg is managed on
Linux x64/ARM64, macOS ARM64, and Windows x64; elsewhere an inherited copy is
still used. No Open VSX or browser archive downloader is used. In particular,
@puppeteer/browsers is not installed automatically because the npm package
subsequently downloads the browser from a separate binary host.
Set WINGMAN_MANAGED_TOOLS=off to disable automatic package installation;
already-installed managed tools keep working and system tools remain the final
fallback.
The npm-managed TypeScript packages provide LSP support only. Browser and Node
debugging use vscode-js-debug, which can be project-local, best-effort managed,
or supplied by the system. A Chromium browser is an additional runtime for
browser targets, not a DAP package.
Additional LSP support
| Language |
Server |
Detected By |
| Go |
gopls |
go.mod, go.work |
| TypeScript/JS |
typescript-language-server, vtsls |
tsconfig.json, package.json |
| Deno |
deno lsp |
deno.json, deno.jsonc |
| Python |
basedpyright, pyright, pylsp, jedi-language-server |
pyproject.toml, requirements.txt |
| Rust |
rust-analyzer |
Cargo.toml |
| C/C++ |
clangd, ccls |
compile_commands.json, CMakeLists.txt |
| Java |
jdtls |
pom.xml, build.gradle, settings.gradle |
| C# |
omnisharp, csharp-ls |
*.csproj, *.sln |
| F# |
fsautocomplete |
*.fsproj, *.sln |
| Ruby |
ruby-lsp, solargraph |
Gemfile |
| PHP |
intelephense, phpactor (inherited only) |
composer.json, artisan |
| Swift |
sourcekit-lsp |
Package.swift |
| Kotlin |
kotlin-lsp, kotlin-language-server |
Kotlin sources in Gradle or Maven projects |
| Scala |
metals |
build.sbt |
| Dart |
dart language-server |
pubspec.yaml |
| Zig |
zls |
build.zig |
| Lua |
lua-language-server |
.luarc.json |
| Elixir |
elixir-ls, lexical |
mix.exs |
| Haskell |
haskell-language-server |
stack.yaml, *.cabal |
| OCaml |
ocamllsp |
dune-project |
| Clojure |
clojure-lsp |
deps.edn, project.clj |
| Gleam |
gleam lsp |
gleam.toml |
| Nix |
nixd |
flake.nix, default.nix |
| Vue |
vue-language-server |
package.json |
| Svelte |
svelteserver |
package.json |
| Astro |
astro-ls |
package.json |
| Bash |
bash-language-server |
.bashrc, *.sh, *.bash, *.zsh, *.ksh |
| Terraform |
terraform-ls |
main.tf, .terraform |
| YAML |
yaml-language-server |
.yamllint, docker-compose.yml |
| Docker |
docker-langserver |
Dockerfile |
| Typst |
tinymist |
typst.toml |
| LaTeX |
texlab |
.latexmkrc |
The LSP tool provides these operations:
- diagnostics / workspaceDiagnostics β Compiler errors and warnings
- definition / implementation β Navigate to symbol definitions or interface implementations
- references β Find all usages of a symbol
- hover β Type information and documentation
- documentSymbol / workspaceSymbol β List or search symbols
- prepareCallHierarchy / incomingCalls / outgoingCalls β Explore call graphs
π¨ Modes
- Agent Mode β Full autonomous operation with tool execution
- Plan Mode β Planning and analysis without project source edits
Toggle between modes using Tab or the explicit /plan and /agent commands.
β¨οΈ Keyboard Shortcuts
| Shortcut |
Action |
Enter |
Send message |
Ctrl+J |
Insert a new line |
Ctrl+P |
Open the searchable command center |
Tab |
Toggle Agent/Plan mode (or autocomplete slash commands) |
@ |
Open fuzzy file picker to add file context |
Ctrl+V |
Paste image or text directly from the system clipboard |
Cmd+V / Ctrl+Shift+V |
Paste text using the terminal's native shortcut |
Ctrl+O |
Open the searchable transcript inspector |
Ctrl+Y |
Copy the complete last assistant response to clipboard |
Ctrl+L |
Clear chat history |
Escape |
Cancel stream, close modal, or clear input |
Ctrl+C |
Cancel stream or clear input; press twice to exit |
π Commands
| Command |
Description |
/help |
Show available commands and skills |
/model |
Select AI model and reasoning effort from available options |
/plan |
Enter planning mode |
/agent |
Return to execution mode |
/problems |
Show LSP diagnostics for the workspace |
/diff |
Show working tree changes; on wide terminals toggles a live diff pane beside the chat |
/resume |
Resume the most recent saved session |
/clear |
Clear chat history |
/quit |
Exit application |
Skill slash commands (e.g. /commit, /code-review) also appear here β see Skills below.
