Synthesis Bitbucket (via bkt)

How an agent interacts with Bitbucket Cloud using bkt, an open-source community CLI that fills the role gh plays for GitHub. This skill exists because agents working across many repos otherwise drift to raw REST calls or the wrong CLI, reassembling auth, URL-encoding, and pagination by hand — differently every session.

The rule in one line: if bkt can do it, use bkt. The REST API is the escape hatch (bkt api), not the default.

Teams layer a private companion skill on top of this one carrying their workspace names, default context, and release conventions. This skill stays generic.

Install and pin

brew install avivsinai/tap/bitbucket-cli
brew pin bitbucket-cli   # freeze at the installed version
bkt --version

Pin a reviewed version. bkt is a community tool with write access to your repos. Review a release (or adopt your team's reviewed version), pin it, and re-review the diff before upgrading. brew pin freezes whatever is installed; a checksummed release binary from the project's GitHub Releases page is the alternative when you need an exact older version.

Authenticate

Preferred — OAuth in the browser (no token handling):

bkt auth login https://bitbucket.org --kind cloud --web

Alternative — scoped API token created under the Bitbucket application at id.atlassian.com → Security → API tokens:

bkt auth login https://bitbucket.org --kind cloud \
  --username <atlassian-account-email> --token <api-token>

The username is the email of the Atlassian account that owns the token — not a Bitbucket username. Prefer the interactive prompt over --token (flags leak into shell history and process listings). Credentials land in the OS keychain.

⚠️ Scoped API tokens that authenticate the REST API do not necessarily authenticate the git HTTPS endpoint — they are separate credential surfaces. For git push/fetch, use SSH keys; keep bkt on the token. Mixing the two surfaces produces "the token works here but not there" mysteries that look like access problems and are not.

Set the default context

bkt context create <name> --host https://api.bitbucket.org/2.0 \
  --workspace <workspace> --repo <repo>
bkt context use <name>

Gotcha: bkt context create requires --host, and the host string must exactly match the one shown by bkt auth status (for Cloud: https://api.bitbucket.org/2.0, not https://bitbucket.org). A mismatched host fails with "host not found; run bkt auth login first" even when you are logged in.

Command catalog

Global flags on any command: --json · --jq '<expr>' (with --json) · --format json|yaml · -c <context>. Context overrides: --workspace, --repo.

Read (safe, use freely)

• bkt pr list — --state OPEN|MERGED|DECLINED · --limit <n> (0 = all) · --mine
• bkt pr view <id> · bkt pr diff <id> [--stat] · bkt pr comments <id> [--state unresolved] · bkt pr checks <id> [--wait]
• bkt repo view · bkt branch list · bkt pipeline list|view

Write (consequential — confirm intent before running)

• bkt pr create --title <t> --description <d> --source <branch> --target <branch> [--reviewer <user|{UUID}>]… [--with-default-reviewers] [--draft]
• bkt pr comment <id> --text <msg> [--parent <comment-id>] [--file <path> --to-line <n>]
• bkt pr edit <id> · bkt pr approve <id> · bkt pr merge <id> --strategy mergecommit|squash|fastforward · bkt pr decline <id> · bkt pr reopen <id>

Escape hatch

• bkt api /repositories/<ws>/<repo>/... — raw REST with auth handled. Use only for surfaces the catalog lacks; prefer adding a note to your team's companion skill when a gap becomes routine.

gh → bkt map

Bitbucket Cloud has no PR labels and its PR states are OPEN, MERGED, DECLINED, SUPERSEDED — port gh habits accordingly.

Safety rules

1. Reads are free; writes are deliberate. Never approve, merge, decline, or create without the operator's explicit intent for that specific PR.
2. One command surface. Do not mix bkt, raw curl, and git-host web UIs in one workflow — state drifts and auth surfaces multiply.
3. Repo-level skills do not travel. A skill checked into one repo is not loaded when the session works elsewhere. Install this skill (and your team's companion) at the personal/agent level so the command surface is present in every session.

When NOT to apply

• GitHub or GitLab repos (gh / glab are the right tools there)
• Bitbucket Data Center quirks beyond bkt's support — check the project's README first