Agent skill · software engineering · sickn33
busybox-on-windows
How to use a Win32 build of BusyBox to run many of the standard UNIX command line tools on Windows.
Why this skill is useful
Adds specific PowerShell commands and download instructions for using BusyBox on Windows that the AI wouldn't reliably generate on its own.
What it needs
Requires busybox installed locally. About 2k tokens when loaded. Last updated 2026-08-07. 44,571 stars on the source repository.
What this skill does
BusyBox is a single binary that implements many common Unix tools. Use this skill only on Windows. If you are on UNIX, then stop here. Run the following steps only if you cannot find a busybox.exe file in the same directory as this document is. These are PowerShell commands, if you have a classic cmd.exe terminal, then you must use powershell -Command "..." to run them. 1. Print the type of CPU: Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32Processor Select-Object Name, NumberOfCores, MaxClockSpeed 2. Print the OS versions: Get-ItemProperty "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion" Select-Object ProductName, DisplayVersion, CurrentBuild 3. Download a suitable build of BusyBox by running one of these PowerShell commands: 32-bit x86 (ANSI): $ProgressPreference = 'SilentlyContinue'; Invoke-WebRequest -Uri https://frippery.org/files/busybox/busybox.exe -OutFile busybox.exe 64-bit x86 (ANSI): $ProgressPreference = 'SilentlyContinue'; Invoke-WebRequest -Uri https://frippery.org/files/busybox/busybox64.exe -OutFile busybox.exe 64-bit x86 (Unicode): $ProgressPreference = 'SilentlyContinue'; Invoke-WebRequest -Uri https://frippery.org/files/busybox/busybox64u.exe -OutFile busybox.exe 64-bit ARM (Unicode): $ProgressPreference = 'SilentlyContinue'; Invoke-WebRequest -Uri https://frippery.org/files/busybox/busybox64a.exe -OutFile busybox.exe Before executing a downloaded binary, obtain the expected release digest from an independently verified publisher channel and compare Get-FileHash -Algorithm SHA256. A computed hash alone does not authenticate the download. If the publisher evidence cannot be checked, report that installation is unverified and do not execute it. Save outside the immutable skill bundle and do not overwrite an existing binary. PowerShell does not implicitly execute a file in the current directory; use ./busybox.exe or & "C:\approved\path\busybox.exe". Review the applet's filesystem effects before running it. …
How to use it
Reference it in AdaL, Claude Code, Cursor or any coding agent — nothing to install:
@skills sickn33/busybox-on-windows