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The CLI ships with adapters for seven AI agents. Each adapter knows where that host stores its MCP configuration and what format it expects.
AgentDetectionMCP configSkill file
Claude Code~/.claude/ exists~/.claude/mcp.json~/.claude/skills/xysq/SKILL.md
Claude DesktopOS-specific app dir existsclaude_desktop_config.json— (MCP-only host)
Cursor~/.cursor/ exists~/.cursor/mcp.json~/.cursor/rules/xysq.mdc or ~/.cursorrules
Codex~/.codex/ exists~/.codex/config.toml~/.codex/AGENTS.md
Gemini CLIgemini binary on PATH~/.gemini/settings.json~/.gemini/GEMINI.md
Copilot CLIgh-copilot binary on PATH~/.copilot/config.json~/.copilot/AGENTS.md
Antigravity~/.gemini/antigravity/ exists~/.gemini/antigravity/mcp_config.json— (MCP-only host)

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Detection

Detection runs in parallel across every adapter. Each adapter reports installed: true | false based on a single host-specific signal. The CLI uses two kinds of signal:
  • Directory presence — for agents whose presence on the system maps reliably to a known directory (~/.claude, ~/.cursor, ~/.codex).
  • Binary on PATH — for agents whose config directories are commonly created by other tools (e.g., ~/.gemini is shared with Antigravity and Google Cloud SDK). For these we check the actual CLI binary instead.
If you want to install for an agent the CLI didn’t auto-detect, pass it explicitly: 
xysq install codex                    # force-install even if codex isn't on PATH

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Claude Code

  • Detection: ~/.claude/ directory exists.
  • MCP config: ~/.claude/mcp.json, JSON, under mcpServers.xysq.
  • Skill: ~/.claude/skills/xysq/SKILL.md — its own directory, clean overwrite on install, clean delete on uninstall.
The MCP entry shape is the canonical type: "http" MCP server format with the API key inlined in the Authorization header.

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Claude Desktop

  • Detection:
    • macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/
    • Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\
    • Linux: ~/.config/Claude/
  • MCP config: claude_desktop_config.json in that directory.
  • Skill: none — Claude Desktop has no skill surface. MCP-only.

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Cursor

  • Detection: ~/.cursor/ directory exists.
  • MCP config: ~/.cursor/mcp.json, JSON.
  • Skill (dual-path):
    • Modern (Cursor 0.40+): ~/.cursor/rules/xysq.mdc — own file, clean overwrite.
    • Legacy: ~/.cursorrules — delimited-block merge that preserves your other rules.
The adapter picks the modern path if ~/.cursor/rules/ exists at install time; otherwise it merges into .cursorrules.

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Codex

  • Detection: ~/.codex/ directory exists.
  • MCP config: ~/.codex/config.toml, TOML, under the [mcp_servers.xysq] table.
  • Skill: ~/.codex/AGENTS.md — delimited-block merge.
Note: TOML round-tripping is best-effort. Comments around [mcp_servers] may not survive exactly. If you’ve heavily customized that section, run xysq doctor after install to verify.

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Gemini CLI

  • Detection: the gemini binary is on PATH. Directory presence alone is not enough (~/.gemini/ is shared with Antigravity and other Google tooling).
  • MCP config: ~/.gemini/settings.json, JSON.
  • Skill: ~/.gemini/GEMINI.md — delimited-block merge.
If Gemini CLI is installed but doesn’t show up in xysq install, confirm which gemini returns a path.

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Copilot CLI

  • Detection: the gh-copilot binary is on PATH. (Copilot CLI ships as a gh extension and registers this binary.)
  • MCP config: ~/.copilot/config.json, JSON.
  • Skill: ~/.copilot/AGENTS.md — delimited-block merge.
If Copilot CLI is installed but doesn’t show up, the gh-copilot extension may not be active. Run gh extension list to confirm.

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Antigravity

  • Detection: ~/.gemini/antigravity/ directory exists.
  • MCP config: ~/.gemini/antigravity/mcp_config.json, JSON. Note that Antigravity uses serverUrl (not url) as the field name inside each server entry.
  • Skill: none — Antigravity reads system prompts differently. MCP-only.

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Merge semantics for shared host files

Three agents share their skill location with content the user may have authored: Codex’s AGENTS.md, Gemini CLI’s GEMINI.md, and Cursor’s legacy .cursorrules. The CLI wraps xysq’s contribution in delimiters so it can be cleanly replaced or removed: 
<existing user content above>

<!-- xysq:start version=8 -->
… skill content from /skill/download …
<!-- xysq:end -->

<existing user content below>
  • On install: the block is replaced in place if it exists, or appended at the end with one blank-line separator.
  • On uninstall: the block is removed; everything outside is preserved byte-for-byte.
  • If you edit the contents inside the block, doctor reports drift and update-skills refuses to overwrite without --force.

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Backups

The first time the CLI modifies any config file in its history, it copies the original to ~/.xysq/backups/<agent>-<timestamp>.bak. The last 5 per agent are retained. To restore from backup, copy the file back manually — there’s no dedicated restore command in v1.