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feat(cli): improve provider discoverability for agents and developers #2549
Description
Problem Statement
AI agents building OpenShell workflows cannot discover the provider credential-hiding path. The provider system is powerful but invisible — agents take the path of least resistance (--env) because --provider requires multi-step setup knowledge that isn't in their context.
Human developers face the same problem: the CLI help for sandbox create doesn't prioritize --provider over --env for credentials, error messages don't suggest providers when connections fail, and there's no command to bridge from "I have these env vars" to "here are the providers I should use."
Proposed Design
1. openshell provider suggest command
New subcommand that matches env var names to built-in profile credential declarations:
$ openshell provider suggest --env JIRA_API_TOKEN=... --env MLFLOW_TRACKING_TOKEN=...
Suggested providers:
JIRA_API_TOKEN → jira (built-in profile)
MLFLOW_TRACKING_TOKEN → mlflow (built-in profile)
To set up:
openshell provider create --name my-jira --type jira --credential JIRA_API_TOKEN
openshell provider create --name my-mlflow --type mlflow --credential MLFLOW_TRACKING_TOKENThis gives agents a direct command to discover the right path without reading docs.
2. Updated CLI help text
Reorder openshell sandbox create --help to recommend --provider before --env for credentials. Currently --env appears without context about its security implications.
3. Connection failure hints
When a sandbox connection to a host fails and that host matches a built-in profile's endpoint, include a hint in the error message suggesting the matching profile.
Dependencies
- Depends on feat(providers): ship built-in Jira and MLflow provider profiles #2547 (built-in Jira/MLflow profiles) —
provider suggestneeds profiles to match against - Better experience with feat(cli): warn when --env values look like credentials #2548 (CLI credential warnings) — complementary discoverability mechanisms
- Better experience with feat(providers): enable providers v2 by default #2545 (providers v2 default-on) — suggested provider path works without extra setup
Motivation
In opendatahub-io/agent-ops#7, the AI agent building the demo workflow did not know about providers v2. It passed all credentials as --env because that path is obvious and immediately works. provider suggest would have bridged the gap.
Agent Investigation
- Built-in profile credential env var names available via
builtin_profiles()incrates/openshell-providers/src/profiles.rs openshell provider list-profilesalready exists —suggestwould add env-var-to-profile matching- CLI help templates in
crates/openshell-cli/src/main.rs(PROVIDER_EXAMPLES, sandbox create help)
Checklist
- Searched for existing issues — no issue tracks provider discoverability for agents
- Design includes three complementary discoverability mechanisms
Activity
krishicks commentedon Aug 3, 2026
I'm unsure about adding
provider suggestas a command, because that then assumes the agent (or human) will know to use that command. It's commonly the case that agents will run a command with--helpto figure out how to use them, though, and that may be the vector for discovering--envthat we want to update. I think a simple solution now is to update the docs for both--providerand--envto make their usage more clear.Do you think #2603 is sufficient for now?
github-actions commentedon Aug 18, 2026
This issue has had no activity for 14 days and is now marked stale. It may be closed in 7 days if there is no further activity. Comment or remove the state:stale label to keep it open.
github-actions commentedon Oct 13, 2026
Closing this issue after 14 days with no activity since it was marked stale. Reopen it if the work is still relevant.