Build a site through the current harness

Resolve the site-builder repository before running any command. Copy and run this snippet from the directory where you want to work:

if [ -n "${SITE_BUILD_HOME:-}" ] && [ -r "$SITE_BUILD_HOME/bin/build.php" ]; then
    :
elif [ -n "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT:-}" ] && [ -r "$CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT/bin/build.php" ]; then
    SITE_BUILD_HOME=$CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT
elif [ -n "${GROK_PLUGIN_ROOT:-}" ] && [ -r "$GROK_PLUGIN_ROOT/bin/build.php" ]; then
    SITE_BUILD_HOME=$GROK_PLUGIN_ROOT
elif [ -n "${CODEX_PLUGIN_ROOT:-}" ] && [ -r "$CODEX_PLUGIN_ROOT/bin/build.php" ]; then
    SITE_BUILD_HOME=$CODEX_PLUGIN_ROOT
else
    SITE_BUILD_HOME=
    site_build_dir=$PWD
    while :; do
        if [ -r "$site_build_dir/bin/build.php" ]; then
            SITE_BUILD_HOME=$site_build_dir
            break
        fi
        [ "$site_build_dir" = "/" ] && break
        site_build_dir=$(dirname "$site_build_dir")
    done
    unset site_build_dir
fi

if [ -z "${SITE_BUILD_HOME:-}" ] || [ ! -r "$SITE_BUILD_HOME/bin/build.php" ]; then
    echo "Could not find site-builder. Set SITE_BUILD_HOME to its repository root." >&2
    return 1 2>/dev/null || exit 1
fi
export SITE_BUILD_HOME

SITE_BUILD_HOME is this Skill's explicit override. Anthropic documents CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT. xAI documents GROK_PLUGIN_ROOT for plugin hooks, but does not explicitly promise it to skills. CODEX_PLUGIN_ROOT is a speculative compatibility probe because Codex's plugin documentation does not publish a root variable. Every candidate is accepted only when it contains bin/build.php, so unset or incorrect values safely fall through.

The build CLI also requires this repository's config/ directory and Composer-installed vendor/ directory. If vendor/autoload.php is missing from the resolved plugin checkout, run composer install --working-dir="$SITE_BUILD_HOME" before building. A plugin installation without those runtime files cannot build a site.

Always declare the transport that matches the launcher. Never rely on environment or process detection.

Confirm the transport before spending

Run the matching command before every build:

# Claude Code
SITE_BUILD_LLM=claude-cli php "$SITE_BUILD_HOME/bin/build.php" --transport

# Codex
SITE_BUILD_LLM=codex-cli php "$SITE_BUILD_HOME/bin/build.php" --transport

# Grok
SITE_BUILD_LLM=grok-cli php "$SITE_BUILD_HOME/bin/build.php" --transport

Use only the command for the current launcher. Confirm that it exits successfully and that its audit line names the intended *-cli transport as a subscription. If it exits non-zero or reports a different transport or billing mode, stop before spending and report the mismatch.

Image behavior in harness builds

Harness and plugin transports do not provide WPCOM proxy credentials. Absent an independently provisioned GOOGLE_VERTEX_API_TOKEN, harness builds ship image placeholders, and this Skill never passes --with-images. The Skill cannot assume that a checkout has been provisioned with that token.

Neither the Codex nor the Grok CLI exposes image generation, so there is no subscription-billed alternative today. This is a current limitation, not a defect.

Orchestrate a build step by step

Keep the same matching SITE_BUILD_LLM declaration on every command. The examples below use Codex; replace only that declaration with the exact Claude Code or Grok mapping above when that is the current launcher.

Harness batches run up to 10 CLI processes concurrently by default. Set SITE_BUILD_HARNESS_CONCURRENCY to a positive integer to override the cap; lower values trade speed for fewer simultaneous processes.

Choose the project slug and graph before enumeration. Use --blocks-first unless the request explicitly calls for the HTML-first graph. Keep the same graph flag on the enumeration and create commands.

1. Enumerate the selected graph

Run enumeration as its own tool call. It requires no prompt, makes no model call, and returns JSON on stdout:

SITE_BUILD_LLM=codex-cli php "$SITE_BUILD_HOME/bin/build.php" --list-steps --slug=PROJECT_SLUG --blocks-first

Parse the JSON object. Its graph field identifies the selected graph. Its ordered steps array contains objects with id, label, and members fields. Let M be the number of entries.

A concurrent group is one top-level step. Its composite id is the value to run. Its members array is informational only; never turn those members into separate calls. Calling --step once per member runs the whole group once per member, repeats the complete batched model spend, and overwrites the first run's artifacts.