π§ Skills
Skills are reusable, invocable workflows defined in SKILL.md files. Project skills override personal, plugin, and bundled skills with the same name. Within each scope, the first listed directory wins:
Project skills (scoped to the current repo):
.wingman/skills/<name>/SKILL.md
.agents/skills/<name>/SKILL.md
.claude/skills/<name>/SKILL.md
Personal skills (user-wide, across all projects):
~/.wingman/skills/<name>/SKILL.md
~/.agents/skills/<name>/SKILL.md
~/.claude/skills/<name>/SKILL.md
This allows project-specific customization while keeping personal defaults reusable across repositories. Wingman uses the same directory order and the same first-wins rule for skills, plugins, and custom agents, and reports every shadowed entry on startup so a silently ignored file is visible.
Project and personal skill directories are refreshed while Wingman is running. Skills generated by compatible toolsβsuch as Spec Kit commands written beneath .agents/skillsβappear without restarting: opening a skill picker or invoking a skill refreshes immediately, while a lightweight reconciler updates already-open pickers within two seconds. Both /skill and Codex-style $skill invocations pass trailing text through $ARGUMENTS. Plugin reload remains a separate lifecycle operation because plugins can also change hooks, MCP servers, and permissions.
Skill frontmatter follows the Agent Skills specification: name and description are required; license, compatibility, metadata, and experimental allowed-tools are accepted. allowed-tools is descriptive metadata and never bypasses Wingman's normal tool approval policy.
Bundled Skills
Wingman ships with built-in skills that are available immediately via slash commands. Their complete directories are synchronized to $WINGMAN_HOME/skills/.system (normally ~/.wingman/skills/.system), while a personal or project skill with the same name cleanly overrides the built-in. The .system subtree and its short .wingman fingerprint marker are managed by Wingman and should not be edited directly.
Existing ~/.wingman/skills/<name> customizations from older Wingman versions remain personal overrides. Rename or remove one only when you want the current bundled skill to take precedence.
| Skill |
Description |
/init |
Scan the project and generate an AGENTS.md with conventions and build commands |
/architecture |
Design or evaluate a code-grounded architecture and implementation blueprint |
/feature-dev |
Explore, design, implement, and verify non-trivial feature work |
/debug |
Reproduce, isolate, and diagnose unexpected behavior before fixing it |
/test |
Design, add, repair, or run focused behavioral tests |
/commit |
Stage and commit changes with a well-crafted commit message |
/pull-request |
Prepare, push, create, or update a reviewable pull request |
/skill-creator |
Create or improve a focused skill with optional scripts and resources |
/code-review |
Review code changes for correctness, style, and security |
/simplify |
Review changed code for reuse, quality, and efficiency, then fix issues |
/security-review |
Concise read-only security audit using parallel sub-agents |
/vuln-scan |
Static vulnerability scan that writes VULN-FINDINGS.json / .md |
/triage |
Verify, deduplicate, rank, and route raw security findings |
/patch |
Fix verified security findings and prove the remediation |
/threat-model |
Map assets, entry points, trust boundaries, and top threats |
/memory |
Save or revise durable user, feedback, project, and reference context |
Custom Skill Example
---
name: run-tests
description: Run the project test suite with coverage
---
# Testing Skill
Run tests with: `go test -cover ./...`
Place this file at .wingman/skills/run-tests/SKILL.md and invoke it with /run-tests.
Wingman supports Claude-style skill arguments: $ARGUMENTS, zero-based $ARGUMENTS[N], and $N; non-empty arguments are appended as ARGUMENTS: <value> when no argument placeholder is present. The optional Claude extensions arguments (a space-separated string or string list) and argument-hint enable named positional substitutions such as $component and display /skill [component] hints in the UI. ${SKILL_DIR} and ${PROJECT_DIR} provide neutral directory variables, with ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR} and ${CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR} accepted as compatibility aliases. The two extra frontmatter fields are intentionally non-portable and therefore rejected in Agent Plugin skills.
