Prowl UI

Scope

Use agent-ctrl as the semantic macOS UI surface for an exact Prowl Debug process. Keep the workflow exploratory: choose the shortest interaction that proves the declared behavior, while applying the Prowl-specific constraints below.

This skill is explicit-only. Do not run it merely because Prowl code changed. When called from self-verify-prowl, run the preflight before loading this file so a missing tool or permission becomes a cheap SKIPPED result.

Split responsibility by surface:

• Use prowl-cli for repositories and worktrees as data, tabs, panes, terminal input and output, task state, and agent sessions. Read its skill before writing commands.
• Use agent-ctrl for native windows, Settings, sheets, menus, popovers, sidebar disclosure, and other AppKit or SwiftUI controls.
• Use a PID-scoped screenshot only for visual assertions such as selection appearance, geometry, clipping, or hierarchy.

Do not use Accessibility to type into Ghostty terminal surfaces or infer terminal state from pixels.

Preflight Without Prompting

Run the bundled script before opening an AX session:

.claude/skills/prowl-ui/scripts/preflight.sh

It checks command -v agent-ctrl, requires version 0.1.4 or newer, inspects info --json, and runs doctor --json --quick. Its contract is:

• Exit 0 with {"status":"READY",...} when the macOS AX surface and Accessibility permission are ready.
• Exit 2 with {"status":"SKIPPED",...} when the binary, compatible version, JSON parser, AX surface, or permission is unavailable.

On SKIPPED, stop this UI scenario immediately. Do not install the tool, open System Settings, or enter an LLM-driven UI loop. Installation is a separate user-authorized action.

Pin the Debug Process

Never target Prowl by process name or appearance. The installed and Debug apps are both named ProwlApp and share user data. When using this skill with self-verify-prowl, source its helpers and resolve the DerivedData Debug PID:

. .claude/skills/self-verify-prowl/scripts/helpers.sh
pid="$(debug_pid_with_window)"
test -n "$pid"

session="prowl-ui-$$"
agent-ctrl open ax --session "$session"
agent-ctrl snapshot --target-pid "$pid" --session "$session"

Keep one session for one scenario and always close it:

agent-ctrl close --session "$session"

Window IDs and element refs are ephemeral. Re-run window-list or a PID-scoped snapshot after opening or closing a window. Do not assume window:0, @e0, or any previous ref still identifies the same object.

Observe, Act, Re-observe

For every action:

1. Take a fresh snapshot pinned to the Debug PID or its already-discovered window.
2. Resolve the narrowest semantic target with find, or inspect the tree when the useful target is a parent cell.
3. Perform exactly one action.
4. Wait for a concrete result or disappearance when possible.
5. Take another snapshot and assert the resulting label, role, state, value, title, or CLI state.

Typical commands use this argument order:

ref="$(agent-ctrl find "Canvas" --role button --exact --first --session "$session")"
agent-ctrl click "$ref" --session "$session"
agent-ctrl wait-for "Arrange" --role button --session "$session"
agent-ctrl snapshot --session "$session"
arrange_ref="$(agent-ctrl find "Arrange" --role button --exact --first --session "$session")"
agent-ctrl get name "$arrange_ref" --session "$session"

An action response such as ok method=ax-press, ax-value, or cg-event is delivery telemetry, not evidence that Prowl changed state. Never report PASS from the action response alone. If delivery is uncertain, observe before considering a retry.

Use refs only from the latest snapshot. find searches the cached snapshot; it does not walk the UI itself. Structural containers — the window root, toolbars, dialog and sheet roots, and popover containers — carry scope-only refs (@sN in CLI output, scope_N in JSON). Use them with find --in, get, and is to bound a search to one surface; actions on a scope ref are rejected by design, so act on an @eN element ref resolved inside the scope. For negative scroll deltas, terminate option parsing explicitly, for example:

agent-ctrl scroll --ref "$ref" --session "$session" -- 0 -600

Prowl Main Window Knowledge

View Modes

The top-level Default, Canvas, and Shelf controls are buttons with identifiers sidebar-view-mode-default, sidebar-view-mode-canvas, and sidebar-view-mode-shelf. The active button exposes selected state. After switching, assert that exactly one of the three is selected and that it is the requested mode. Canvas also has distinctive descendants such as Canvas navigation help, Arrange, Organize, and Tile; use those as secondary evidence when relevant.

Active Agents

Collapse and expansion are reliably observable through the footer control:

• Expanded state exposes Hide Active Agents.
• Collapsed state exposes Show Active Agents.

Assert the label flip after each click. Do not infer collapse solely from the continued presence or absence of the Active Agents region.

Repository and Worktree Selection

Repository and worktree text regions can return a successful AX press without changing selection. After a selection attempt, query the dedicated Debug socket with prowl list --json and compare the focused worktree or pane.

If semantic delivery did not change the CLI state:

1. Re-snapshot and prefer the containing row or cell over its text region when one exists.
2. Check the target bounds against the root window bounds. Nodes below or above the viewport may still claim visible=true.
3. If the row is on-screen and has no actionable semantic parent, use one physical click at the center of its fresh bounds.
4. Query prowl list --json again. Do not repeat the click if the result is still ambiguous.

Never hardcode repository names, worktree labels, refs, or screen coordinates.

