coyote-bundle-template/README.md

coyote-bundle-template

A starter template for Coyote bundles: shareable configurations distributed via any Git repository. Repositories structured like this let users share agents, roles, skills, macros, tools, and MCP servers in Coyote easily. Bundles are Coyote's equivalent of plugins.

Fork this repo, customize the assets to your taste, then install your fork into Coyote with a single command.

Quick start

Install everything in this template into your local Coyote config using the owner/repo shorthand (expanded against github.com by default):

coyote --install <you>/coyote-bundle-template

or with a full Git URL, or from within the Coyote REPL:

coyote --install https://github.com/<you>/coyote-bundle-template

.install <you>/coyote-bundle-template

Hosting somewhere other than GitHub? Point the shorthand at your forge:

coyote --install <group>/<subgroup>/coyote-bundle-template --git-host gitlab.com

Pin to a specific branch, tag, or commit by suffixing #<ref>:

coyote --install <you>/coyote-bundle-template#v1.0.0
coyote --install <you>/coyote-bundle-template#main
coyote --install <you>/coyote-bundle-template#abc1234

Restrict the install to a single asset category with --filter:

coyote --install <you>/coyote-bundle-template --filter agents
coyote --install <you>/coyote-bundle-template --filter mcp_config

Valid filter values: agents, roles, skills, macros, functions, mcp_config.

Skip per-file conflict prompts with --install-force:

coyote --install <you>/coyote-bundle-template --install-force

Managing the installed bundle

Coyote records everything a bundle install writes (file paths, MCP server entries, and content hashes) in a provenance store, which powers the full lifecycle:

coyote --list-bundles                          # name, version, source, drift
coyote --install <bundle-name>                 # update by installed name
coyote --update-bundle <bundle-name>           # update from the recorded source
coyote --update-bundle <bundle-name>#<ref>     # move a pin while updating
coyote --update-bundle <bundle-name> --yes     # non-interactive: keep local edits, refresh the rest
coyote --uninstall <bundle-name>               # remove owned files and MCP entries
coyote --uninstall <bundle-name> --yes         # skip the confirmation prompt

The same operations are available in the REPL as .list bundles, .install <bundle-name>, and .uninstall <bundle-name> [--yes].

Updates and uninstalls never clobber your local edits: files you modified after install are prompted for (and kept by default on uninstall), while untouched files refresh or delete silently. See the Sharing Configurations wiki for the full ownership and drift model.

The manifest (coyote-bundle.yaml)

The optional manifest at the repo root declares the bundle's identity, and nothing else. Coyote discovers installable content by scanning the asset directories; the manifest never lists files.

name: coyote-bundle-template
version: "1.0.0"
description: Starter template for Coyote bundles
homepage: https://github.com/Dark-Alex-17/coyote-bundle-template

• name is how consumers refer to the bundle in --update-bundle and --uninstall. Ship a manifest so your bundle keeps a stable name across forks; without one, Coyote derives the name from the repository name.
• version shows up in --list-bundles (falls back to the short commit SHA).
• If your chosen name collides with another installed bundle or a built-in asset category, Coyote qualifies it with the repo owner (owner/name) instead of overwriting anything.

Layout

Coyote only reads the manifest and these top-level directories. Anything else in the repo is ignored.

coyote-bundle-template/
├── coyote-bundle.yaml             # Optional identity manifest
├── agents/
│   └── <agent-name>/
│       ├── config.yaml            # LLM-loop agent
│       │   └── (or graph.yaml)    # Graph agent
│       ├── README.md              # Optional
│       ├── tools.sh               # Optional agent-local tools
│       └── scripts/               # Optional graph-node scripts
├── roles/
│   └── <role-name>.md             # Role with frontmatter + prompt body
├── skills/
│   └── <skill-name>/
│       └── SKILL.md               # Skill with frontmatter + body
├── macros/
│   └── <macro-name>.yaml          # Positional/rest-args + REPL command steps
└── functions/
    ├── tools/
    │   └── *.sh / *.py / *.ts     # Global tools (auto chmod +x on install)
    └── mcp.json                   # MCP server config (merged with local)

The functions/mcp.json file is merged into your existing local file on install (not overwritten). For conflicting server names, you'll be prompted to keep yours, take the remote's, or rename the remote entry. On update, entries the bundle installed and you never edited take the remote side automatically.

