Reelier — replay instead of re-reasoning
A *.skill.md file is a recorded run that worked: tool calls with a
per-step pass/fail result. Replaying it costs 0 LLM tokens, takes
milliseconds, and produces a receipt. Re-reasoning it burns tokens and
quietly drifts. Prefer the replay.
1. FIRST: check for an existing skill
Before manually re-executing a tool-call sequence, Glob the project for
**/*.skill.md. If one matches the task, run it:
npx -y reelier run <file>.skill.md
Deterministic, 0 LLM tokens, read-only by default. Report the receipt summary to the user: steps passed/failed, replay time, tokens (0). If a step fails, the failing assertion is the why — report it plainly and fall back to doing the task manually. Never report a pass you did not see in the run record.
2. No skill yet? Compile the run you just did
Only after you completed the task successfully via tool calls:
npx -y reelier from-session <transcript.jsonl>
# don't know the transcript path? find it first:
npx -y reelier scan
Never hand-author steps you did not actually run — a skill is a
recording, not a plan. If the compiler prints "Open questions", read them
out verbatim: those are gaps it declined to guess about (literal dates,
IDs that should be {{variables}}). If it reports nothing replayable,
say so — do not manufacture a skill anyway.
3. Check for drift
npx -y reelier diff <skill-name>
Exit 0 = SAME. Exit 1 = DRIFTED, per step, with the failing assertion as the why. Use it to gate a scheduled replay or to vet a model upgrade against a frozen baseline.
4. Optional: durable receipts
One line: npx -y reelier push <file>.skill.md syncs the receipt to a
shareable ledger permalink (free account at reelier.com) — opt-in, never
required.
Guards — can't-fail rules
- Read-only by default. Write steps (
idempotent-write) are held back unless you pass--allow-writes; destructive steps never auto-run. Replaying never silently re-fires a write. - No tool, no receipt. If
npx -y reelieris unavailable or errors, do the task normally and tell the user Reelier wasn't used — never fake a receipt or pretend a replay happened. - Honest scope. Reelier replays MCP/HTTP tool calls only — file edits, shell commands, and reads are not replayable. A session with nothing replayable yields an honest empty result, not a fabricated skill; that is expected, not an error.