Toolbar, Popovers, and Menus

The Agents toolbar menu has accessibility identifier agents-toolbar-menu; the adjacent quick-launch control uses agents-toolbar-quick-launch. Opening Agents produces a named container with identifier agents-toolbar-popover inside a nested dialog; it may not appear as a sibling in window-list. Do not activate a profile merely to test the popover.

Menus can appear more than once in the AX tree even though only one menu is visible. Treat duplicate menu-item nodes as one surface. Close a menu with its toggle when that changes state; otherwise use one safe outside click and verify the expected menu item is gone.

Prowl Settings Knowledge

Settings uses a SwiftUI List(selection:) exposed as tree "Sidebar". Each navigation item is typically shaped like:

cell
  region "Notifications"

Click the cell, not the named text or region. find "Notifications" usually returns the region, so inspect its parent in the fresh snapshot and click that cell ref. The cell action may legitimately fall back from AXPress to a physical event.

After navigation, assert both the selected row and a detail-specific heading or window title. Important title differences include:

• The Commands row opens a window titled Global Commands.
• Repository rows open repository-specific settings whose headings include Display, Worktree, Agents, and scripts.

Repository rows can be present in the AX tree while outside the window. Before clicking one, compare its bounds to the Settings window, scroll over a currently visible sidebar cell, then re-snapshot. Use a bounded scroll, observe its direction, and adjust once rather than assuming visible=true or trusting a scroll success response.

Opening Settings can reorder or replace the session's top-level window IDs, and AXRaise may be unsupported even when the correct window is already readable. Re-discover the window, verify its title and PID, and continue from the snapshot instead of treating a focus failure as proof that the window is inaccessible.

Sheets and Editable Controls

Add... opens a named container with identifier add-to-prowl-popover inside the in-window Add to Prowl dialog. Browse… opens an NSOpenPanel sheet that remains embedded in the main window's AX tree; it may not appear as another entry in window-list. Resolve the active surface with find --role dialog — dialog and sheet roots carry scope-only refs — then scope common-control lookups such as Cancel or Open with find --in @sN instead of searching the whole window tree. Cancelling a nested NSOpenPanel can also dismiss the popover that opened it, so re-run find --role dialog to confirm which surfaces remain before further cleanup.

Prefer fill on a fresh editable ref for safe text-entry checks. Keyboard press can fail with AXRaise on sheets or Settings. Native search fields can temporarily replace the snapshot root with a suggestions menu and may never become structurally stable, so wait for a concrete control or value instead of relying on wait-for --stable.

Never add a repository, clone, launch an agent profile, archive a worktree, run a command, or persist a setting unless the scenario explicitly requires that mutation and defines cleanup. Opening and cancelling a surface is sufficient for generic control verification.

Evolve the Verification Surface

Treat friction during a real run as feedback to classify after first restoring the scenario to a known state. Distinguish:

1. A Prowl accessibility metadata gap.
2. An agent-ctrl discovery, scoping, or delivery limitation.
3. A macOS permission, focus, timing, or framework limitation.

Treat an explicit invocation of this skill as permission for a narrow Prowl-local accessibility metadata repair unless the parent request is read-only or explicitly forbids edits. Do not infer permission for functional UI changes, dependency installation, commits, pushes, or external reports.

Make a Prowl repair autonomously only when all of these are true:

• Fresh snapshots from the exact Debug PID reproduce the missing or incorrect semantic state.
• The source makes the intended label, value, selection, role, or control identity unambiguous.
• The fix is limited to stable accessibilityIdentifier, label, value, trait, action, or container metadata.
• The fix does not change layout, control type, focus behavior, window lifecycle, persisted data, or the user-visible action.
• The same scenario can prove the improvement directly after a rebuild and relaunch.

Use stable, nonlocalized identifiers based on product meaning, not display text, indexes, repository names, refs, or runtime data. Keep VoiceOver semantics truthful: do not mark a semitransient popover as modal, add selected state to a momentary button, or collapse useful children merely to make an automation tree smaller.

For a high-confidence gap:

1. Preserve the before snapshot or exact failed assertion.
2. Make the smallest metadata-only source change.
3. Build and relaunch the isolated Debug app.
4. Repeat the same interaction and capture after evidence.
5. Re-check VoiceOver-oriented structure as well as agent-ctrl output.
6. Update this skill only when the new behavior or workaround is durable, Prowl-specific, and verified. Edit the relevant rule instead of appending a chronological field note, then validate the skill.

If ownership or semantics remain uncertain, do not patch. Finish the requested verification, reduce the affected assertion to INCONCLUSIVE when necessary, and report the evidence plus the smallest recommended Prowl or upstream experiment.

Always add a concise UI Evolution section to the final report:

• Friction — what was difficult, or None.
• Ownership — Prowl, agent-ctrl, macOS, or Unclear.
• Confidence — High, Medium, or Low, with the decisive evidence.
• Change — source and skill edits made, or None.
• Before / After — direct semantic evidence when a repair was made.
• Follow-up — unresolved recommendation, or None.

Evidence and Outcome

Prefer direct semantic evidence: a fresh tree fragment, a field value, a window title, or matching prowl JSON before and after. Use agent-ctrl screenshot --session "$session" only when pixels are part of the declared assertion.

Classify each scenario as PASS, FAIL, SKIPPED, or INCONCLUSIVE. Include the exact Debug PID, agent-ctrl version, assertions and evidence, any physical fallback, restored state, and session cleanup. A partial semantic surface must reduce confidence; it must not silently become a visual pass.