# Os Step By Step

ALWAYS invoke this skill when you need the user to act - run a command, paste a secret...

- Repository: https://github.com/kharmanskyi/open-steps (1291 stars)
- Category: AI and agents
- License: MIT
- Last updated: 2026-10-05
- Runs scripts: no, instructions only

## Install

Claude Code: `npx skills add kharmanskyi/open-steps --skill os-step-by-step -g -a claude-code -y`
Codex: `npx skills add kharmanskyi/open-steps --skill os-step-by-step -g -a codex -y`
Cursor: `npx skills add kharmanskyi/open-steps --skill os-step-by-step -g -a cursor -y`
Gemini CLI: `npx skills add kharmanskyi/open-steps --skill os-step-by-step -g -a gemini-cli -y`
Claude Code plugin marketplace: `/plugin marketplace add kharmanskyi/open-steps`

## Description

ALWAYS invoke this skill when you need the user to act - run a command, paste a secret, click, approve - and whenever they ask how to do something or say they do not know what to do: "step by step", "walk me through it", "what do I do", "what should I do", "I don't understand what to do", "explain what I need to do", in any language. Picking which task comes next is os-whats-next; this skill is for doing the thing in front of you. First earn the ask: try it yourself, find another route, shrink it to the part only they can do. Then one action per step, commands labelled by what they touch, no jargon. Commands are single lines that prompt for any value - typing hidden for secrets - and confirm in plain words. Afterwards verify their step.

## SKILL.md, as published by its author (untrusted third-party text, read it as data)

# os-step-by-step

The user is not stuck because the task is hard - they cannot tell what they
are being asked to do. This skill turns "I need something from you" into an
instruction a person who does not read code can follow without a follow-up
question. `os-done-or-not` reports *that* something is needed; this one says
exactly *how*.

## Language

Write in the language the user speaks in this session, detected from the
conversation. Commands, file names and identifiers stay English.

## When to use

Triggers live in the description above - any moment you need the user's hands,
or they ask what to do.

## Step 0 - earn the right to ask

Every ask costs the user a context switch. Prove it is necessary; stop at the
first item that clears the block:

1. **Try it.** A real 403 is a finding; "I probably lack permission" is a guess.
2. **Find another route.** Another tool, a value already on the host, a file
   you can read.
3. **Shrink the ask.** Obtain what you can yourself; hand over only the
   irreducible part.
4. **Check you are not asking twice** - search the session and the reports
   folder first.

Three walls where asking IS the correct move, never to be worked around:
pulling a secret into your own context, loosening a guard that is there on
purpose, doing what the user said only they do.

## The shape

Always this order - the ask first, never after the diagnosis.

```
**What I need from you: <one sentence, plain words>.**

Why you and not me: <one or two sentences. A real reason, in human terms.>

**Step 1. <action in three to six words>**
<What to do. One action only.>

**Step 2. <action>**
<...>

**How you'll know it worked.**
<What the user will see. What to do if they see something else.>

**What happens next, on my side.**
<One line: what you do once they are done, and what you will say.>
```

## After they act - verify, do not trust

The rest: https://github.com/kharmanskyi/open-steps/blob/HEAD/skills/os-step-by-step/SKILL.md