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create-subcommand

Add a new CLI subcommand to an agent binary (agent, cluster-agent, etc.)

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SKILL.md
Quality
Evals
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Add a new CLI subcommand to a Datadog Agent binary. Each agent binary uses Cobra commands registered via a central subcommands.go file.

Agent Binaries

AgentSubcommands dirRegistration file
Core Agentcmd/agent/subcommands/cmd/agent/subcommands/subcommands.go
Cluster Agentcmd/cluster-agent/subcommands/cmd/cluster-agent/subcommands/subcommands.go
Process Agentcmd/process-agent/subcommands/cmd/process-agent/subcommands/subcommands.go
Security Agentcmd/security-agent/subcommands/cmd/security-agent/subcommands/subcommands.go
System Probecmd/system-probe/subcommands/cmd/system-probe/subcommands/subcommands.go
DogStatsDcmd/dogstatsd/subcommands/cmd/dogstatsd/subcommands/subcommands.go

Instructions

Step 1: Gather information from the user

Use AskUserQuestion to collect the following. If $ARGUMENTS provides values, skip those questions.

  1. Target agent: Which agent binary? (Core Agent is most common)
  2. Subcommand name: e.g. health, hostname, flare
  3. Description: What does the subcommand do?
  4. Complexity: Simple (no Fx, e.g. version) or with config/IPC (fxutil.OneShot, e.g. hostname)?
  5. Shared across agents?: Yes → pkg/cli/subcommands/<name>/, No → cmd/<agent>/subcommands/<name>/

Step 2: Read reference examples

Read the reference matching the chosen pattern, plus the target agent's registration file:

PatternReference file
Simple (no Fx)cmd/agent/subcommands/version/command.go
With config/IPCcmd/agent/subcommands/hostname/command.go
Shared across agentspkg/cli/subcommands/health/command.go + cmd/agent/subcommands/health/command.go

Also read the target agent's command/command.go for available GlobalParams fields.

Step 3: Create the subcommand

Create cmd/<agent>/subcommands/<name>/command.go following the reference patterns exactly.

Step 4: Register

Edit the agent's subcommands.go: add an import with the cmd<Name> alias convention and add cmd<Name>.Commands to the factory slice. Follow the existing entries.

Step 5: Verify

  1. Build: dda inv agent.build --build-exclude=systemd
  2. Test: ./bin/agent/agent <name> --help
  3. Lint: dda inv linter.go

Usage

  • /create-subcommand — Interactive: prompts for all details
  • /create-subcommand agent my-command — Pre-fills agent and name
Repository
DataDog/datadog-agent
Commit

0f36ad4

Last updated
Created

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