SkillDevelopment & Engineering
Trace a request through a codebase
Follow one request from entry point to storage or external boundary with concrete file references.
✳Claude Code
By Dave AIDave AI original
MIT · FreeView skill
Installable skillMIT + CC-BY-4.0
Grok Delegate
Delegate coding tasks to the Grok Build CLI only when the user explicitly requests it, while the orchestrator retains review and landing responsibility.
instructions.md
---
name: grok-delegate
description: Delegate coding tasks to the Grok Build CLI only when the user explicitly
requests it, while the orchestrator retains review and landing responsibility.
risk: critical
category: agent-orchestration
source: https://github.com/amElnagdy/delegate-skills
source_repo: amElnagdy/delegate-skills
source_type: community
date_added: '2026-08-26'
license: MIT
license_source: https://github.com/amElnagdy/delegate-skills/blob/master/LICENSE
compatibility: Requires the `grok` CLI (Grok Build) installed and authenticated (`grok
login`, or `XAI_API_KEY`; beta access needs an eligible xAI subscription), Node
18+, and git. The orchestrating agent must be able to run shell commands and read
files. Shell examples assume bash/zsh (macOS/Linux, or Git Bash/WSL on Windows).
metadata:
version: 0.5.0
---
# Grok Delegate
## When to Use
- You want to delegate a bounded coding task to a separate `grok` implementer (`Grok Build`) and then review its diff yourself.
- The user explicitly asked for delegation to this implementer.
You are the **orchestrator**. This skill lets you hand a bounded coding task to a separate
**implementer** — the Grok Build CLI (`grok`) — then review what it produced and land it yourself. You
write the brief and own the judgment; Grok does the typing under an explicit autonomy profile; you
verify and commit.
Nothing here is specific to one orchestrating agent. The loop needs only the ability to run a shell
command and read a file, so it works the same whether you are Claude Code, Cursor, OpenCode with a
selected model, or any comparable agent. (It is designed for Claude Code and Cursor; treat other
orchestrators as designed-for, not yet proven.)
## When NOT to use this
- The task is small enough to just do inline — delegation overhead is not worth it.
- The `grok` CLI is not installed, not authenticated, or the account lacks Grok Build beta access.
- You want to write the code yourself, or you only need a review without an implementer run.
## Prerequisites (check once)
1. `grok version` succeeds. If not, install on any platform with
`npm i -g @xai-official/grok` (or use the installer from xAI's official Grok CLI docs) and
authenticate (`grok login`, or `grok login --device-auth` on headless hosts, or set
`XAI_API_KEY`).
2. **Confirm which `grok` is on PATH.** `command -v grok` shows the active binary and `grok version`
its version — the relay records the version it ran into `result.json`, so a stale binary is visible
after the fact.
3. You are in (or will point `--cd` at) the target git repository.
## The loop
Run these five steps per task. Steps 1, 4, and 5 are your judgment; 2 and 3 are mechanical.
### 1. Write the brief
Grok sees **only** the text you send — no orchestrator chat history, no shared context. Everything the
task needs goes in the brief: the goal, the current state, what to change, what to leave untouched,
the project's **actual** gate commands (discover them from the repo's CLAUDE.md/AGENTS.md/Makefile —
do not assume), and a report contract. Tell Grok it will **not** commit (you will). Keep one task per
brief. Full guidance and a template: [references/writing-the-brief.md](references/writing-the-brief.md).
### 2. Dispatch
This distribution contains documentation only; `scripts/relay.mjs` is absent. Obtain,
pin and review the upstream runtime separately before using these example commands.
Do not search the whole home directory for an arbitrary relay and assume it is trusted.
Verify the actual CLI version and supported permission flags before dispatch.
```bash
node "<skill-dir>/scripts/relay.mjs" --brief brief.txt --cd /path/to/repo
# read-only (review/diagnosis; best-effort — verify touchedFiles): add --read-only
# continue the previous Grok session: add --resume-last (send only the delta brief)
# hard time limit (watchdog): add --timeout 2h (default: off; implementation runs routinely need 1-2h)
# see all options: node .../relay.mjs --help
```
The helper defaults to a write-capable (`workspace-write`) autonomy profile — `--always-approve` plus
`--sandbox workspace` — and writes its artifacts to a temp dir, so the repo under review stays clean.
It **never commits** — see step 5. Mechanics, flags, and the `result.json` shape:
[references/dispatch-and-poll.md](references/dispatch-and-poll.md).
### 3. Wait for completion
The helper blocks until Grok finishes, so back it with whatever your orchestrator offers and resume
when it returns:
- **Claude Code:** run the Bash call with `run_in_background: true`; you are notified on completion.
