tilt
This AI agent skill empowers efficient management and monitoring of local development environments using Tilt. It allows for quick checks of deployment health, investigation of errors, retrieval of logs, and control over Tilt-managed resources.
About this skill
The `tilt` AI agent skill provides a robust interface for interacting with Tilt, a powerful toolkit designed for local development of microservices and complex applications. This skill enables an AI agent to perform essential operational tasks such as querying the real-time status of Tilt resources to identify errors or pending updates, fetching detailed logs for specific services, and managing the lifecycle (start, stop, trigger updates) of your Tilt-controlled development stack. It is particularly valuable for developers and DevOps engineers seeking to automate routine health checks and accelerate debugging processes within their local setups. By leveraging this skill, an AI agent can efficiently diagnose issues, understand the state of multiple microservices, and even initiate corrective actions based on observed statuses, all without requiring manual command-line input from the user. This capability significantly streamlines the development workflow, reduces the time spent on environment management, and ensures that developers can focus more on coding rather than troubleshooting their local infrastructure.
Best use case
The primary use case for this skill is for developers and operations teams who utilize Tilt to orchestrate and manage their local Kubernetes-based development environments. It allows an AI agent to become an intelligent assistant for monitoring application health, proactively identifying misconfigurations or runtime errors, and providing precise diagnostic information, thereby accelerating the iteration cycle and ensuring a stable local development experience.
This AI agent skill empowers efficient management and monitoring of local development environments using Tilt. It allows for quick checks of deployment health, investigation of errors, retrieval of logs, and control over Tilt-managed resources.
The user should expect clear, structured information about their Tilt-managed development environment's health, identified errors or pending statuses, relevant logs, or the successful execution of Tilt lifecycle commands.
Practical example
Example input
My local Tilt environment seems to have an issue. Please check the status of all `uiresources` and highlight any that are in an 'error' or 'pending' state.
Example output
Checking Tilt resource health... api-service: runtime=ok update=pending frontend-app: runtime=error update=error backend-service: runtime=ok update=ok Summary of statuses: - ok: 2 resources - pending: 1 resource - error: 1 resource The 'frontend-app' is currently in an error state. Would you like to view its logs?
When to use this skill
- To quickly assess the health and status of a local Tilt-managed development environment.
- When investigating deployment failures, errors, or unexpected behavior in microservices.
- To retrieve and analyze logs from specific services or the entire Tilt environment.
- For triggering resource updates or managing the start/stop lifecycle of the Tilt application.
When not to use this skill
- When working with production environments; Tilt is exclusively for local development.
- If the project or development setup does not utilize Tilt for environment management.
- For tasks requiring deep code modifications or complex refactoring beyond operational commands.
- When an interactive GUI-based debugging experience is preferred over CLI outputs.
Installation
Claude Code / Cursor / Codex
Manual Installation
- Download SKILL.md from GitHub
- Place it in
.claude/skills/tilt/SKILL.mdinside your project - Restart your AI agent — it will auto-discover the skill
How tilt Compares
| Feature / Agent | tilt | Standard Approach |
|---|---|---|
| Platform Support | Claude | Limited / Varies |
| Context Awareness | High | Baseline |
| Installation Complexity | medium | N/A |
Frequently Asked Questions
What does this skill do?
This AI agent skill empowers efficient management and monitoring of local development environments using Tilt. It allows for quick checks of deployment health, investigation of errors, retrieval of logs, and control over Tilt-managed resources.
Which AI agents support this skill?
This skill is designed for Claude.
How difficult is it to install?
The installation complexity is rated as medium. You can find the installation instructions above.
Where can I find the source code?
You can find the source code on GitHub using the link provided at the top of the page.
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SKILL.md Source
# Tilt
## First Action: Check for Errors
Before investigating issues or verifying deployments, check resource health:
```bash
# Find errors and pending resources (primary health check)
tilt get uiresources -o json | jq -r '.items[] | select(.status.runtimeStatus == "error" or .status.updateStatus == "error" or .status.updateStatus == "pending") | "\(.metadata.name): runtime=\(.status.runtimeStatus) update=\(.status.updateStatus)"'
# Quick status overview
tilt get uiresources -o json | jq '[.items[].status.updateStatus] | group_by(.) | map({status: .[0], count: length})'
```
## Non-Default Ports
When Tilt runs on a non-default port, add `--port`:
```bash
tilt get uiresources --port 37035
tilt logs <resource> --port 37035
```
## Resource Status
```bash
# All resources with status
tilt get uiresources -o json | jq '.items[] | {name: .metadata.name, runtime: .status.runtimeStatus, update: .status.updateStatus}'
# Single resource detail
tilt get uiresource/<name> -o json
# Wait for ready
tilt wait --for=condition=Ready uiresource/<name> --timeout=120s
```
**Status values:**
- RuntimeStatus: `ok`, `error`, `pending`, `none`, `not_applicable`
- UpdateStatus: `ok`, `error`, `pending`, `in_progress`, `none`, `not_applicable`
## Logs
```bash
tilt logs <resource>
tilt logs <resource> --since 5m
tilt logs <resource> --tail 100
tilt logs --json # JSON Lines output
```
## Trigger and Lifecycle
```bash
tilt trigger <resource> # Force update
tilt up # Start
tilt down # Stop and clean up
```
## Running tilt up
Follow `zmx` skill patterns — check for existing sessions, derive name from git root, use `zmx run` (not attach):
```bash
PROJECT=$(basename "$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel 2>/dev/null)" || basename "$PWD")
SESSION="${PROJECT}-tilt"
if zmx list --short 2>/dev/null | grep -q "^${SESSION}$"; then
echo "Tilt session already exists: $SESSION"
else
zmx run "$SESSION" 'tilt up'
echo "Started tilt in zmx session: $SESSION"
fi
```
## Critical: Never Restart for Code Changes
Tilt live-reloads automatically. **Never suggest restarting `tilt up`** for:
- Tiltfile edits
- Source code changes
- Kubernetes manifest updates
Restart only for: Tilt version upgrades, port/host changes, crashes, cluster context switches.
## References
- [TILTFILE_API.md](TILTFILE_API.md) - Tiltfile authoring
- [CLI_REFERENCE.md](CLI_REFERENCE.md) - Complete CLI with JSON patterns
- https://docs.tilt.dev/Related Skills
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