Pickaxe Skill

pickaxe-skill

An unofficial agent skill for building, updating, and debugging AI tools on the [Pickaxe](https://pickaxe.co) platform through its MCP server and HTTP JSON-RPC API.

This skill teaches an AI coding agent the platform's mechanics and its traps: the field names behind the builder UI, the two-layer knowledge base, silent input truncation, the completion timeout ceiling, and the verification habits that catch all of the above.

It uses the open [Agent Skills](https://code.claude.com/docs/en/skills) format (a `SKILL.md` with reference files), which Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, and Grok Build all read.

Install

**Claude Code** (personal, all projects):

git clone https://github.com/ThomasUmstattd/pickaxe-skill ~/.claude/skills/pickaxe

**Codex** (personal, all projects):

git clone https://github.com/ThomasUmstattd/pickaxe-skill ~/.agents/skills/pickaxe

**Cursor** (personal, all projects):

git clone https://github.com/ThomasUmstattd/pickaxe-skill ~/.cursor/skills/pickaxe

**Grok Build** (personal, all projects):

git clone https://github.com/ThomasUmstattd/pickaxe-skill ~/.grok/skills/pickaxe

For a single project instead, clone into the project's skill directory: `.claude/skills/pickaxe`, `.agents/skills/pickaxe`, `.cursor/skills/pickaxe`, or `.grok/skills/pickaxe`.

Connect to Pickaxe

The skill includes a walkthrough for the initial MCP connection, including where the API key hides in Pickaxe Studio's settings. See [references/getting-connected.md](references/getting-connected.md), or just ask your agent to connect you to Pickaxe once the skill is installed.

What's inside

File	Covers
SKILL.md	The five rules that prevent the worst failures, and the map below
references/getting-connected.md	First-time MCP setup for Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, and Grok Build
references/api-mechanics.md