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Overview

zombiectl install <template> is the first command in a zombie’s lifecycle. It writes a local directory containing two editable files — SKILL.md and TRIGGER.md — scaffolded from a bundled template. Nothing is uploaded, no API calls are made, and no authentication is required. You edit the files, then zombiectl up takes it from there. 
zombiectl install lead-collector

✓ lead-collector installed.
  Created lead-collector/
    SKILL.md   — agent instructions (edit this)
    TRIGGER.md — deployment config

Next steps:
  zombiectl up              Start the zombie
  zombiectl credential add  Add credentials (optional)

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Bundled templates

Two templates ship with zombiectl today. Each is a complete, deployable starting point.
TemplateWhat it doesSkills used
lead-collectorReceives inbound email via a webhook, qualifies the sender, drafts a short reply.agentmail
slack-bug-fixerWatches a Slack channel, identifies bug reports, opens a PR against the linked repo.slack, github
List of available templates is embedded in the CLI; run zombiectl install without an argument to see the current set in the error output.

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File layout

The installed directory contains two files. Both are plain text; both are designed to be edited. 
lead-collector/
├── SKILL.md      # agent instructions (natural language)
└── TRIGGER.md    # machine-readable config + deployment metadata

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SKILL.md

A markdown file with free-form agent instructions. Write it as if you were onboarding a smart colleague to the job: who they are, what events they will receive, what to do with each, what tone to use, what to avoid.
SKILL.md
You are a lead qualification agent.

When an email arrives:
1. Read the sender and subject line.
2. If it looks like a real sales inquiry, reply with a short acknowledgement
   and tag the thread with `qualified`.
3. If it looks like noise, ignore it and log the reason.
4. Record what you did in the activity stream.

Never promise a demo time. Never quote prices.

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TRIGGER.md

A markdown file with YAML frontmatter that configures how the zombie receives events, which skills it is allowed to invoke, what credentials it expects, and its budget.
TRIGGER.md
---
name: lead-collector
trigger:
  type: webhook
  source: agentmail
  event: message.received
credentials:
  - agentmail_api_key
budget:
  daily_dollars: 5.0
  monthly_dollars: 29.0
network:
  allow:
    - api.agentmail.to
---

This zombie qualifies inbound sales email.
The name field becomes the zombie’s display name. The trigger.source field identifies the upstream provider and determines the webhook signature scheme for first-class integrations (agentmail, slack, github, linear, jira, grafana, clerk). The credentials: list names the vault keys the zombie will read at event time — every entry must exist in the workspace vault before zombiectl up succeeds. The network.allow: list is an outbound hostname allowlist enforced by the credential firewall. See Writing skills for the full TRIGGER.md reference, and Templates for the anatomy of a bundled template.

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Flags and options

zombiectl install takes a single positional argument.
Argument / flagRequiredPurpose
<template>YesName of a bundled template.
--jsonNoEmit JSON instead of the human-readable greeting.
Exit codes:
  • 0 — template installed.
  • 2 — unknown or missing template name.
  • 1 — filesystem error (permission, disk full).

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After install

You have two reasonable next moves:
  1. Edit the files, then zombiectl up to deploy. The bundled templates declare the vault keys they expect under credentials: — the platform reads them from the workspace vault at event time.
  2. Add credentials first via zombiectl credential add, then zombiectl up. Either order works — but zombiectl up refuses to deploy until every key listed under credentials: is present in the vault.
zombiectl credential add agentmail_api_key --value=$AGENTMAIL_KEY
zombiectl up
See Starting and observing for the deployment workflow.