Amp Setup Guide — synthetic-mind

What is Amp?

Amp is an AI coding agent that lives in your terminal (or VS Code). Out of the box it can read/write files, run shell commands, and search code. Skills are plug-in instruction sets that teach Amp how to use specific tools — Slack, Gmail, Google Calendar, Linear, Snowflake, and more — so it can perform complex, multi-step tasks on your behalf.

Think of skills as "recipes" that give Amp the know-how to operate tools you already use daily. With the right skills installed, Amp becomes a command center for your entire workflow — not just coding.

Amp as Your Command Center

Start of Day

Just type "start my day" and Amp will:

Slack — Surface unread messages and thread replies, with options to reply inline
Gmail — Triage your inbox, draft replies, flag items for follow-up
Google Calendar — Show today's schedule, flag conflicts, let you accept/decline
Linear — Show issues assigned to you, upcoming due dates
Notion — Surface pages with new comments or mentions

All presented in your terminal with action options — no context switching.

Throughout the Day

Instead of...	Just tell Amp...
Opening Slack, finding a channel	"search Slack for checkout updates this week"
Switching to Linear, creating an issue	"create a Linear issue for the login bug, assign to me"
Opening Google Docs, formatting a PRD	"write a PRD from these notes about onboarding improvements"
Navigating to Snowflake, writing SQL	"what's the conversion rate for last month?"
Opening Looker dashboards	"run Looker dashboard 1234 and summarize the key metrics"

Multi-Step Workflows

Amp shines when chaining tools together in a single prompt:

"Find the latest Slack discussion about tipping, summarize it, and create a Linear issue"
"Check my calendar for conflicts tomorrow and decline the overlapping ones"
"Search feedback about checkout speed, create a Google Doc with findings, and share it with the team"

How Skills Work

You ask — e.g., "search Slack for mentions of feature X this week"
Amp loads the matching skill — automatically with auto-pilot, or manually
The skill provides instructions — tells Amp which CLI tools to call, auth flows, output format
Amp executes — runs commands, processes results, returns them to you

Skills are just markdown files (SKILL.md) stored in ~/.agents/skills/. They don't contain secrets — your API tokens stay in separate credential files.

Prerequisites

Tool	Install
Amp CLI	Install and authenticate via ampcode.com
GitHub CLI	`brew install gh` then `gh auth login`
uv (for gdrive, gcal skills)	`curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh \| sh`

Installing Skills

Skills live in GitHub repositories. Install them with:

amp skill add <repo>/<skill-name>

For example:

# Install a single skill
amp skill add my-org/agent-skills/slack

# Install with overwrite (for updates)
amp skill add my-org/agent-skills/slack --overwrite

Bulk Install Script

#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -euo pipefail

REPO="your-org/your-skills-repo"
SKILLS=(
  slack gcal gdrive linear notion
  snowflake auto-pilot rpi rpi-research
  rpi-plan rpi-implement
)

echo "📦 Installing ${#SKILLS[@]} skills from $REPO..."
for skill in "${SKILLS[@]}"; do
  printf "  %-40s" "$skill"
  if amp skill add "$REPO/$skill" --overwrite 2>/dev/null; then
    echo "✓"
  else
    echo "✗"
  fi
done
echo "✅ Done! Run 'amp skill list' to verify."

First-Time Authentication

After installing, some skills need one-time auth:

Tool	Auth command
Google Drive / Calendar	`cd ~/.agents/skills/gdrive && uv run gdrive-cli.py auth login`
Slack	Automatic on first use (opens browser)
Snowflake	Uses Okta SSO
Linear	Enable the Linear MCP in Amp settings
GitHub	`gh auth login`
Notion	Enable the Notion MCP in Amp settings

Creating Your Own Skills

# Scaffold a new skill
amp skill create my-skill-name

Or just create a SKILL.md file in ~/.agents/skills/my-skill-name/. Look at existing skills for examples of structure and conventions.

Updating & Removing Skills

# Re-run install with --overwrite
amp skill add my-org/skills/slack --overwrite

# Remove a skill
amp skill remove slack

Tips for Getting the Most Out of Amp

💬 Just Ask Naturally

If you have auto-pilot installed, you don't need to remember skill names:

❌ "Use the slack skill to search for messages about the release"
✅ "Search Slack for release updates this week"

🔬 Use RPI for Big Tasks

For complex, multi-step work (refactors, new features, migrations), use the RPI framework:

Research — understand the existing code and systems
Plan — create a phased plan with success criteria
Implement — execute one phase at a time

Each phase runs in its own session so context stays fresh.

🧠 Let Amp Remember

With amp-mem, Amp remembers context across sessions — workflows you've established, decisions made, people and team structures, and tool configurations. You teach it once, and it remembers forever.

⚙️ Configure AGENTS.md

Your ~/AGENTS.md file is the master configuration. It tells Amp your identity, preferences, and automated behaviors (like running start-of-day on session start). Treat it as your personal operating system for Amp.

FAQ

Do skills have access to my passwords?

No. Skills are just markdown files. Credentials are stored separately.

Can I create my own skills?

Yes! Run amp skill create my-skill-name or look at existing skills in ~/.agents/skills/.

How do I update skills?

Re-run the install command with --overwrite.

How do I remove a skill?

amp skill remove <skill-name>