Bootstrap Existing Agent With Prefactor CLI

Set up Prefactor resources for an already-working agent before instrumentation code changes.

Core principle: provision first, instrument second.

Coding Assistant Usage

Apply this skill first when the user asks to:

"set up Prefactor for this existing agent"
"create Prefactor environment/agent/instance"
"use CLI to bootstrap Prefactor"
"prepare IDs and env vars before instrumentation"

After this skill completes:

If provider is supported, continue with

skills/instrument-existing-agent-with-prefactor-sdk/SKILL.md

If provider is unsupported, continue with

skills/create-provider-package-with-core/SKILL.md

Return a copy/paste block with exported env vars and the selected package.

Inputs You Need

Prefactor API token (for CLI profile)
Base URL (optional, defaults to Prefactor cloud)
Account ID
Target provider/framework (
```
langchain
```
,
```
ai
```
,
```
openclaw
```
, or custom)
Human-readable names for environment and agent
Working directory to store config (recommended: repo root)

CLI Workflow

Before running CLI commands, choose package first, then install required Prefactor package(s).

Use whichever package manager the project already uses (
```
bun
```
,
```
npm
```
,
```
pnpm
```
, or
```
yarn
```
).
Install
```
@prefactor/cli
```
for bootstrap commands.

prefactor

command requirement:

The
```
prefactor
```
command comes from the npm package
```
@prefactor/cli
```
.
If the command is not globally available, run it via the package manager launcher (
```
bunx @prefactor/cli
```
,
```
npx @prefactor/cli
```
,
```
pnpm dlx @prefactor/cli
```
, or
```
yarn dlx @prefactor/cli
```
).
Use
```
prefactor help
```
or
```
prefactor <group> help
```
for command details.

Examples:

bash

# bun
bun add @prefactor/cli

# npm
npm install @prefactor/cli

# pnpm
pnpm add @prefactor/cli

# yarn
yarn add @prefactor/cli

Run these in order:

bash

prefactor profiles add default [base-url] --api-token <api-token>
prefactor accounts list
prefactor environments create --name <env-name> --account_id <account-id>
prefactor agents create --name <agent-name> --environment_id <environment-id>
prefactor agent_instances register \
  --agent_id <agent-id> \
  --agent_version_external_identifier <agent-version-id> \
  --agent_version_name <agent-version-name> \
  --agent_schema_version_external_identifier <schema-version-id> \
  --update_current_version

Profile notes:

```
<profile-name>
```
is any key like
```
default
```
,
```
staging
```
, or
```
prod
```
.
Select profile with
```
--profile <name>
```
.
When using launchers, prefix commands consistently (for example
```
npx @prefactor/cli profiles add ...
```
).

Config resolution notes:

CLI config resolution order is:
1. ```
./prefactor.json
```
2. ```
~/.prefactor/prefactor.json
```
3. if none exists, profile creation writes
```
./prefactor.json
```
Global CLI install does not make config global; command working directory still controls which config file is used.

Collect and persist these IDs from command output:

```
environment_id
```
```
agent_id
```
```
agent_instance_id
```

Package Selection

Choose package by provider:

LangChain ->
```
@prefactor/langchain
```
AI SDK ->
```
@prefactor/ai
```
OpenClaw ->
```
@prefactor/openclaw
```

Custom/unsupported provider -> use

skills/create-provider-package-with-core/SKILL.md

If you have identified and selected an existing package, use

skills/instrument-existing-agent-with-prefactor-sdk/SKILL.md

Runtime Environment Variables

Produce this output for the user after setup:

bash

export PREFACTOR_API_URL="<api-url>"
export PREFACTOR_API_TOKEN="<api-token>"
export PREFACTOR_AGENT_ID="<agent-id>"

Use the created

agent_id

for

PREFACTOR_AGENT_ID

Verification

Confirm CLI commands succeeded without HTTP/auth errors.
Confirm IDs were returned and captured.
Confirm package selection matches provider.
Confirm env vars match created resources.

Confirm

prefactor.json

is ignored by git (

git check-ignore prefactor.json

git status --short

Common Mistakes

Instrumenting code before creating Prefactor resources.
Using account ID where environment ID is required.
Forgetting to propagate created
```
agent_id
```
to
```
PREFACTOR_AGENT_ID
```
.
Picking
```
@prefactor/core
```
directly when a built-in adapter exists.
Running commands from the wrong directory and reading/writing the wrong
```
prefactor.json
```
.
Committing
```
prefactor.json
```
(contains API tokens).

bootstrap-existing-agent-with-prefactor-cli

NPX Install

Tags

SKILL.md Content

Bootstrap Existing Agent With Prefactor CLI

Coding Assistant Usage

Inputs You Need

CLI Workflow

Package Selection

Runtime Environment Variables

Verification

Common Mistakes