What's in this template

Asset	File	What it is
Agent	agents/hello-agent/config.yaml	Tiny LLM-loop agent that greets the user.
Role	roles/explainer.md	Role that explains technical concepts simply.
Skill	skills/rust-fmt/SKILL.md	Skill demonstrating enabled_tools + auto_unload.
Macro	macros/greet.yaml	Macro showing positional and rest-arg variables.
Tool	functions/tools/greet.sh	Bash tool using Coyote's argc-style annotations.
MCP	functions/mcp.json	One vanilla server + one with a vault secret reference.

Each sample is intentionally minimal. Replace it with your own work, or delete what you don't need.

Customizing

Agents

Each agent lives in its own subdirectory under agents/. For LLM-loop agents, put a config.yaml (full schema: Agents wiki). For declarative graph agents, put a graph.yaml instead (Graph Agents wiki).

Roles

Each roles/<name>.md is a YAML frontmatter block followed by the role instructions (Roles wiki).

Skills

Each skill lives in its own subdirectory under skills/, with a SKILL.md file containing YAML frontmatter (description, enabled_tools, enabled_mcp_servers, auto_unload) followed by a body of instructions that get injected into the model's system prompt while the skill is loaded (Skills wiki).

Macros

Each macros/<name>.yaml is a list of REPL commands to execute, with optional positional/rest variables (Macros wiki).

Tools

Tools in functions/tools/ follow Coyote's argc-style schema (Custom Tools wiki). Bash, Python, and TypeScript scripts are auto-detected and given the executable bit on install.

MCP servers

Add or modify entries in functions/mcp.json (MCP Servers wiki). Use {{SECRET_NAME}} placeholders for values you don't want to commit; Coyote will detect missing secrets after the merge and prompt you to add them to the vault (or list them for you to add via coyote --add-secret).

(Optional) Sandbox mixins (sbx-mixin.yaml)

If consumers of your bundle run Coyote in Sandbox mode, they'll need any external binaries and network domain allowances declared in an sbx-mixin.yaml file. Coyote auto-discovers mixin files at known locations on every coyote --sandbox invocation, no flags required.

This template ships two starter examples:

• agents/hello-agent/sbx-mixin.yaml: Per-agent mixin, applied when the agent is installed and any coyote --sandbox runs.
• functions/sbx-mixin.yaml: Shared by all custom tools in this bundle. For per-tool granularity, use functions/<tool>/sbx-mixin.yaml instead.

Both starters are commented-out templates. Simply open them and fill in the domains and install commands your assets actually need. Delete the files if they're not needed.

⚠️ Privilege grant. Anyone installing your bundle is granting the mixins' install commands (passwordless sudo) and network domain allowances inside their sandboxes. Document any non-obvious entries in this README so they don't have to grep your YAML to find out what they're accepting. See the Sharing Configurations - Sandbox Implications wiki page for the full security model.

Secrets workflow

Anywhere you reference a secret in mcp.json (or in any installed file), use the {{NAME}} placeholder syntax. After an install completes:

• Interactive mode: Coyote prompts you per-secret to add the value to the vault. On the first "Yes," it creates the vault password file if needed.
• Non-interactive mode (CI, piped): Coyote prints a final reminder listing every missing secret with the coyote --add-secret <NAME> / .vault add <NAME> commands you can run to fill them in.

See the Vault wiki for the full secrets workflow.

Tips for forks

• Ship a coyote-bundle.yaml with your own name so your bundle keeps a stable identity no matter what consumers or forks call the repository.
• Pin your fork to tagged releases so consumers can install with #<tag> for reproducibility, and bump the manifest version alongside your tags so coyote --list-bundles shows something meaningful.
• Keep agent-local logic in agents/<name>/scripts/. Global tools (in functions/tools/) are shared across every agent.
• Removing a file from your fork does propagate: on the next --update-bundle, consumers are asked whether to keep or delete files the bundle no longer ships. Removing an mcp.json server does not prune existing installs of that entry; uninstalling the bundle removes the entries it added (unless the user edited them).