ax:setup

Install and verify ax - the local agent-experience graph. After this skill the user has the ax CLI on PATH, a running SurrealDB, the launchd watcher reacting to new transcripts, and the ax skills loaded into Claude Code.

This skill is intentionally narrow: install + verify only. For day-to-day use see ax:retro (experiment loop), ax:extract-workflow (reconstruct the recipe behind a shipped artifact), or run the CLI directly.

When to fire

Trigger phrases:

• "install ax" / "set up ax" / "first-time ax setup"
• "ax not found" / "where is axctl"
• "ax doctor" / "is ax running" / "is ax working"
• "what does ax give me"

Do NOT auto-trigger on unrelated work or when the user is already deep in an ax workflow (ax improve list, ax recall …).

Install

# 1. CLI binary (downloads the latest GitHub release; macOS-first,
#    Linux works for ingest + CLI without launchd reactivity).
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Necmttn/ax/main/install.sh | bash

# 2. Skills - installs this skill + ax:retro + ax:extract-workflow
#    into ~/.claude/skills/ (and ~/.agents/skills/ for codex).
npx skills add Necmttn/ax

# 3. First ingest - seeds the graph from the user's last 7 days of
#    Claude Code + Codex transcripts.
PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH" ax ingest --since=7

If any step fails, run ax doctor --json and surface the blocker. If ax itself isn't found after step 1, the user probably has a custom shell rc - tell them to add $HOME/.local/bin to PATH.

Verify

ax --version              # expect axctl v0.1.x
ax doctor --json          # expect ok: true for db + watcher + skills
ax skills taste --limit=5 # rank top skills - proof the graph populated

Specific failure modes:

• DB connection refused → scripts/db-start.sh from the ax repo, or brew services start surrealdb.
• Watcher not loaded (macOS) → axctl install re-runs the launchd registration. On Linux the watcher isn't supported - manual ax ingest --since=1 periodically.
• Zero skill invocations after ingest → user has a different Claude transcripts path. Set AX_TRANSCRIPTS_DIR and re-ingest.

Label skills ax can't classify (do this for the user)

ax tags skills with roles (e.g. framing, execution, verification) so ax skills weighted ranks by usage × role, not raw count. A skill the user invokes ≥3× with no role is "unclassified" - ax hands each one back to YOU as a task brief to fill. This is the core agent-in-the-loop step; don't skip it.

ax skills classify        # writes .ax/tasks/classify-<skill>.md per unclassified skill

For each brief written:

1. Read the skill (its SKILL.md / what it does) and the brief's evidence.
2. Fill the YAML frontmatter at the top of the brief: primary_role: (required, one label), plus optional secondary:, confidence: (0–1), rationale:. Run ax roles to see labels already in use; reuse them when they fit.
3. Apply + check:

ax skills lint            # reads filled briefs → writes plays_role edges
ax skills weighted        # the re-ranked list, now role-weighted

If classify reports "no unclassified skills", the user hasn't used enough yet - say so and revisit after a few days (the watcher keeps ingesting). One-off override without a brief: ax skills tag <skill> <role>.

Also surface the config front door when relevant:

• ax skills config - skill lifecycle (live / orphan / out-of-scope / parked).
• ax hooks config - hooks across claude/cursor/codex/opencode (+ add/remove/edit).
• ax hooks init - scaffold ~/.ax/hooks for authoring custom TypeScript guards (defineHook from @ax/hooks-sdk); validate with ax hooks backtest before ax hooks install.
• ax agents config - agent definitions and the skills they scope.

After the first ingest completes, show the user where their model spend goes - this is the fastest "aha" in the product:

ax cost split --days=7       # main loop vs subagents, by model
ax dispatches --candidates   # dispatches that could run on cheaper models

If the candidates list is non-empty, point at the routing loop: the efficient-dispatch skill (installed with the others), the route-dispatch hook (ax hooks init scaffolds it; install with ax hooks install ~/.ax/hooks/route-dispatch.ts --providers=claude), and docs/design/cost-routing.md for the full picture.

What's installed

Component	Where	Owner
ax / axctl CLI	~/.local/bin/ax (symlink to ~/.local/share/ax/bin/axctl)	install.sh
SurrealDB	127.0.0.1:8521 (ns=ax, db=main)	scripts/db-start.sh
Launchd watcher (macOS)	com.necmttn.ax-watch reacts to new transcripts	axctl install
Weekly checkpoint (optional)	com.necmttn.ax-checkpoint runs experiment-loop math	bun run checkpoint:install from the repo
Claude skills	ax:setup (this one), ax:retro (experiment loop), ax:extract-workflow (recipe reconstruction), ax:release-announcement (release notes from git + session evidence)	npx skills add Necmttn/ax

After install

To run the experiment loop:

let's do an ax retro

That fires ax:retro which walks the user through proposal triage + verdict review against their recent work.

For ad-hoc queries the CLI is direct:

ax skills taste --limit=10      # most-used skills (with clean-run boost)
ax recall "auth middleware"     # cross-session text search
ax insights tools --limit=5     # tool-failure leaderboard
ax project context --json       # grounding for the current repo

Common questions

• "What does ax do?" Local typed graph of every Claude Code + Codex session, skill invocation, edit, and commit. Surfaces what skills you actually use, what context to ground on, and which repeated workflows are worth packaging.
• "Is my data shared?" No. Everything stays in your local SurrealDB at 127.0.0.1:8521. No telemetry leaves the box.
• "How do I uninstall?"

  bash scripts/uninstall-watcher.sh
  bash scripts/uninstall-daemon.sh
  rm ~/.local/bin/ax ~/.local/bin/axctl
  rm -rf ~/.local/share/ax
  

What this skill is NOT for

• Experiment-loop workflow → use ax:retro.
• Reconstructing how a shipped artifact was built → use ax:extract-workflow.
• Drafting release notes or changelog pages → use ax:release-announcement.
• Day-to-day skill queries → run the CLI directly; no skill mediation needed.
• Schema / dev work on the ax repo itself → see docs/development.md in the repo.