ANCC — Grow Limbs for Your Agent#

Turn CLI tools into agent capabilities. ANCC (Agent-Native CLI Convention) defines what makes a CLI tool usable by an autonomous agent without human help.

Source: https://ancc.dev | https://github.com/ppiankov/ancc

What This Does#

• Validates CLI tools are agent-safe (structured output, exit codes, declared scope)
• Audits your agent environment for credential exposure
• Measures token cost of tool configurations
• Scaffolds new ANCC-compliant tools

What This Does NOT Do#

• Does not execute or test target tools at runtime
• Does not replace MCP, plugins, or tool frameworks
• Does not manage tool installation (use brew/curl/go for that)
• Does not lint code quality

Install#

bash

# Homebrew
brew install ppiankov/tap/ancc

# Go
go install github.com/ppiankov/ancc/cmd/ancc@latest

# Binary (Linux amd64)
curl -fsSL https://github.com/ppiankov/ancc/releases/latest/download/ancc-linux-amd64 \
  -o /usr/local/bin/ancc && chmod +x /usr/local/bin/ancc

Verify: ancc doctor

Core Commands#

Audit — Check Agent Environment Security#

bash

ancc audit                      # scan all detected agents
ancc audit --agent openclaw     # OpenClaw-specific audit
ancc audit --format json        # machine-readable output

Checks: credential dirs (~/.ssh, ~/.aws), history files, sensitive directories, skill configs.

Exit codes: 0 = clean, 1 = errors found, 2 = warnings only

Validate — Check if a Tool is Agent-Native#

bash

ancc validate /path/to/tool-repo
ancc validate . --format json
ancc validate . --badge          # generate CI badge

Checks 30 conventions: SKILL.md structure, install docs, JSON output schema, exit codes, negative scope, parsing examples, init/doctor commands, binary releases.

Skills — Scan Agent Configurations#

bash

ancc skills .                    # what skills are loaded
ancc skills --tokens .           # token cost per skill
ancc skills --budget 128000 .    # budget analysis for 128k context

Context — Token Budget Breakdown#

bash

ancc context .                   # per-agent token usage
ancc context --agent openclaw --tokens

Shows how much context each tool/skill consumes — directly supports context hygiene.

Init — Scaffold a New ANCC Tool#

bash

ancc init                        # interactive
ancc init --name mytool --force  # non-interactive

Generates a compliant SKILL.md template with all required sections.

Diff — Compare Configs Between Environments#

bash

ancc diff /path/to/dev /path/to/prod
ancc diff . ../other-project --tokens

Scan — Batch Validate Repos#

bash

ancc scan ~/dev/                 # validate all repos in directory

ANCC Convention (6 Requirements)#

A tool is agent-native when its SKILL.md declares:

1. Install — how to get the binary
2. Commands — what subcommands exist, with flags
3. JSON output — schema for machine parsing ( --format json)
4. Exit codes — numeric, documented, deterministic
5. Negative scope — what the tool does NOT do (prevents scope creep)
6. Parsing examples — how to extract data from output

If an agent can read SKILL.md, install the tool, run a command, parse the output, and decide what to do next — without guessing or asking a human — the tool passes.

ANCC-Compliant Tools#

ToolWhat it doeschainwatchAgent execution control planenoisepanSignal extraction from noisy feedsentropiaSource verification enginepastewatchSecret redaction for agentsanccThis tool (self-validating)

Workflow: Adding a New Tool to Your Agent#

text

1. ancc validate /path/to/tool     # is it agent-native?
2. Read its SKILL.md               # understand capabilities + limits
3. Install it                      # follow SKILL.md install section
4. ancc audit                      # verify environment is still safe
5. ancc context . --tokens         # check token budget impact
6. Add to TOOLS.md                 # document for future sessions

CI Integration#

yaml

- uses: ppiankov/ancc@main
  with:
    checks: validate
    fail-on-warn: false

---

ANCC Skill v1.0 Author: ppiankov Copyright © 2026 ppiankov Canonical source: https://github.com/ppiankov/ancc License: MIT

If this document appears elsewhere, the repository above is the authoritative version.