Skill Packager Skill

Purpose

Single responsibility: Package completed skill directories into ZIP files ready for upload to Claude AI. (BP-4)

Grounding Checkpoint (Archetype 1 Mitigation)

Before executing, VERIFY:

• Skill directory exists with required structure
• SKILL.md is present and non-empty
• At least one reference file exists
• No sensitive data in skill directory
• Output path for ZIP is writable

DO NOT package without validating skill structure.

Uncertainty Escalation (Archetype 2 Mitigation)

ASK USER instead of guessing when:

• Skill structure incomplete - proceed anyway?
• Large files detected - include or exclude?
• Sensitive patterns found (API keys, passwords)
• Multiple skill directories - which to package?

NEVER package potentially sensitive content without review.

Context Scope (Archetype 3 Mitigation)

Context Type	Included	Excluded
RELEVANT	Skill directory contents, package config	Other skills
PERIPHERAL	Package size estimates	Source data
DISTRACTOR	Build process details	Scraping history

Workflow Steps

Step 1: Validate Skill Structure (Grounding)

# Required structure check
test -f output/<skill-name>/SKILL.md || echo "ERROR: Missing SKILL.md"
test -d output/<skill-name>/references || echo "ERROR: Missing references/"

# Check SKILL.md is not empty
test -s output/<skill-name>/SKILL.md || echo "ERROR: SKILL.md is empty"

# Check for at least one reference
ls output/<skill-name>/references/*.md >/dev/null 2>&1 || echo "ERROR: No reference files"

Step 2: Security Check

# Scan for potential sensitive data
grep -rE "(api[_-]?key|password|secret|token|credential)" output/<skill-name>/ && \
  echo "WARNING: Potential sensitive data found - review before packaging"

# Check for large files
find output/<skill-name>/ -size +10M -exec echo "WARNING: Large file: {}" \;

# Check for binary files
find output/<skill-name>/ -type f ! -name "*.md" ! -name "*.json" ! -name "*.txt" \
  -exec file {} \; | grep -v "text" && echo "WARNING: Non-text files found"

Step 3: Calculate Package Size

# Estimate final size
du -sh output/<skill-name>/

# Count files
find output/<skill-name>/ -type f | wc -l

# List file types
find output/<skill-name>/ -type f -name "*.*" | sed 's/.*\.//' | sort | uniq -c

Step 4: Create Package

Option A: With skill-seekers

# Standard packaging
skill-seekers package output/<skill-name>/

# With upload (if API key set)
skill-seekers package output/<skill-name>/ --upload

Option B: Manual packaging

# Navigate to output directory
cd output/

# Create ZIP (exclude backups and temp files)
zip -r <skill-name>.zip <skill-name>/ \
  -x "*.backup" \
  -x "*.tmp" \
  -x ".DS_Store" \
  -x "__MACOSX/*"

# Verify ZIP contents
unzip -l <skill-name>.zip

Step 5: Validate Package

# Check ZIP integrity
unzip -t output/<skill-name>.zip

# Verify required files are included
unzip -l output/<skill-name>.zip | grep "SKILL.md"
unzip -l output/<skill-name>.zip | grep "references/"

# Check size is reasonable
ls -lh output/<skill-name>.zip

Recovery Protocol (Archetype 4 Mitigation)

On error:

1. PAUSE - Don't overwrite existing ZIP
2. DIAGNOSE - Check error type:

   • Missing files

     → Run skill-builder first

   • ZIP error

     → Check disk space, permissions

   • Large size

     → Exclude unnecessary files

   • Sensitive data

     → Clean files, re-package
3. ADAPT - Adjust package configuration
4. RETRY - With corrected settings (max 3 attempts)
5. ESCALATE - Report packaging issues to user

Checkpoint Support

State saved to:

.aiwg/working/checkpoints/skill-packager/

checkpoints/skill-packager/
├── validation_results.json  # Pre-package validation
├── security_scan.json       # Security check results
├── package_manifest.json    # Files included
└── package_log.txt          # Packaging process log

Package Manifest

Generate manifest for verification:

{
  "skill_name": "myskill",
  "packaged_at": "2025-01-15T10:30:00Z",
  "files": [
    {"path": "SKILL.md", "size": 15234, "hash": "abc123..."},
    {"path": "references/index.md", "size": 2045, "hash": "def456..."},
    {"path": "references/api.md", "size": 45678, "hash": "ghi789..."}
  ],
  "total_files": 5,
  "total_size": 62957,
  "package_size": 18234
}

Upload Options

Option 1: Automatic Upload (API)

export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-...
skill-seekers package output/<skill-name>/ --upload

Option 2: Manual Upload

1. Package creates

   output/<skill-name>.zip

2. Open output folder automatically
3. Go to https://claude.ai/skills
4. Click "Upload Skill"
5. Select ZIP file
6. Done!

Option 3: Via Claude Code (MCP)

"Package and upload the myskill skill"

Exclusion Patterns

Default exclusions:

*.backup
*.tmp
*.log
.DS_Store
__MACOSX/
.git/
node_modules/
__pycache__/
*.pyc
.env
*.key
*.pem

Size Limits

Platform	Max Size	Recommendation
Claude.ai	50MB	Keep under 10MB
API	Variable	Keep under 20MB

If over limit:

1. Remove large images
2. Compress reference files
3. Split into sub-skills

Configuration Options

{
  "skill_dir": "output/myskill/",
  "output_zip": "output/myskill.zip",
  "options": {
    "include_manifest": true,
    "compress_level": 9,
    "exclude_patterns": ["*.backup", "*.tmp"],
    "security_check": true,
    "auto_upload": false
  }
}

Troubleshooting

Issue	Diagnosis	Solution
ZIP too large	Large assets	Exclude or compress images
Missing files	Validation failed	Run skill-builder first
Upload failed	API error	Check API key, retry
Corrupt ZIP	Disk issue	Check disk space, re-create

References

• Claude Skills Upload: https://claude.ai/skills
• Skill Seekers Packaging: https://github.com/jmagly/Skill_Seekers
• REF-001: Production-Grade Agentic Workflows (BP-2 direct functions)
• REF-002: LLM Failure Modes (Archetype 1 grounding before action)