Viking Shared

When to Use

Use this skill when an external agent is setting up SearchCLI for the first time, or when it needs to check authentication, profiles, and local readiness.

Preconditions

• Node.js >= 20 is installed
• the repository has already been cloned, or the CLI has already been installed with scripts/install.sh

Commands

• auth import-env: import VIKINGAK / VIKINGSK from the current shell into the local secure store
• auth login: capture AK/SK interactively in a real terminal
• auth status: inspect the active profile, credential source, and region
• auth use: switch profiles
• auth list: list saved profiles
• llm login: capture OpenAI-compatible LLM base URL, model, and API key interactively; stores the API key in the local secure store
• llm import-env: import VIKINGLLMBASEURL / VIKINGLLMAPIKEY / VIKINGLLMMODEL into config plus secure store
• llm status: inspect the active LLM provider, model, base URL, and secret source without revealing the API key
• llm logout: delete the stored LLM API key for a profile
• doctor: check local dependencies, auth, and configuration
• skill list: inspect the published Viking skills
• skill install: install Viking skills from the local repository checkout
• app status / app diagnose: inspect app readiness before blaming runtime behavior
• search run / chat run: run a minimal verification request

Regions

Built-in region checklist (for --region and auth profiles):

• Beijing: cn-beijing
• Johor: ap-southeast-1

Workflow

1. Confirm that the CLI is installed, then run auth status
2. If the current shell already has VIKINGAK / VIKINGSK, prefer auth import-env
3. Otherwise, if the agent can keep an interactive real terminal alive, run auth login
4. If interactive login is not possible, ask the user to set VIKINGAK / VIKINGSK in the current shell and then run auth import-env
5. Run doctor to verify the local environment
6. External agents should install Viking skills with npx skills add "<repo-url>" -y -g
7. Repository maintainers can use skill install all or install named skills from the local checkout
8. Before deeper debugging, use app status or search/chat run for a minimal runtime check

LLM Setup

Search tuning query generation and LLM relevance judging need an OpenAI-compatible LLM API. Do not ask the user to paste an LLM API key into chat.

Use this priority order:

1. If the current real terminal already has VIKINGLLMBASEURL, VIKINGLLMAPIKEY, and VIKINGLLMMODEL, run vs llm import-env.
2. Otherwise, if the agent can keep an interactive real terminal alive, run vs llm login and wait for the user to enter the API key in that terminal.
3. If interactive login is not possible, tell the user to set VIKINGLLMBASEURL, VIKINGLLMAPIKEY, and VIKINGLLMMODEL in the current terminal, then run vs llm import-env.

The first version supports only the openai-compatible protocol. Non-secret LLM metadata is written to ~/.viking/config.json; the API key is stored through the local secure credential store.

Customer Environment Principle

• In customer environments, assume repository source code is unavailable.
• Execute tasks using only the installed skills, the packaged vs CLI surface (--help, command output, and observed runtime behavior), and explicit user-provided information.
• Do not rely on reading local repository source files, generated repo snapshots, or implementation details to decide runtime actions.
• If the installed CLI behavior conflicts with a skill, trust the installed CLI behavior first.
• If the skills and the packaged CLI still do not provide enough information to proceed safely, stop and ask the user instead of searching source code.

Constraints

• Sandbox must allow writing ~/.viking/config.json: vs auth login / vs auth import-env / vs auth use (and even some --help paths) persist non-secret config to ~/.viking/config.json. If the agent runs inside a sandbox with a read-only home directory, these commands fail with EACCES: permission denied / Not allow operate files. Before running any vs command that touches auth or config, ensure the sandbox grants write access to ~/.viking/ (or run those commands outside the sandbox). Do not misread this environment restriction as a CLI bug.
• Mandatory command verification: before executing any concrete vs ... command in this shared workflow, the agent MUST first consult vs-product-qa to verify the current command surface, required flags, payload fields, input format, allowed values, and relevant command-specific constraints. This is a non-optional precondition for all shared workflow commands, including auth, doctor, LLM setup, app readiness checks, search/chat runtime checks, and skill installation. Only after that verification may the agent finalize parameters and run the command.
• If the user has already placed credentials in the current shell, prefer auth import-env and do not ask them to paste secrets into chat
• If LLM credentials are needed, prefer llm import-env or llm login; do not ask the user to paste LLM API keys into chat
• Before installing or distributing a skill, confirm that the current CLI version satisfies requires_cli
• If setup, auth, doctor, or runtime checks fail and the user asks a product concept, capability, API field, console UI path, purchase, billing, or general troubleshooting question outside this shared setup workflow, temporarily hand off to vs-product-qa; return to this workflow only after the grounded product answer is complete.