# Use QueueBox with coding agents

> Give a coding agent the QueueBox docs as Markdown and install the QueueBox skill in Claude Code, Cursor or another agent.

This guide shows you how to set up a coding agent, such as Claude Code or Cursor, to write application code for QueueBox. The agent gets two sources of facts: the docs as plain Markdown, and the QueueBox skill.

| Part | What the agent gets |
|---|---|
| llms.txt and the `.md` pages | The full docs as plain Markdown. |
| The QueueBox skill | A short file of rules for outbox rows, `queuebox.yml`, pull clients and idempotent consumers. |

## Give the agent the docs

The docs site publishes its pages as plain text for language models:

| URL | Content |
|---|---|
| [/llms.txt](https://queuebox-docs.pages.dev/llms.txt) | The index. It lists each page with the URL of its Markdown copy. |
| [/llms-full.txt](https://queuebox-docs.pages.dev/llms-full.txt) | All pages in one Markdown file. |
| [/llms-small.txt](https://queuebox-docs.pages.dev/llms-small.txt) | All pages in a compact form, for a small context window. |

Each page also has a Markdown copy. Add `.md` to the path of the page. For example, [/reference/configuration.md](https://queuebox-docs.pages.dev/reference/configuration.md) is the Markdown copy of [the configuration reference](/reference/configuration/).

The **Copy page** menu at the top of each page has four entries:

| Entry | Effect |
|---|---|
| **Copy as Markdown** | Puts the Markdown of the page on the clipboard. Paste it into a chat or an agent prompt. |
| **View as Markdown** | Opens the `.md` copy of the page. |
| **Open in Claude** | Opens a Claude chat that reads the page. |
| **Open in ChatGPT** | Opens a ChatGPT chat that reads the page. |

## Install the skill

The skill is one file: [`skills/queuebox/SKILL.md`](https://github.com/alternayte/queuebox/blob/main/skills/queuebox/SKILL.md). Its `description` tells the agent when to load it: when code writes outbox rows, consumes the inbox, receives a delivery, or changes `queuebox.yml`. The skill links to `llms-full.txt` for the detail.

<Tabs>
  <TabItem label="Claude Code plugin">
    The QueueBox repository is a Claude Code plugin marketplace with one plugin, `queuebox`. Run these two commands in a Claude Code session:

    ```text
    /plugin marketplace add alternayte/queuebox
    /plugin install queuebox@queuebox
    ```

    The plugin ships the skill. To get a newer version of the skill, run `claude plugin marketplace update queuebox` in a shell.
  </TabItem>
  <TabItem label="npx skills">
    The `skills` CLI reads the `skills/` directory of the repository and installs the skill for the agents that it detects:

    ```sh
    npx skills add alternayte/queuebox
    ```

    Add `--list` to see the skills in the repository without an install. Run `npx skills update` to get a newer version.
  </TabItem>
  <TabItem label="Manual copy">
    Copy the file into the skills directory of your repository. Claude Code finds a skill in `.claude/skills/<name>/SKILL.md`:

    ```sh
    mkdir -p .claude/skills/queuebox
    curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/alternayte/queuebox/main/skills/queuebox/SKILL.md \
      -o .claude/skills/queuebox/SKILL.md
    ```

    Commit the file, so that each person on the team gets the same rules. Copy the file again to get a newer version.
  </TabItem>
  <TabItem label="Cursor">
    Cursor reads rules from `.cursor/rules/`. Copy the skill into a rule file:

    ```sh
    mkdir -p .cursor/rules
    curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/alternayte/queuebox/main/skills/queuebox/SKILL.md \
      -o .cursor/rules/queuebox.mdc
    ```

    Cursor reads the `description` in the front matter of the file. It attaches the rule when a request matches the description.
  </TabItem>
  <TabItem label="Other agents">
    Many agents read `AGENTS.md` in the root of the repository. Add a line to it that points to the skill:

    ```md
    For code that uses QueueBox, read skills/queuebox/SKILL.md first.
    ```

    Put the file at that path with one of the other methods. For an agent without `AGENTS.md` support, add the content of `SKILL.md` to its instructions file.
  </TabItem>
</Tabs>

## What the skill covers

The skill holds the rules that an agent needs most often. The docs hold the full detail.

| Section | Content |
|---|---|
| Write an outbox row | The required columns `topic` and `payload`, the optional columns, the order per `key`, `headers`, `scheduled_at` and `max_attempts`. It has an insert for Postgres and for SQL Server, with `[key]` in brackets on SQL Server. |
| queuebox.yml | `database`, `sources`, `destinations`, `routes` and `transforms`, with a complete example that the QueueBox loader accepts. |
| Consume the inbox | Push through the relay or pull with a client. It names the Go, TypeScript and C# packages, their core calls and the handler rules. |
| Idempotent consumers | Deduplication on `X-Message-Id` for direct outbox traffic and on `x-idempotency-key` for relay traffic. |
| Do not | The mistakes to avoid. For example, a write to a column that QueueBox owns, an insert outside the business transaction, or a dependency on order across keys. |

## Next steps

<CardGrid>
  <LinkCard title="Write outbox rows" href="/how-to/write-outbox-rows/" description="Insert a message in the transaction of the business write." />
  <LinkCard title="Consume the inbox" href="/how-to/consume-the-inbox/" description="Read inbox messages with a pull client in Go, TypeScript or C#." />
  <LinkCard title="Configuration" href="/reference/configuration/" description="Every key of queuebox.yml and its environment variable." />
</CardGrid>