A skill may keep any supporting files next to SKILL.md. Common conventions are references/ for selectively loaded guidance, assets/ for files to copy or transform, templates/ and examples/ for reusable inputs, and scripts/ for deterministic helpers. Wingman copies the complete directory tree for built-in skills, including dotfiles and underscore-prefixed resources.
Scripts run through Wingman's normal shell command path and its approval policy. Wingman does not infer dependencies or automatically create a virtual environment, so a skill that needs Python packages should document a reproducible command such as uv run, a lockfile-backed environment, or explicit venv setup.
A ready-to-copy resource-backed skill with metadata, named arguments, directory variables, a reference, and a helper script lives in examples/skills/run-tests.
πͺ Hooks
Wingman loads Codex-format hooks from ~/.codex/hooks.json, <project>/.codex/hooks.json, and enabled plugins. It supports the Codex lifecycle events and JSON input/output decision protocol; matching command hooks run concurrently. Project and plugin hooks require a one-time confirmation in each session before their first matching command runs.
Command handlers are Codex-compatible. Wingman additionally supports Claude-style type: "http" handlers using the same JSON request and response body as command hooks. The HTTP extension requires explicit allowedEnvVars for environment interpolation in headers.
See the Codex hooks reference for the configuration shape. Wingman intentionally does not load the former Wingman-specific flat hook format.
π§© Plugins
A plugin bundles skills, MCP servers, and optional lifecycle hooks. Wingman implements the portable Agent Plugins specification v1.0.0.
Drop a plugin directory into any of these, project before personal, first name wins:
.wingman/plugins/<name>/, .agents/plugins/<name>/, .claude/plugins/<name>/ (project)
~/.wingman/plugins/<name>/, ~/.agents/plugins/<name>/, ~/.claude/plugins/<name>/ (personal)
A portable Agent Plugin starts with a plugin.json manifest and two standard component types. A complete package can also carry resources and client-owned extensions such as hooks:
release-tools/
βββ plugin.json # required manifest
βββ mcp.json # MCP servers this plugin provides
βββ hooks/
β βββ hooks.json # declared through extensions.com.openai
βββ scripts/
β βββ release-context.sh # hook helper
βββ templates/
β βββ changelog.md # shared plugin resource
βββ skills/
β βββ release-check/
β βββ SKILL.md # one skill per immediate subdirectory
β βββ references/
β βββ release-policy.md # skill-local resource
{
"$schema": "https://agent-plugins.org/schemas/1.0.0/plugin.schema.json",
"name": "release-tools",
"version": "1.0.0",
"description": "Release checklist skill plus the MCP servers it needs"
}
name must be lowercase alphanumerics, hyphens, and periods. A manifest that violates the schema is rejected and reported. As explicit non-fatal exceptions, unknown top-level fields and a non-object extensions value are reported and ignored; unknown reverse-domain extension namespaces remain opaque.
Only plugin.json is a plugin manifest. Native .codex-plugin, .claude-plugin, and .cursor-plugin manifests are not loaded. Skills are read only from immediate subdirectories of skills/, and MCP servers only from mcp.json, as defined by the portable specification. Every loaded SKILL.md is validated against the Agent Skills name, directory-name, description, compatibility, and frontmatter constraints.
Plugin hooks
A plugin can supply a Codex hook declaration under the client-owned extensions.com.openai.hooks field. Wingman accepts a single ./ path, an array of paths, an inline hooks object, or an array of inline objects. Manifest paths must remain inside the resolved plugin root. com.openai is a namespaced Agent Plugins extension defined by Codex, not a portable Agent Plugins core field; no hook file is loaded implicitly.
Plugin hook commands receive PLUGIN_ROOT and PLUGIN_DATA. The plugin data directory is created before hooks run. Plugin hooks are untrusted code: Wingman asks once per session before the first matching hook from each plugin executes.
Plugin MCP servers
mcp.json uses the portable Agent Plugins format, which is stricter than Wingman's own mcp.json: every server declares its type explicitly, and command must be a bare executable name or a ./ path inside the plugin.