2. Create the project through the first step

Take the first object in steps. Run the create command as one tool call, using its id as the inclusive stop:

SITE_BUILD_LLM=codex-cli php "$SITE_BUILD_HOME/bin/build.php" "<site prompt>" --slug=PROJECT_SLUG --blocks-first --multi-page --no-serve --until=FIRST_STEP_ID

--multi-page is a creation setting. The create call records it in meta.json, and every later --step call opens that project and inherits the recorded value. Do not repeat --multi-page on per-step calls, and do not add --pages; page selection remains the caller's choice.

--from and --until are inclusive. Matching values therefore run exactly one ordinary step or one complete concurrent group.

After the command exits successfully, report:

step 1 of M: <first step label> — succeeded

3. Run every remaining top-level step

For each remaining object in the ordered steps array, run one new tool call. Do not put these commands inside one shell loop; separate calls are what make progress visible.

SITE_BUILD_LLM=codex-cli php "$SITE_BUILD_HOME/bin/build.php" --slug=PROJECT_SLUG --no-serve --step=STEP_ID

After each successful call, report its position and label:

step N of M: <step label> — succeeded

The transport audit line appears once per CLI invocation. That repetition is intentional: every step call states its transport and billing mode before it spends. After the step completes, its result row reports timing, token use, and the configured model.

4. Stop on the first failure

If any create or step command exits non-zero, do not run later steps. Report step N of M: <label> — failed, include the failed command's output, and preserve the project for resumption.

The project can resume from the failed top-level ID because --from is inclusive:

SITE_BUILD_LLM=codex-cli php "$SITE_BUILD_HOME/bin/build.php" --slug=PROJECT_SLUG --no-serve --from=FAILED_STEP_ID

For a progress-visible resume, enumerate the recorded project again, find FAILED_STEP_ID, and restart the separate --step calls at that entry. Never silently continue after a failure or switch transports.

Spin the finished site up in Studio

Every build command in this Skill passes --no-serve. Preview is one explicit call after the last step, so a half-built project is never booted and no build command blocks waiting to be interrupted.

Studio is the site runner whenever it is installed and answering. Run this as its own tool call once the last step succeeds:

php "$SITE_BUILD_HOME/bin/serve.php" PROJECT_SLUG --runner=studio

This creates the site inside the Studio workspace — $SITE_BUILD_STUDIO_ROOT when that is set, otherwise ~/Studio — as <workspace>/PROJECT_SLUG, installs the generated theme into it, and registers it with Studio so it appears in the Studio app beside hand-made sites. A directory already there is deleted and rebuilt only when site-builder created it under that same slug. Anything else — a hand-made Studio site, a symlink, an unmarked or mismatched directory — is refused, and the command exits telling you to pick a different slug or clear that directory yourself.

--runner=studio is required. Without it an absent Studio silently falls back to Playground, whose server holds the foreground until it is interrupted, and the tool call never returns. With it, an absent Studio exits 1 reporting Studio is not available and nothing starts.

On success the command prints the site URL, the admin URL, and the stop command, then exits. A Studio site is persistent: it keeps running after the command returns. Report the site URL.

Stop it later with:

php "$SITE_BUILD_HOME/bin/serve.php" PROJECT_SLUG --stop

If the command exits 1 because Studio is not available, report that and stop. The generated theme is complete on disk at $SITE_BUILD_HOME/projects/PROJECT_SLUG/theme, and the same command previews it once Studio is installed. Never substitute Playground from this Skill.

Run the whole build in one call

Use the single-shot form only when the caller does not need progress between steps:

SITE_BUILD_LLM=codex-cli php "$SITE_BUILD_HOME/bin/build.php" "<site prompt>" --slug=PROJECT_SLUG --blocks-first --multi-page --no-serve

The ordinary resume and bounded-range forms remain available for non-interactive use:

# Resume an existing project from a selected step through the end.
SITE_BUILD_LLM=codex-cli php "$SITE_BUILD_HOME/bin/build.php" --slug=PROJECT_SLUG --no-serve --from=STEP_ID

# Resume only an inclusive bounded range.
SITE_BUILD_LLM=codex-cli php "$SITE_BUILD_HOME/bin/build.php" --slug=PROJECT_SLUG --no-serve --from=START_STEP_ID --until=STOP_STEP_ID

Replace every uppercase placeholder with the chosen slug or an exact ID from --list-steps. Combine these forms with other documented bin/build.php flags as needed. Keep invoking the CLI through "$SITE_BUILD_HOME/bin/build.php".

Respect harness capabilities

The harness model matrix is authoritative for default and per-step model IDs. Each harness resolves its own provider's model matrix; do not substitute the interactive session model or allow an unpinned harness default.

Every harness transport treats temperature and max_tokens as unsupported. Their use is disclosed and recorded as a degradation.

Claude honors the system option. Codex and Grok cannot honor it, so they disclose and record that degradation.