- **Plain shell / other agents:** run it in the foreground for short tasks, or background it and poll
the result file — `… &` in bash/zsh (including Git Bash/WSL), or your shell's equivalent (`Start-Job`
in PowerShell, `start /b` in cmd). The run is done when `result.json` exists with a `status`. (A
pre-run usage error — bad args or an empty brief — instead exits with code 2 and a stderr message and
writes no result file, so check the exit code too. A missing `grok` binary exits 127 but *does* write
a `result.json` with status `grok_unavailable`.)
Do not trust progress trackers over reality: a run is finished when `result.json` is written and the
process has exited. Read the working tree, not a status line. The implementer's full report is
the `finalMessage` field in `result.json` (also printed in full on stdout between the report markers).
### 4. Review — do not trust the self-report
Grok's `result.json` includes its own summary and gate claims. **Re-verify, don't accept:**
- **Re-run the project's gates yourself** (the test/lint/build commands from step 1). Never take
"gates passed" on faith.
- **Read the diff** against the brief: did Grok do what was asked, nothing more (scope creep) and
nothing less? `touchedFiles` in the result is your starting point.
- **Run the relevant guard skills** on the diff if you have them installed (clean-code-guard,
test-guard, etc. from `guard-skills`) — this skill produces the work; those skills judge it.
- For schema/migration changes, round-trip them; for removals, grep for dangling references.
Full checklist: [references/review-and-land.md](references/review-and-land.md).
### 5. Land it
**The orchestrator commits.** Only after the gates pass and the diff holds:
- Commit the verified work yourself, with a clear message.
- If it needs changes, send a delta brief with `--resume-last` (don't restate the whole task) and
review again.
## Autonomy model
Grok's default permission mode is `ask`, which **blocks on approval prompts in a headless pipe**. The
relay therefore always sets autonomy explicitly:
| Relay flag | What Grok gets | Use when |
| --- | --- | --- |
| *(default)* | `--always-approve --sandbox workspace` | Normal implementation — writes scoped to the working tree |
| `--read-only` | `--sandbox read-only --permission-mode plan` | Review / diagnosis — **best-effort, not enforced** (see caveat below) |
| `--full-access` | `--always-approve --sandbox off` | Explicit opt-in when the task needs unrestricted tools |
`--always-approve` alone would approve *all* tools (writes, shell, network) — closer to unrestricted
than to a workspace-scoped write. The effective filesystem/network boundary must be verified for the installed version; a workspace sandbox is not a universal host boundary. Reach for `--full-access` only when the human asks for it.
**`--read-only` is best-effort, not a hard guarantee.** The read-only sandbox restricts out-of-workspace
filesystem/network access, not grok's own edit tool, and headless `plan` mode is advisory — a run
verified here still wrote the working tree when told to. Use `--read-only` to *signal* review intent,
but always confirm `touchedFiles` afterward; treat the diff, not the flag, as the guarantee. The relay
automates a reporting tripwire: it compares parsed git porcelain and fingerprints the working-tree
identity and index entries of Git-visible paths that were already dirty. `readOnlyViolation` is `true`
when either signal proves a change, `false` when coverage is complete and detects none, and `null` when
coverage is incomplete. Ignored paths, submodule internals, perfect restores, and attribution of
concurrent changes remain outside it, so the diff
review stays the guarantee.
## Authorization model
Delegation is something the human opts into. Once they have ("run this queue", "proceed"), committing
verified, gate-passing work is the agreed contract — that is the whole point. Two limits on that
mandate: **surface, don't absorb** (report Grok's design decisions, defensible-but-unasked turns, and
non-blocking nitpicks rather than silently keeping them) and **stop for scope changes** (if correct
completion needs going beyond the brief, ask — don't expand the mandate yourself). The full treatment
is in [references/review-and-land.md](references/review-and-land.md).
## References
- [references/writing-the-brief.md](references/writing-the-brief.md) — how to write a brief Grok can
execute blind: structure, XML blocks, the report contract, embedding the real gate commands.
- [references/dispatch-and-poll.md](references/dispatch-and-poll.md) — `relay.mjs` flags, the
`result.json` contract, backgrounding per orchestrator, and recovery when a run misbehaves.
- [references/review-and-land.md](references/review-and-land.md) — the review checklist, the commit
boundary, and the rework cycle via `--resume-last`.
- [references/multi-task-queues.md](references/multi-task-queues.md) — running a sequential queue:
carrying constraints forward, progress tracking, and the end-of-run coherence check.
## Limitations
- Docs-only import — executable `scripts/relay.mjs` not included; see upstream for full runtime. Requires `grok` CLI, Node 18+, git.
- Relay never commits — it only returns structured result JSON; you review and land the commit.
