doppel freeze skill. The skill writes two YAML manifests into your repository: a Capability that declares the public contract (inputs and outputs) and a Recipe that describes exactly how to execute it. From that point on, every replay runs locally on your machine at zero token cost.
The core problem
Coding agents are excellent at exploration: they discover the right command sequence, figure out the flags, handle the edge cases. But agents have no memory between sessions. The working solution lives in a chat window. The next time you need that migration script or that release pipeline, you start over — re-explaining context, burning tokens, hoping the agent finds the same path. Scripts pasted into documentation drift. Chat histories are not executable. Re-running “that prod fix” means starting over from scratch.The solution: freeze the working session
Doppels introduces a single inflection point called the freeze step. When your agent has solved the problem, you say something like:doppel-freeze skill (installed once into Cursor, Claude, Codex, or OpenCode) reads the session, extracts what varied (inputs), what was produced (outputs), and what steps ran. It writes that knowledge as plain YAML into your repository. No proprietary format. No cloud dependency. Just files you commit like any other source.
The execution model
Each stage explained
1. Agent session
You work with your agent as you normally would — fixing a bug, automating a deploy, writing a data pipeline. The agent explores, iterates, and eventually reaches a working solution. This is the only stage that costs tokens.2. doppel freeze writes YAML
When you invoke the freeze skill, the agent:
- Runs
doppels spaces initif your project doesn’t have a.doppels/directory yet. - Identifies the distinct outcomes from the session — one Capability per outcome.
- Writes
capabilities/<name>.yamldeclaring the typed inputs and outputs. - Writes
recipes/<name>.yamldeclaring the shell steps, required tools, approval rules, and output mappings. - Loops
doppels validateuntil the manifests are clean. - Shows you the result and waits for your approval before treating it as done.
3. doppels validate
Before you run anything, doppels validate checks every manifest under your capabilities/ and recipes/ directories. It verifies schema correctness, expression syntax, step ordering, approval coverage, output type compatibility, and Capability–Recipe linkage. Run it in CI to catch regressions before they reach production.
4. doppels run
To execute a Capability, pass its name and supply the declared inputs:
provides the Capability, checks that every requires.commands entry is on your PATH, injects inputs as environment variables, and runs each step in order. No agent involved. No network call to execute your code.
5. Results in .doppels/runs/<id>/
Every run produces a timestamped directory under .doppels/runs/<id>/ containing logs, produced artifacts, and the final returns mapped back to the Capability’s declared outputs. You can inspect any run with:
Execution stays on your machine
Cloud coordination (when enabled) handles identity, sharing, and audit. It never executes your steps. Every shell command runs on your host with your credentials — youraws-cli configuration, your gcloud auth, your SSH keys, your VPN. If the network goes down, doppels run still works.
Zero-token replay
After freeze, every subsequent run costs exactly zero tokens. The agent’s exploration was a one-time investment. The Recipe is deterministic: same inputs produce the same steps and the same outputs, every time. Your library of Capabilities grows with each freeze, compounding the value of past agent sessions without compounding the token bill.Capabilities
Learn how Capability manifests define the public contract for your automations.
Recipes
Understand how Recipes declare shell steps, required tools, and output mappings.
Spaces
See how Spaces scope Capability and Recipe discovery within your project.
Freeze with an Agent
Step-by-step guide to freezing your first agent session into a Doppel.