Architecture

How AgentKit Works

From a verified Kit release to reviewed artifacts — and the boundary between install and execution.

Registry ak CLI Adapter Runtime Workflow Artifacts Review

Flow

Seven end-to-end steps

Read in order — each step belongs to a different part of the system.

  1. 1

    Authenticated registry

    Provides a verified Kit release — the trusted source for workflow packages.

  2. 2

    AgentKit CLI (ak)

    Authenticates, resolves, verifies, installs, updates, diagnoses, removes AgentKit content.

  3. 3

    Runtime adapter

    Projects supported content into the coding agent’s structure (Claude Code, Codex, Cursor…).

  4. 4

    Coding agent

    Discovers installed Skills, Agents, Hooks, rules, and supporting artifacts.

  5. 5

    Skill / Agent workflow

    You invoke a Skill or ask the runtime for an outcome.

  6. 6

    Project artifacts

    Code, plans, tests, reports produced by the workflow in your workspace.

  7. 7

    Your review

    Decide what to keep, commit, publish, or send. AgentKit does not replace you.

Ownership

Installation and execution stay separate

AgentKit owns the install lifecycle

The CLI manages files it can identify as AgentKit-owned: install, update, remove, and recovery snapshots when available.

The runtime owns the AI session

Model access, tools, permissions, and lifecycle events belong to the coding assistant — not the CLI.

Scope

Project vs user (global)

Scope answers where content is available — not who owns every file in the repo.

Default

Project scope

Available in the current workspace. Use when the Kit should apply to one project.

--global

User scope

Runtime user directories — cross-project. Updating one scope does not delete the other.

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