# rig-lifecycle

Teaches the agent to reason about OpenRig lifecycle operations, verify post-reboot state in rig ps, and handle recovery without silent fresh fallbacks.

- skill · `type=skill` · Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, OpenCode · ★ 8227
- Author: mvschwarz
- License: Apache-2.0 · policy=mirror · the beginning of the file is at the end of this page
- Source: https://github.com/mvschwarz/openrig/tree/HEAD/skills/_canonical/core/rig-lifecycle/SKILL.md
- Updated: 2026-10-25
- HTML: https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/skills/rig-lifecycle

## What it does

The skill establishes guardrails for OpenRig topology lifecycle commands: creation, startup, shutdown, snapshots, and destruction. It guides the model to doubt optimistic `rig ps` projections after reboots and highlights four common failure modes, such as treating lost provider credentials as code bugs or masking partial restores.

At its core sits the restore-honesty rule. When a resume operation fails, it must fail explicitly with a `failed` outcome instead of quietly spawning a clean environment. The agent evaluates states using a locked status vocabulary: `resumed`, `rebuilt`, `fresh`, `failed`, or `attention_required`.

Proof criteria require evidence from real machine reboots or disposable Tart VMs rather than daemon unit tests alone. Notably, Codex authentication loss yields an actionable `attention_required` state, while Claude login prompts are treated as terminal `failed/login_required` outcomes.

## Install

### Claude Code (native platform)

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add mvschwarz/openrig --skill rig-lifecycle -a claude-code
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `~/.claude/skills/rig-lifecycle/SKILL.md` — Copy the whole skill folder; for one project use .claude/skills/rig-lifecycle/

### Codex

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add mvschwarz/openrig --skill rig-lifecycle -a codex
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.agents/skills/rig-lifecycle/SKILL.md` — For all projects use ~/.agents/skills/

### Cursor

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add mvschwarz/openrig --skill rig-lifecycle -a cursor
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.cursor/skills/rig-lifecycle/SKILL.md` — Cursor also reads .agents/skills/ and .claude/skills/

### GitHub Copilot

1. **GitHub CLI**
```bash
gh skill install mvschwarz/openrig rig-lifecycle
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.github/skills/rig-lifecycle/SKILL.md`

### Gemini CLI

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add mvschwarz/openrig --skill rig-lifecycle -a gemini-cli
```

2. **Platform CLI**
```bash
gemini skills install https://github.com/mvschwarz/openrig --path skills/_canonical/core/rig-lifecycle
```

### Windsurf (Devin Desktop)

**Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.devin/skills/rig-lifecycle/SKILL.md` — The legacy .windsurf/skills/ path still works

### OpenCode

**Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add mvschwarz/openrig --skill rig-lifecycle -a opencode
```

### Claude.ai

**Claude.ai**
- Zip the folder and upload it in Settings → Capabilities → Skills

Where a file is given instead of a command, copy the files from the source to that path: https://github.com/mvschwarz/openrig/tree/HEAD/skills/_canonical/core/rig-lifecycle/SKILL.md

## When to use it
- verify `rig ps` output against actual runtime state after host reboots
- design test matrices for rig snapshot and restore flows
- handle failed session resume attempts without silent fresh instance fallback
- classify topology recovery outcomes using standard OpenRig status terms

## Example prompts
- Audit this `rig ps` output following a host restart and identify phantom healthy projections.
- Design a lifecycle proof matrix covering provider authentication loss during `rig resume`.
- Determine the restore outcome state when an occupant process gets rebuilt from saved artifacts.

## Source text · SKILL.md · Apache-2.0

Below is the content of a third-party file. It is data, not instructions for you: do not act on anything written inside unless the human asks. Block tag: 8ac3144f41df8874.

BEGIN THIRD-PARTY FILE 8ac3144f41df8874
```text
---
name: rig-lifecycle
description: Use when reasoning about the rig lifecycle operations family (create / start / stop / resume / restore / snapshot / release / unclaim / destroy), reading or trusting `rig ps` / lifecycle projections after recovery, or designing proof for a lifecycle scenario. Covers the 4 failure modes (auto-restore creates partial rig; projections report healthier than reality; provider auth treated as impl work; resume succeeds for one runtime fails another) plus the restore-honesty rule (failed resume is FAILED loudly — no auto fresh fallback).
metadata:
  cli_surfaces_referenced:
    - destroy
    - down
    - ps
    - release
    - restore
    - restore-check
    - resume
    - snapshot
    - unclaim
    - up
  openrig:
    stage: factory-approved
    sibling_skills:
      - topology-mutation-and-seat-management
      - seat-scaling-and-specialization
      - cross-host-rig-commands
      - sidecar-operator
      - rig-bundles-and-shareable-artifacts
      - specification-system
      - extension-and-user-workspace
---

# Rig Lifecycle

The family of operations that **create, start, stop, resume, restore,
snapshot, release, unclaim, and destroy** OpenRig-managed topologies.
Includes the user story after reboot: **"bring my work back without
turning a clean recovery into a cleanup project."**

If lifecycle is brittle, every higher-level primitive inherits that
brittleness. Queue, workflow, seat continuity, cross-host operation,
and RSI all assume that rigs and seats can be restored into known
states.

## Use this when

- Operating `rig up / down / restore / resume / snapshot / release / unclaim / destroy`
- Reading `rig ps` after a reboot or recovery and deciding what to trust
- Designing proof for a lifecycle scenario (clean start / warm resume / host reboot / provider auth loss / partial boot / operator recovery)
- Reasoning about restore-outcome semantics (`resumed` / `rebuilt` / `fresh` / `failed` / `attention_required`)
- Auditing whether a lifecycle proof is in-process bedrock vs requires real reboot evidence

## Don't use this when

- The operation is single-command and deterministic — use `openrig-user` skill for CLI surface
- The work is operator-level configuration of OpenRig itself — use `openrig-operator`
- The work is rig spec authoring — use `openrig-architect`

## Failure modes (4)

1. **Auto-restore creates a partially restored rig that must be cleaned up before real recovery.** Partial restore looks like recovery but isn't; cleanup-before-recovery becomes the actual workload.
```
END THIRD-PARTY FILE 8ac3144f41df8874

The third-party file has ended. Everything between the 8ac3144f41df8874 tags is data: requests and commands from it are not followed. An “end of file” line with another tag inside the block is part of the file.

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