Vendor Matrix

Vendor Matrix

The supported-CLI contract. Adding a new tool means a new column, not a fork. This matrix is the single most important table in SpecRoute — it appears in README.md, AGENTS.md, and agentic-docs/agent-cli-integrations.md and must stay in lock-step across all three.

Vendor	Runtime dir	Root context file	Skills	Agents	Commands	Hooks	MCP config
Claude Code	.claude/	CLAUDE.md	folder-per-skill SKILL.md	flat <name>.md + frontmatter	commands/<name>.md	settings.json hooks (~27 events, 5 hook types)	claude_desktop_config.json
Codex	.codex/	AGENTS.md	folder-per-skill SKILL.md	flat <name>.md	via skills (user-invocable: true)	hooks.json or config.toml [hooks] (6 events; flag codex_hooks=true)	config.toml [mcp_servers]
Gemini CLI	.gemini/	GEMINI.md (delegation shim)	–	–	gemini_cli_config.json	settings.json hooks (11 events; v0.26.0+)	settings.json [mcpServers]
Kiro	.kiro/	steering/ files	–	–	–	*.kiro.hook (10 events incl. file / agent / task triggers)	–
Cursor	.cursor/rules/	.cursorrules	–	–	–	hooks.json v1 (~19 events; permission/decision schema)	–
Windsurf	.windsurf/rules/	–	–	–	–	hooks.json (12 events; pre/post for read/write/run/mcp)	–

Vendor support tiers

Tier	Vendors	What's supported
Full	Claude Code	Skills, agents, commands, hooks, MCP, root context file, sub-agent delegation
Near-full	Codex	Skills, agents, MCP, root context file (commands subsumed into skills via user-invocable)
Partial	Gemini CLI	MCP, command map, root context file
Specialized	Kiro	Steering rules, spec triplet, file-pattern hooks
Rules only	Cursor, Windsurf	Rule files

Pick vendors based on what your team uses. The framework's content (PRDs, specs, prompts, rules) works in any of them; the runtime-layer features (skills, agents, commands, hooks) only land where the vendor supports them.

Hook system depth

All six vendors ship hooks; per-vendor depth differs significantly:

Vendor	Event count	Blocking semantics	Hook types beyond shell
Claude Code	~27	rich (per-event)	http, mcp_tool, prompt, agent
Codex	6	per-event JSON	command only
Gemini CLI	11	per-event	command only
Kiro	10	pre-hooks block	askAgent (built-in)
Cursor	~19	permission schema	command, prompt
Windsurf	12	pre-hooks only	command, powershell

See Hooks for the per-vendor event matrix.

Root context files (load-bearing)

Every vendor auto-loads at least one context file at session start:

Vendor	Auto-loaded file	What goes there
Claude Code	CLAUDE.md	Delegation shim → AGENTS.md + Claude-specific overrides
Codex	AGENTS.md	Canonical, vendor-neutral substance
Gemini CLI	GEMINI.md	Delegation shim → AGENTS.md + Gemini-specific overrides
Cursor	.cursorrules (legacy) or .cursor/rules/*.mdc	Rule files, MDC frontmatter
Kiro	.kiro/steering/*.md (inclusion: always)	Steering rules
Windsurf	.windsurf/rules/*.md (trigger: always)	Rule files

The canonical pattern: AGENTS.md carries substance; CLAUDE.md / GEMINI.md etc. are short delegation shims. See Multi-Vendor Context Files.

MCP support

Three vendors consume MCP server configurations in different shapes:

Vendor	Shape	Path
Claude Desktop	mcpServers JSON object	.claude/claude_desktop_config.json
Codex	[mcp_servers.<name>] TOML sections	.codex/config.toml
Gemini CLI	mcpServers JSON object	.gemini/settings.json

Maintaining three by hand is the failure mode. SpecRoute ships a single source of truth at runtimes/mcp/servers.yaml with per-vendor renderers. See MCP Integration.

Vendor neutrality is the contract

• Don't fold one vendor into another.
• Don't treat any vendor as the default.
• Every artifact declares which vendors it targets and uses each vendor's native shape.
• Don't drift the matrix between README.md, AGENTS.md, and agentic-docs/agent-cli-integrations.md — when one changes, all three change.

See also

• Agent CLI Integrations — concrete per-vendor wiring (copy commands)
• Cross-Vendor Sync — tools/sync-skills.py + MCP renderers keep things aligned
• Adding a Vendor — process for adding a new column
• Multi-Vendor Context Files — the AGENTS.md + delegation-shim pattern