bk - SKILL.md Agent Skill

name: bk description: Use when checking Buildkite CI/CD builds, investigating failures, viewing job logs, or answering questions about pipeline status. argument-hint: "[build URL | build number | 'latest' | pipeline question]" allowed-tools: - Glob - Read - Grep - Bash(bk build view:) - Bash(bk build list:) - Bash(bk build watch:) - Bash(bk build download:) - Bash(bk job list:) - Bash(bk job log:) - Bash(bk pipeline list:) - Bash(bk pipeline view:) - Bash(bk pipeline validate:) - Bash(bk artifacts list:) - Bash(bk artifacts download:) - Bash(bk whoami:) - Bash(bk config list:) - Bash(bk config get:)

Buildkite CI/CD

Investigate Buildkite builds, diagnose failures, and answer questions about pipeline status.

Arguments

$ARGUMENTS

Constraints

Never assume CLI subcommands or flags. If unsure, run bk <command> --help first.
The bk CLI uses -p for pipeline and -b for branch/build-number. Always check --help for the specific command.
Use --no-timestamps with bk job log for cleaner output.
Use -o json when you need structured data for analysis.

Instructions

1. Parse Input

Determine what the user is asking about:

Build URL (e.g., https://buildkite.com/org/pipeline/builds/123) → extract org, pipeline slug, build number
Build number → use with current repo's pipeline
"latest" or no number → use bk build view without a number (resolves to current branch)
General question → use bk build list or bk job list with appropriate filters

2. Identify Pipeline

If not specified, infer from the current git repo. The bk CLI auto-detects pipeline when inside a repo.

If pipeline is ambiguous or bk can't detect it, use -p <pipeline-slug>.

3. Investigate

For build failures:

bk build view <number> -o json — get build state and job list
Find failed jobs (state: failed, non-zero exit_status)
bk job log <job-id> -p <pipeline> -b <build-number> --no-timestamps — get failure logs
Read from the end of logs — errors are usually at the bottom
For large logs, focus on lines near exit_status, error, failed, or Error

For general status:

bk build list -p <pipeline> — recent builds
bk build view — latest build on current branch
bk job list -p <pipeline> --state failed — recent failures

4. Diagnose

When analyzing failures:

Exit status codes: -1 = agent lost, 255 = forced agent shutdown, 1 = command failure, 17 = docker-compose plugin failure
Docker build failures: Look for failed to solve: messages
Plugin failures: Look for plugin <name> command hook exited with status
Infrastructure: Look for agent timeouts, OOM, disk space issues
Test failures: Look for test framework output (go test, bats, jest, etc.)

5. Report

Provide a concise summary:

Which step(s) failed
Root cause (quote the key error lines)
Suggested fix if apparent

Examples

/bk 91                                    → investigate build 91
/bk https://buildkite.com/your-org/my-pipe/builds/42  → investigate from URL
/bk latest                                → check latest build on current branch
/bk why did this fail                     → latest build, find failures
/bk list failed builds                    → recent failures for current pipeline