Babysitter serialization

Expert skill for binary and text serialization formats, schema design, and optimization

install

source · Clone the upstream repo

git clone https://github.com/a5c-ai/babysitter

Claude Code · Install into ~/.claude/skills/

T=$(mktemp -d) && git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/a5c-ai/babysitter "$T" && mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && cp -r "$T/library/specializations/network-programming/skills/serialization" ~/.claude/skills/a5c-ai-babysitter-serialization && rm -rf "$T"

manifest: library/specializations/network-programming/skills/serialization/SKILL.md

Serialization Skill

Expert skill for binary and text serialization formats, schema design, and performance optimization.

Capabilities

Protocol Buffers: Generate Protocol Buffer schemas and code for multiple languages
FlatBuffers: Design FlatBuffers schemas for zero-copy deserialization
MessagePack/CBOR: Implement MessagePack and CBOR binary encoding
Performance Analysis: Analyze and compare serialization performance
Format Comparison: Compare serialization formats for specific use cases
Deserialization Debugging: Debug deserialization issues and version mismatches
Payload Optimization: Optimize payload sizes and encoding efficiency
Schema Evolution: Handle backward/forward compatible schema changes

Tools and Dependencies

```
protoc
```
- Protocol Buffer compiler
```
flatc
```
- FlatBuffers compiler
```
msgpack-tools
```
- MessagePack utilities
```
cbor-tools
```
- CBOR utilities
```
capnp
```
- Cap'n Proto compiler
```
avro-tools
```
- Apache Avro utilities

Target Processes

binary-protocol-parser.js
custom-protocol-design.js
message-framing.js
websocket-server.js

Usage Examples

Protocol Buffers Schema

syntax = "proto3";
package network;

message Packet {
  uint32 sequence = 1;
  bytes payload = 2;
  int64 timestamp = 3;
  map<string, string> headers = 4;
}

FlatBuffers Schema

namespace Network;

table Packet {
  sequence: uint32;
  payload: [ubyte];
  timestamp: int64;
  headers: [KeyValue];
}

table KeyValue {
  key: string;
  value: string;
}

root_type Packet;

Code Generation

protoc --python_out=. --go_out=. packet.proto
flatc --python --go packet.fbs

Performance Benchmarking

hyperfine 'protoc-bench encode message.proto' 'msgpack-bench encode message.json'

Quality Gates

Schema validation passes
Backward compatibility verified
Performance benchmarks met
Cross-language interoperability tested
Payload size within requirements