setup-benny
An agent skill by cursor, from cursor/plugins. Tags: automation, configuration, setup, slack, workflow.
What it does
Configure Benny and prepare its triage and repro automations. Use when installing Benny or changing its Slack, tracker, repository, routing, control, model, or budget settings.
Install
With the skills CLI, which installs into Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and other agents:
npx skills add cursor/plugins --skill setup-bennyOr copy the skill folder into Claude Code's skills directory by hand (~/.claude/skills for every project, or .claude/skills inside one):
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/cursor/plugins
cp -r plugins/pstack/automations/benny/skills/setup-benny ~/.claude/skills/setup-bennySafety box score
Grade D, elevated risk: 46 of 100 risk points, rated 2026-10-16. The grade rates what the skill and its scripts can reach on the machine of whoever installs it, across eight categories from shell execution to secrets access. How the score works.
This skill installs Benny into a target repo, enables the pstack plugin, and sets up Slack/issue-tracker/repo automations that can triage reports, reply in threads, and open draft pull requests. The main risks are broad filesystem changes (including home-dotfile config), handling of secret-bearing credentials, and autonomous external side effects once the automations are enabled.
| Category | Level | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Code & shell execution | 0 (none) | No shell commands, scripts, or code evaluation are defined in this file; it only describes copy/configuration steps and downstream automations. |
| Network access | 2 (moderate) | Setup and the resulting automations use external services such as Slack, issue trackers, and repository/PR integrations (`Read access to the configured source Slack channel`, `issue-tracker integration`, `open a draft pull request`). |
| Filesystem reach | 2 (moderate) | It copies the pack into `<target-repository>/.cursor/automations/benny/`, edits `.cursor/settings.json`, and may create user-owned config under home dotdirs such as `~/.config/benny/configuration.yaml`. |
| Secrets & credentials | 2 (moderate) | The file explicitly mentions the optional `BENNY_SLACK_BOT_TOKEN` and says to store it in a secret manager or environment, so setup can involve secret-bearing credentials. |
| Privilege & persistence | 1 (low) | It changes project/plugin settings via `.cursor/settings.json` and user config files, but it does not request sudo, services, or system-wide installation. |
| Instruction hijack surface | 1 (low) | The skill makes downstream behavior depend on embedded instructions and committed files (`Read and follow ... SKILL.md`, `Read and follow ../../FOR_AGENTS.md`), but it does not tell the agent to ignore rules or hide actions. |
| Irreversible actions | 3 (high) | Its purpose is to enable automations that classify reports, post thread replies, create tracker issues, and open draft pull requests, which are high-blast-radius external side effects. |
| Transparency | 0 (none) | The reviewed file is plain Markdown with no binaries, obfuscated blobs, or runtime-decoded code. |
Before installing
- Confirm you are willing to commit `.cursor/settings.json` and `.cursor/automations/benny/` in the target repo.
- Check whether any `~/.config/benny/*` files are acceptable on this machine before proceeding.
- Verify the Slack/issue-tracker accounts and how `BENNY_SLACK_BOT_TOKEN` will be stored.
- Test first in a scratch repo and test Slack channel, since the automations can reply, create issues, and open draft PRs.
Rated 2026-10-16 by an automated review of 1 file from the skill's repository.
Source
- Repository
- cursor/plugins (all skills from this repository)
- Path
- pstack/automations/benny/skills/setup-benny/SKILL.md
- Branch
- main
- Collection
- cursor
- Updated
- 2026-09-23
Related skills
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- principle-build-the-lever — Apply to any non-trivial work, not just bulk work: edits, migrations, analyses, checks.
- setup-pstack — Configure which models pstack uses per role and at what reasoning budget.
- claude-code-hooks — How to write, test, register, and debug Claude Code hooks — PreToolUse / PostToolUse / SessionStart / Stop Bash guards that enforce a rule the model would.
- setup-deploy — Configure deployment settings for /land-and-deploy.
- setup-matt-pocock-skills — Configure this repo for the engineering skills: set up its issue tracker, triage label vocabulary, and domain doc layout.