Resource library and skills

The Library is where you find ready-made materials for your agents and add them to a project. A skill is written know-how that agents follow, such as how to write commit messages. Once you turn a skill on, every session in that project works that way.

A few words you'll see:

• Resource: anything in the Library. There are four kinds (below).
• Install: copy a resource's files into your project folder. Nothing is run.
• Marketplace: the shared shelf of resources made by Granular and by other people, reviewed before they appear.

The four kinds

A design system (a set of colours, fonts and layout rules) or a template (a starting point for a page or app) is a Package.

Before you start

• Open the project you want to add resources to. Resources are added per project.
• Browsing the Marketplace tab needs an internet connection.
• You don't need a Granular account to install anything. You need one only to publish your own.

Browse the Library

1. Click the book icon near the bottom of the project rail (Library). You can also open the command palette (⌘K on a Mac, Ctrl+K on Windows) and choose Open the library….
2. Check Installing into at the top right. It shows which project resources will go into. Click it to pick another project.
3. Use the tabs:
   • Marketplace: everything available, from Granular and from other creators.
   • Installed: what's already in the project shown under Installing into.
   • Yours: resources you've made yourself.
4. Narrow the list with the kind filters (Skills, Packages, Sessions, Prompts), the tags, or the search box.
5. Click a card to see its detail page: what it does, who made it, its version, a preview if it has one, and the files inside.

Add a resource

Turn on a skill

1. Find the skill and click Enable.

Granular says "<name> enabled. Sessions in this project now follow it." The button changes to Enabled.

Install a package

1. Find the package and click Install.

Granular says "<name> installed. Sessions in this project now build with it." The button changes to Installed. Some packages then start a short guided session to set themselves up with you.

A brain installs differently: it goes into a brain folder instead. See Digital brain.

Start a guided session

1. Click Start Session.

A new session opens and the agent starts leading you through it. Some guided sessions copy their files in first by themselves. Others ask you to install them before starting (see Troubleshooting).

Use a prompt

1. Open the session you want to use it in.
2. In the Library, click Use prompt.

The prompt appears in your message box: "Prompt dropped into your message box - tweak it and send." Edit it if you like, then send. Or click Copy to paste it somewhere yourself.

Skills that come from GitHub

Some skills on the Marketplace live in a public GitHub project (a "repository", where people share code and files) rather than with Granular. Their detail page has a View on GitHub link.

You install them the same way, with Enable. Granular then:

• downloads the skill's files straight from GitHub, at the exact version the Marketplace lists, so you get the version that was checked, not whatever the repository holds today
• takes only the skill's own files, not the rest of the repository
• shows progress on the card for larger skills, for example Installing… 120/314 or Installing… 45%
• adds a line to a skills-lock.json file in your project folder, recording where the skill came from and which version. Removing the skill removes its line.

Nothing from GitHub is run. Granular refuses a skill that contains shortcut files (symlinks) or links to other repositories, or that has an unsafe file path.

A skill can bring up to 500 files and 25 MB. A bigger one isn't installed, and the message links to it on GitHub so you can still read it there.

What you'll see

Skills and packages are copied into a folder called granular-resources inside your project, one folder per resource. Each has a guide file that tells agents how to use it.

Every session in the project is instructed to check that folder and read each resource's guide before building anything, and to treat the rules in it as binding. You don't need to mention the resource in your message, although you can ("Use the Launch Page package for this").

Installing only copies files. Nothing in a resource runs on its own when you install it.

Update a resource

When a newer version of a marketplace resource you've installed is published, its card shows Update, and its detail page says Update available with the old and new version numbers.

1. Open the resource's detail page.
2. Click Update.

Granular says "<name> updated to v<version>."

Updating replaces the installed copy completely. If you changed files inside that resource's folder, those changes are replaced. Copy them somewhere else first if you want to keep them.

Remove a resource

• A skill: click Enabled to turn it off. Granular says "<name> turned off."
• A package: hover Installed so it reads Uninstall, click it, then click Confirm uninstall. Granular says "<name> uninstalled."

Removing deletes the resource's folder from granular-resources. Files you edited are kept, and Granular tells you which, for example "Kept 1 file(s) you edited: …". Nothing outside that folder is touched, so work you made with the resource stays, and a brain is never removed this way.

Share your own resources

Anything you make starts Private, only on your computer, in the Yours tab.

Make one

On the Yours tab:

• Click Create a resource. A session starts and the agent looks through your project for things worth packaging, asks a few questions, and builds it with you.
• Or click Import folder and pick a folder you already have. Granular copies it in as a new private resource.

Open one of yours to Edit its name, description, tags and icon. The ⋯ (More actions) menu has Post to GitHub (the agent puts it in its own GitHub repository for you) and Delete.

Publish it to the Marketplace

1. At the foot of the Library's left column, sign in to your Granular account (Sign in to publish) and set up a creator profile (Become a creator). Each new creator is checked by a person first.
2. On your resource's card in Yours, click Publish.
3. Click Publish for review.

The card shows Submitted. A person reviews every new resource, and it appears on the Marketplace only once approved. While it's waiting you can click Withdraw to pull it back to Private.

Once it's live:

• Update listing sends your latest version. Updates to a live resource go live right away (Publish update, then Live ✓).
• ⋯, then Unpublish, takes it off the Marketplace for everyone. Copies people already installed stay. Publishing again goes back through review.
• A live resource can't be deleted until you unpublish it.

For how creators are paid, see Become a creator.

Limits

• Plans: there's no plan limit on installing or publishing. The Free plan and Pro can both use the whole Library.
• Cost: installing is free in the app. There's no way to buy a resource in the app today.
• Per project: a resource installed in one project isn't in your others. Use Installing into to add it to each.
• Online: the Marketplace tab needs an internet connection. Resources you've already installed stay in your project and don't need the Marketplace.
• Size: a very large marketplace resource can be refused with "This resource is too large to install."

Troubleshooting

If you see "Couldn't reach the marketplace. Check your connection - resources will appear when you're back online.", check you're online, then close and reopen the Library.

If you see "The marketplace hit a problem on our side - your connection is fine.", the problem is Granular's. Wait a moment, then close and reopen the Library.

If you see "This project has no home folder to install into.", open Project settings and set a Home folder. See Sessions and projects.

If you see "Already installed in this project.", it's already there. Check the Installed tab.

If you see "That resource is no longer in the community catalog.", the creator or Granular took it down. Anything you already installed stays in your project.

If you see "Install <name> first - its guided session lives in its files.", click Install on that resource, then Start Session.

If you see "Open a session first, then use the prompt.", click into a session, then click Use prompt again.

If you see "Couldn't reach GitHub - try again in a moment.", the skill comes from GitHub and GitHub didn't answer. Check you're online and try again.

If you see "GitHub is limiting requests right now - try again in a few minutes.", GitHub limits how often one computer can download from it. Wait a few minutes, then try again.

If you see "This skill's repository or version is no longer available on GitHub.", its maker moved or deleted it. It can't be installed until the Marketplace listing is updated.

If you see "… is too large to install" or "… has too many files to install", the skill is over the limit. Follow the GitHub link in the message to read it there.

If you see "The project's skills-lock.json isn't valid JSON" or "isn't in the expected format", that file in your project folder was damaged, often by a manual edit. Fix it or delete it, then try again. Granular never overwrites a damaged one.

If a resource installed into the wrong project, uninstall it there, switch Installing into to the right project, and install again.

If the agent isn't following a skill, check the skill shows Enabled for this project (look at Installing into), then remind it: "Read the resources in granular-resources before you start."

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