> Adapted from [amElnagdy/delegate-skills](https://github.com/amElnagdy/delegate-skills) (MIT) — docs-only, runtime not bundled.
---
name: grok-delegate
description: Delegate coding tasks to the Grok Build CLI only when the user explicitly
requests it, while the orchestrator retains review and landing responsibility.
risk: critical
category: agent-orchestration
source: https://github.com/amElnagdy/delegate-skills
source_repo: amElnagdy/delegate-skills
source_type: community
date_added: '2026-08-26'
license: MIT
license_source: https://github.com/amElnagdy/delegate-skills/blob/master/LICENSE
compatibility: Requires the `grok` CLI (Grok Build) installed and authenticated (`grok
login`, or `XAI_API_KEY`; beta access needs an eligible xAI subscription), Node
18+, and git. The orchestrating agent must be able to run shell commands and read
files. Shell examples assume bash/zsh (macOS/Linux, or Git Bash/WSL on Windows).
metadata:
version: 0.5.0
---
# Grok Delegate
## When to Use
- You want to delegate a bounded coding task to a separate `grok` implementer (`Grok Build`) and then review its diff yourself.
- The user explicitly asked for delegation to this implementer.
You are the **orchestrator**. This skill lets you hand a bounded coding task to a separate
**implementer** — the Grok Build CLI (`grok`) — then review what it produced and land it yourself. You
write the brief and own the judgment; Grok does the typing under an explicit autonomy profile; you
verify and commit.
Nothing here is specific to one orchestrating agent. The loop needs only the ability to run a shell
command and read a file, so it works the same whether you are Claude Code, Cursor, OpenCode with a
selected model, or any comparable agent. (It is designed for Claude Code and Cursor; treat other
orchestrators as designed-for, not yet proven.)
## When NOT to use this
- The task is small enough to just do inline — delegation overhead is not worth it.
- The `grok` CLI is not installed, not authenticated, or the account lacks Grok Build beta access.
- You want to write the code yourself, or you only need a review without an implementer run.
## Prerequisites (check once)
1. `grok version` succeeds. If not, install on any platform with
`npm i -g @xai-official/grok` (or use the installer from xAI's official Grok CLI docs) and
authenticate (`grok login`, or `grok login --device-auth` on headless hosts, or set
`XAI_API_KEY`).
2. **Confirm which `grok` is on PATH.** `command -v grok` shows the active binary and `grok version`
its version — the relay records the version it ran into `result.json`, so a stale binary is visible
after the fact.
3. You are in (or will point `--cd` at) the target git repository.
## The loop
Run these five steps per task. Steps 1, 4, and 5 are your judgment; 2 and 3 are mechanical.
### 1. Write the brief
Grok sees **only** the text you send — no orchestrator chat history, no shared context. Everything the
task needs goes in the brief: the goal, the current state, what to change, what to leave untouched,
the project's **actual** gate commands (discover them from the repo's CLAUDE.md/AGENTS.md/Makefile —
do not assume), and a report contract. Tell Grok it will **not** commit (you will). Keep one task per
brief. Full guidance and a template: [references/writing-the-brief.md](references/writing-the-brief.md).
### 2. Dispatch
This distribution contains documentation only; `scripts/relay.mjs` is absent. Obtain,
pin and review the upstream runtime separately before using these example commands.
Do not search the whole home directory for an arbitrary relay and assume it is trusted.
Verify the actual CLI version and supported permission flags before dispatch.
```bash
node "<skill-dir>/scripts/relay.mjs" --brief brief.txt --cd /path/to/repo
# read-only (review/diagnosis; best-effort — verify touchedFiles): add --read-only
# continue the previous Grok session: add --resume-last (send only the delta brief)
# hard time limit (watchdog): add --timeout 2h (default: off; implementation runs routinely need 1-2h)
# see all options: node .../relay.mjs --help
```
The helper defaults to a write-capable (`workspace-write`) autonomy profile — `--always-approve` plus
`--sandbox workspace` — and writes its artifacts to a temp dir, so the repo under review stays clean.
It **never commits** — see step 5. Mechanics, flags, and the `result.json` shape:
[references/dispatch-and-poll.md](references/dispatch-and-poll.md).
### 3. Wait for completion
The helper blocks until Grok finishes, so back it with whatever your orchestrator offers and resume
when it returns:
- **Claude Code:** run the Bash call with `run_in_background: true`; you are notified on completion.
- **Plain shell / other agents:** run it in the foreground for short tasks, or background it and poll
the result file — `… &` in bash/zsh (including Git Bash/WSL), or your shell's equivalent (`Start-Job`
in PowerShell, `start /b` in cmd). The run is done when `result.json` exists with a `status`. (A
pre-run usage error — bad args or an empty brief — instead exits with code 2 and a stderr message and
writes no result file, so check the exit code too. A missing `grok` binary exits 127 but *does* write
a `result.json` with status `grok_unavailable`.)
