Using Claude Code CLI

A Claude Code skill for programmatically invoking Claude Code CLI from Python orchestrators, shell scripts, and automation pipelines.

Overview

This skill provides comprehensive patterns for:

Tool Pre-Approval - Eliminate permission prompts with --allowedTools
Directory Access - Grant Claude access to additional directories with --add-dir
Hooks Configuration - Set up logging, monitoring, and blocking hooks
Sandbox Mode - Safe execution for untrusted operations
Python Patterns - Synchronous, async, and parallel subprocess invocation
JSON Extraction - Parse structured output from CLI responses
Fallback Strategies - OpenCode CLI as backup

Quick Start

# Minimal automation command
claude -p "Your prompt" --allowedTools Write Read Edit

# Full automation with all options
claude \
  --model sonnet \
  --add-dir /path/to/skills \
  --allowedTools Write Read Edit Bash Task \
  --output-format json \
  -p "Your automation prompt"

Installation

Using Skilz Universal Installer (Recommended)

The recommended way to install this skill across different AI coding agents is using the skilz universal installer.

This skill supports the Agent Skill Standard which means it works with 14+ coding agents including Claude Code, OpenAI Codex, Cursor, and Gemini CLI.

Install Skilz

pip install skilz

Install from SkillzWave Marketplace

The easiest way to install is from the SkillzWave Marketplace:

# Claude Code (user-level - available in all projects)
skilz install SpillwaveSolutions_using-claude-code-cli-agent-skill/using-claude-code-cli

# Claude Code (project-level)
skilz install SpillwaveSolutions_using-claude-code-cli-agent-skill/using-claude-code-cli --project

# OpenCode
skilz install SpillwaveSolutions_using-claude-code-cli-agent-skill/using-claude-code-cli --agent opencode

# OpenAI Codex
skilz install SpillwaveSolutions_using-claude-code-cli-agent-skill/using-claude-code-cli --agent codex

# Gemini CLI (project-level only)
skilz install SpillwaveSolutions_using-claude-code-cli-agent-skill/using-claude-code-cli --agent gemini

Install from GitHub

You can also install directly from GitHub using HTTPS or SSH:

# HTTPS
skilz install -g https://github.com/SpillwaveSolutions/using-claude-code-cli-agent-skill

# SSH
skilz install --git git@github.com:SpillwaveSolutions/using-claude-code-cli-agent-skill.git

Agent-specific GitHub installs:

# Claude Code (user-level)
skilz install -g https://github.com/SpillwaveSolutions/using-claude-code-cli-agent-skill

# Claude Code (project-level)
skilz install -g https://github.com/SpillwaveSolutions/using-claude-code-cli-agent-skill --project

# OpenCode
skilz install -g https://github.com/SpillwaveSolutions/using-claude-code-cli-agent-skill --agent opencode

# OpenAI Codex
skilz install -g https://github.com/SpillwaveSolutions/using-claude-code-cli-agent-skill --agent codex

# Gemini CLI
skilz install -g https://github.com/SpillwaveSolutions/using-claude-code-cli-agent-skill --agent gemini

Installation Locations

Agent	User-Level Location	Project-Level Location
Claude Code	`~/.claude/skills/`	`./.claude/skills/`
OpenCode	`~/.config/opencode/skills/`	`./.opencode/skills/`
OpenAI Codex	`~/.codex/skills/`	`./.codex/skills/`
Gemini CLI	N/A	`./GEMINI.md` (inline)

Other Supported Agents

Skilz supports 14+ coding agents including Windsurf, Qwen Code, Aidr, Cursor, and more.

For the full list of supported platforms, visit:

File Structure

using-claude-code-cli/
├── SKILL.md                           # Main skill document
├── README.md                          # This file
├── .gitignore                         # Git ignore patterns
└── references/
    ├── cli-reference.md               # Complete CLI commands and flags
    ├── subprocess-patterns.md         # Python invocation patterns
    ├── hooks-examples.md              # Hook configuration and scripts
    ├── json-extraction.md             # Parsing JSON from output
    └── orchestrator_example.py        # Complete Python orchestrator class

Triggers

The skill activates on queries containing:

"claude cli", "claude subprocess", "claude permissions"
"--allowedTools", "--add-dir", "--settings"
"spawn claude", "headless claude", "parallel agents"

Use Cases

Scenario	Reference
Python subprocess invocation	subprocess-patterns.md
Setting up hooks for logging	hooks-examples.md
Parsing JSON from output	json-extraction.md
Complete orchestrator class	orchestrator_example.py
CLI flag reference	cli-reference.md

License

MIT

using-claude-code-cli