Using AI Coding Assistants with Appliku
Appliku provides a machine-readable guide at appliku.com/llms.txt that gives AI coding assistants everything they need to know about deploying apps on Appliku — appliku.yml syntax, stack-specific configuration, common mistakes, and more. For Claude Code users there is also a dedicated skill that auto-loads the full CLI and SDK reference into every session.
Giving AI agents read-only CLI access
AI coding agents can run appliku commands on your behalf — tailing logs, checking deployment status, reading app configuration. This is useful, but you may not want an agent to also be able to trigger deployments, change environment variables, or delete resources.
When you run appliku login in an agent's environment, the browser authorization screen asks you to choose an access level:
- Full access — the token can read and write everything
- Read-only — the token can only read: logs, deployment history, app configuration, and status
Select Read-only to cap what the agent can do. A read-only token will get a 403 response if it tries any write operation, so even if an agent decides to run appliku apps deploy, the request will be blocked server-side.
What read-only tokens can access
| Can access | Cannot access |
|---|---|
| App logs and deployment logs | Triggering deployments |
| Nginx / load balancer logs | Changing environment variables |
| Application configuration | Adding or removing domains |
| Deployment history and status | Scaling processes |
| Server status and metrics | Any create / update / delete action |
How to set it up
- In the agent's terminal (or wherever the CLI will run), run:
appliku login - Open the browser URL shown in your terminal.
- On the authorization screen, select Read-only.
- Click Authorize.
The CLI saves a read-only token that the agent will use for all future requests.
If you pass a token directly via appliku login --token or APPLIKU_TOKEN, the access level depends on how that token was originally created. To get a read-only token, use the browser login flow and select Read-only during authorization.
Claude Code Skill
The Appliku skill for Claude Code teaches the agent the complete CLI command reference, Python SDK surface, authentication flow, error handling, and common workflows. Once installed it is automatically loaded in every Claude Code session — you never need to paste llms.txt or explain the CLI when working with Claude Code.
Install
npx skills add appliku/skill -g -a claude-code
| Flag | Meaning |
|---|---|
-g | Install globally (~/.claude/skills/) rather than project-local |
-a claude-code | Target the Claude Code agent |
What the skill covers
- Authentication — token resolution order,
appliku login,APPLIKU_TOKENfor CI - CLI commands — full reference for
teams,apps,deployments,domains,datastores,volumes,crons,clusters,servers,invites,migrations,ssh-keys - Python SDK — every resource class with method signatures
- Error handling — all exception types and HTTP status codes
- Common workflows — finding an app, tailing logs, adding a domain, restarting a datastore
After installing you can just describe what you want and Claude Code will use the right appliku command or SDK call:
"List all my apps on team
my-teamand show me the latest deployment for the one calledapi."
"Write a Python script that restarts the PostgreSQL datastore for app 42."
How to use it (llms.txt)
Option 1 — Reference the URL directly
Paste the URL into your prompt. Most tools (Claude.ai, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity) will fetch and read it automatically:
Help me deploy this Django app to Appliku.
Context: https://appliku.com/llms.txt
Option 2 — Cursor / Windsurf
Use @ to attach it inline:
@https://appliku.com/llms.txt help me write an appliku.yml for this project
Or add it permanently to .cursorrules so it's always in context for Appliku-related questions:
Always refer to https://appliku.com/llms.txt when helping with Appliku deployments.
Option 3 — Claude Code / OpenCode / Codex CLI
Download it once into your project root:
curl https://appliku.com/llms.txt -o APPLIKU.md
Then reference it in your prompt:
Help me deploy this app to Appliku, see @APPLIKU.md
Or add it to your CLAUDE.md so it's always loaded:
For Appliku deployment help, see @APPLIKU.md
Option 4 — One-shot fetch
Ask the AI to fetch it before helping:
Fetch https://appliku.com/llms.txt and then help me create an appliku.yml for my Node.js app
What the AI can help you with
Once it has the context, a good prompt gets you a working appliku.yml in seconds:
Read https://appliku.com/llms.txt
I have a Django 5 app using PostgreSQL and Celery. It uses uv for dependency management.
Generate a complete appliku.yml for it.
Or for troubleshooting:
Read https://appliku.com/llms.txt
My app is deployed on Appliku but ALLOWED_HOSTS is failing. Here's my settings.py: [paste]
Keeping the context local (recommended)
Downloading to APPLIKU.md is the most reliable approach — it works offline, doesn't depend on the tool supporting URL fetching, and you can edit it to add project-specific notes alongside the standard guide.