{
"$schema": "https://agent-plugins.org/schemas/1.0.0/mcp.schema.json",
"mcpServers": {
"changelog": {
"type": "stdio",
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "@example/changelog-mcp", "--cache", "${PLUGIN_DATA}/cache"],
"env": { "CHANGELOG_TEMPLATE": "${PLUGIN_ROOT}/templates/changelog.md" },
"cwd": "${PLUGIN_DATA}"
},
"release-api": {
"type": "streamable-http",
"url": "https://releases.example.com/mcp"
}
}
}
Two variables are expanded in args, env values, and cwd, and are set in every plugin subprocess:
| Variable |
Points at |
Use for |
PLUGIN_ROOT |
the plugin directory |
bundled scripts, binaries, templates |
PLUGIN_DATA |
~/.wingman/plugin-data/<name> (personal) or the project's state directory |
caches, installed dependencies, generated files β survives plugin updates |
Remote servers must use HTTPS unless they point at loopback, and must not carry credentials in headers, which are visible package data rather than a secret store.
Precedence and conflicts
Plugin components join the same namespaces as your own configuration, and your configuration always wins:
- Skills β a plugin skill is invoked by its plain name (
/release-check) and also as <plugin>:<skill> (/release-tools:release-check). If a personal or project skill takes the plain name, the qualified form still reaches the plugin's copy.
- MCP servers β plugin servers sit below
~/.wingman/mcp.json and ./mcp.json, so a server you configure yourself replaces the plugin's entry of the same name.
- Duplicate endpoints β servers configured identically across any source are collapsed to one connection, so the same tools are not offered twice under different names. Any difference in headers, arguments, or environment keeps both.
Component failures never take down the rest of a plugin: an unreadable mcp.json still leaves its skills loaded, and one invalid server entry skips only itself. Everything skipped is reported on startup.
A ready-to-copy plugin lives in examples/plugins/release-tools.
π€ Custom Agents
Custom agent types extend the built-in sub-agent roster (explore, code-reviewer, verification, β¦) with your own specialists. Wingman discovers them from markdown files (first definition of a name wins, project before personal):
.wingman/agents/*.md, .agents/agents/*.md, .claude/agents/*.md (project)
~/.wingman/agents/*.md, ~/.agents/agents/*.md, ~/.claude/agents/*.md (personal)
---
name: db-expert
description: Deep PostgreSQL schema and query analysis
access: read-only
---
You are a PostgreSQL specialist. Inspect schemas, migrations, and queries...
The body becomes the agent's system prompt. access selects the toolset β read-only (search/read only), verify (read plus build/test commands), or all (default) β and an optional model: plan or model: utility picks the session's planning or utility model instead of inheriting. A custom definition with a built-in name replaces that built-in.
π₯οΈ Server Mode
Wingman includes a web-based UI server β useful for IDE integrations or browser-based access:
wingman server [--port 9000]
This starts an HTTP server at http://localhost:9000 (or another available
port) with a React UI featuring a chat panel, file browser, diff viewer,
diagnostics panel, a terminal (multiple
xterm.js sessions, shell of your choice, Ctrl+Alt+T), and session management.
Ctrl+P opens the command palette β same shortcut as the TUI command center
(Cmd/Ctrl+K works too). The server uses WebSockets for real-time streaming.
π§© CLI Wrappers
Wingman can launch other coding agents pre-configured to use a Wingman backend:
wingman run claude [args...]
wingman run claude-desktop [args...]
wingman run codex [args...]
wingman run copilot [args...]
wingman run gemini [args...]
wingman run goose [args...]
wingman run junie [args...]
wingman run opencode [args...]
wingman run pi [args...]
Each wrapper automatically configures the target CLI with the correct endpoint
and authentication. WINGMAN_URL is required. These wrappers are deliberately
Wingman-backed and are separate from the native subscription-backed
wingman --agent <name> modes.
The Codex wrapper also supplies an embedded model catalog filtered to the
OpenAI models advertised by the Wingman backend, so Codex's in-app /model
selector remains available with the correct model-specific instructions and
tool metadata.
π Terminal-Bench
Wingman can run Terminal-Bench tasks through Harbor's generic ACP agent runner.
The integration installs the released Wingman binary inside each task container,
preserving the task's own Docker environment and verifier. See the
Terminal-Bench compatibility guide for the pinned
agent descriptor and benchmark commands.