Octomind 0.25.0 adds declarative auto-activation rules for skills

Octomind 0.25.0, authored by Ava Nuts, introduces a declarative activation system for skills — the release's biggest change since the skill system was originally introduced. Previously (in 0.24.0), skills were opt-in via the `/skill` command, meaning users often spent the first several messages of a session manually bootstrapping context. The new `rules:` field in skill definitions lets each skill declare exactly when it should activate, using a set of in-process checks evaluated on every user message.

The rule syntax supports OR-groups (one rule per line) and AND-groups (space-separated checks within a line).

The rule syntax supports OR-groups (one rule per line) and AND-groups (space-separated checks within a line). Available check types include `file()` for file or glob existence, `content()` for word-boundary matches in the user's message, `grep()` for file content searches respecting `.gitignore`, `env()` for environment variable presence, `match()` for regex matches, `bin()` for PATH executable checks, `session()` for session name patterns, and `workdir()` for working directory path matches. A `domains:` field further scopes auto-activation to specific agent roles — for example, a skill with `domains: developer` won't activate when a writing agent is in use, preventing skill spam.

For cases where skills should be active from the very first message, the `OCTOMIND_SKILLS` environment variable preloads named skills during session startup. Octomind also reads `.env` files from the working directory automatically, enabling per-project skill and configuration setups without manual intervention. Manual skill management via `/skill` commands remains available for overrides.

Key facts

1. 01Octomind 0.25.0 replaces manual `/skill` loading with a declarative `rules:` field in skill definitions.
2. 02Rule types include `file()`, `content()`, `bin()`, `env()`, `grep()`, `match()`, `session()`, and `workdir()` checks.
3. 03Rules use OR-group logic per line and AND-group logic for space-separated checks within a line.
4. 04All rules are evaluated in-process on every user message — no subprocess spawning or network calls.
5. 05The `domains:` field scopes auto-activation to specific agent roles, preventing irrelevant skills from loading.
6. 06The `OCTOMIND_SKILLS` environment variable preloads skills before the first message, useful for CI environments.
7. 07Octomind automatically reads `.env` files from the working directory for per-project configuration.

Topics