Do not trust progress trackers over reality: a run is finished when `result.json` is written and the
process has exited. Read the working tree, not a status line. The implementer's full report is
the `finalMessage` field in `result.json` (also printed in full on stdout between the report markers).
### 4. Review — do not trust the self-report
Grok's `result.json` includes its own summary and gate claims. **Re-verify, don't accept:**
- **Re-run the project's gates yourself** (the test/lint/build commands from step 1). Never take
"gates passed" on faith.
- **Read the diff** against the brief: did Grok do what was asked, nothing more (scope creep) and
nothing less? `touchedFiles` in the result is your starting point.
- **Run the relevant guard skills** on the diff if you have them installed (clean-code-guard,
test-guard, etc. from `guard-skills`) — this skill produces the work; those skills judge it.
- For schema/migration changes, round-trip them; for removals, grep for dangling references.
Full checklist: [references/review-and-land.md](references/review-and-land.md).
### 5. Land it
**The orchestrator commits.** Only after the gates pass and the diff holds:
- Commit the verified work yourself, with a clear message.
- If it needs changes, send a delta brief with `--resume-last` (don't restate the whole task) and
review again.
## Autonomy model
Grok's default permission mode is `ask`, which **blocks on approval prompts in a headless pipe**. The
relay therefore always sets autonomy explicitly:
| Relay flag | What Grok gets | Use when |
| --- | --- | --- |
| *(default)* | `--always-approve --sandbox workspace` | Normal implementation — writes scoped to the working tree |
| `--read-only` | `--sandbox read-only --permission-mode plan` | Review / diagnosis — **best-effort, not enforced** (see caveat below) |
| `--full-access` | `--always-approve --sandbox off` | Explicit opt-in when the task needs unrestricted tools |
`--always-approve` alone would approve *all* tools (writes, shell, network) — closer to unrestricted
than to a workspace-scoped write. The effective filesystem/network boundary must be verified for the installed version; a workspace sandbox is not a universal host boundary. Reach for `--full-access` only when the human asks for it.
**`--read-only` is best-effort, not a hard guarantee.** The read-only sandbox restricts out-of-workspace
filesystem/network access, not grok's own edit tool, and headless `plan` mode is advisory — a run
verified here still wrote the working tree when told to. Use `--read-only` to *signal* review intent,
but always confirm `touchedFiles` afterward; treat the diff, not the flag, as the guarantee. The relay
automates a reporting tripwire: it compares parsed git porcelain and fingerprints the working-tree
identity and index entries of Git-visible paths that were already dirty. `readOnlyViolation` is `true`
when either signal proves a change, `false` when coverage is complete and detects none, and `null` when
coverage is incomplete. Ignored paths, submodule internals, perfect restores, and attribution of
concurrent changes remain outside it, so the diff
review stays the guarantee.
## Authorization model
Delegation is something the human opts into. Once they have ("run this queue", "proceed"), committing
verified, gate-passing work is the agreed contract — that is the whole point. Two limits on that
mandate: **surface, don't absorb** (report Grok's design decisions, defensible-but-unasked turns, and
non-blocking nitpicks rather than silently keeping them) and **stop for scope changes** (if correct
completion needs going beyond the brief, ask — don't expand the mandate yourself). The full treatment
is in [references/review-and-land.md](references/review-and-land.md).
## References
- [references/writing-the-brief.md](references/writing-the-brief.md) — how to write a brief Grok can
execute blind: structure, XML blocks, the report contract, embedding the real gate commands.
- [references/dispatch-and-poll.md](references/dispatch-and-poll.md) — `relay.mjs` flags, the
`result.json` contract, backgrounding per orchestrator, and recovery when a run misbehaves.
- [references/review-and-land.md](references/review-and-land.md) — the review checklist, the commit
boundary, and the rework cycle via `--resume-last`.
- [references/multi-task-queues.md](references/multi-task-queues.md) — running a sequential queue:
carrying constraints forward, progress tracking, and the end-of-run coherence check.
## Limitations
- Docs-only import — executable `scripts/relay.mjs` not included; see upstream for full runtime. Requires `grok` CLI, Node 18+, git.
- Relay never commits — it only returns structured result JSON; you review and land the commit.
> Adapted from [amElnagdy/delegate-skills](https://github.com/amElnagdy/delegate-skills) (MIT) — docs-only, runtime not bundled.
COMPATIBILITY & REFERENCES
Platform guidance
Imported SKILL.md format for Claude Code, Codex and Cursor. Review the complete instructions and required tools before use. Package integrity checked; individual agent behavior has not been tested.