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skill-manager

Native Python-based skill management for enabling/disabling skills, configuring permissions, and managing settings.local.json

personAuthor: jakexiaohubgithub
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Skill Manager

Native Python-based skill management for Claude Code - Zero token overhead!

🎯 Purpose

This skill provides a native Python script that handles skill discovery, enabling/disabling, and permission management WITHOUT requiring LLM parsing. This saves 90% tokens compared to LLM-based skill management.

Token Savings:

  • LLM-based approach: ~800-1000 tokens (reading 6+ skill files)
  • This skill: ~50-100 tokens (single script execution)
  • Savings: 750-900 tokens per operation (90%)

🔧 BASH COMMAND ATTRIBUTION PATTERN

CRITICAL: Before executing EACH python/bash command, MUST output:

🔧 [skill-manager] Running: <command>

Examples:

🔧 [skill-manager] Running: python .claude/skills/skill-manager/scripts/skill-manager.py discover
🔧 [skill-manager] Running: python .claude/skills/skill-manager/scripts/skill-manager.py enable cli-modern-tools
🔧 [skill-manager] Running: python .claude/skills/skill-manager/scripts/skill-manager.py toggle-feature cli-modern-tools eza
🔧 [skill-manager] Running: bash .claude/skills/colored-output/color.sh success "" "Configuration updated"

Why: This pattern helps users identify which skill is executing which command, improving transparency and debugging.

📋 Available Commands

Discover & List Skills

# Discover all skills (formatted output)
python .claude/skills/skill-manager/scripts/skill-manager.py discover

# List all skills
python .claude/skills/skill-manager/scripts/skill-manager.py list

# List only enabled skills
python .claude/skills/skill-manager/scripts/skill-manager.py list --filter enabled

# List only disabled skills
python .claude/skills/skill-manager/scripts/skill-manager.py list --filter disabled

# Output as JSON (for Claude to parse)
python .claude/skills/skill-manager/scripts/skill-manager.py json

Enable/Disable Skills

# Enable a skill
python .claude/skills/skill-manager/scripts/skill-manager.py enable colored-output

# Disable a skill
python .claude/skills/skill-manager/scripts/skill-manager.py disable time-helper

View Skill Details

# Show detailed info about a skill
python .claude/skills/skill-manager/scripts/skill-manager.py status changelog-manager

Export Configuration

# Export current configuration as JSON
python .claude/skills/skill-manager/scripts/skill-manager.py export

🎨 VISUAL OUTPUT FORMATTING

Use colored-output skill for headers and results only (2 calls max):

# START: Header only
bash .claude/skills/colored-output/color.sh skill-header "skill-manager" "Managing skills..."

# MIDDLE: Run Python script (produces formatted output)
python .claude/skills/skill-manager/scripts/skill-manager.py list

# END: Result only (if needed)
bash .claude/skills/colored-output/color.sh success "" "Configuration updated!"

🚀 Usage Workflow

When User Invokes: /cs-skill-management

Step 1: Run discovery script

python .claude/skills/skill-manager/scripts/skill-manager.py json

Output (JSON):

[
  {
    "skill_name": "changelog-manager",
    "name": "changelog-manager",
    "description": "Update project changelog...",
    "version": "2.8.0",
    "author": "Claude Code",
    "tags": ["changelog", "versioning"],
    "auto_activate": true,
    "enabled": true,
    "permissions": [
      "Skill(changelog-manager)",
      "Bash(python scripts/generate_docs.py:*)"
    ]
  },
  ...
]

Step 2: Parse JSON and present interactive menu

Claude receives the JSON, parses it instantly (no file reads needed!), and displays:

⚙️  Skill Management - Interactive Mode
========================================

Available Skills: 7 total
├─ Enabled: 4 skills
├─ Not Configured: 3 skills
└─ Categories: Release, CLI, Documentation, Time, Output, Development

1. View All Skills (7)
2. View Enabled Skills (4)
3. View Not Configured Skills (3)
4. Browse by Category
5. Search for Skill

🔧 Quick Actions:
6. Enable a Skill
7. Disable a Skill
8. Configure Skill Permissions
9. View Skill Details

Enter choice (1-9) or 'q' to quit:

Step 3: Execute user choice

If user chooses "6. Enable a Skill":

# User selects: colored-output
python .claude/skills/skill-manager/scripts/skill-manager.py enable colored-output

Output:

✅ Enabled: colored-output

Settings.local.json is automatically updated!

🔧 Quick Actions (Argument-Based)

Users can also call the slash command with arguments for instant actions:

# Quick enable
/cs-skill-management enable colored-output

# Quick disable
/cs-skill-management disable time-helper

# Quick status
/cs-skill-management status changelog-manager

# Quick list
/cs-skill-management list enabled

Implementation:

# Claude detects arguments and calls:
python .claude/skills/skill-manager/scripts/skill-manager.py enable colored-output

📊 Script Capabilities

Discovery

  • Scans .claude/skills/ directory
  • Parses YAML frontmatter from skill.md files
  • Extracts: name, description, version, author, tags, auto-activate
  • Checks enabled status from settings.local.json
  • Identifies all permissions related to each skill

Enable/Disable

  • Adds/removes Skill(skill-name) from settings.local.json
  • Identifies and removes related permissions (e.g., Bash permissions)
  • Validates JSON before saving
  • Provides clear success/error messages

Status & Details

  • Shows comprehensive skill information
  • Lists all permissions
  • Shows enabled/disabled status
  • Displays tags, version, author

Export

  • Exports full configuration as JSON
  • Can be used for backup/restore workflows
  • Portable configuration format

🎯 Integration with /cs-skill-management Command

The slash command .claude/commands/cs-skill-management.md should be updated to:

**When user invokes `/cs-skill-management [args]`:**

1. **Parse arguments** (if any)
2. **Run Python script** with appropriate action
3. **Display results** to user
4. **Handle interactive menu** (if no arguments)

**Examples:**

- `/cs-skill-management` → Interactive menu
- `/cs-skill-management enable colored-output` → Quick enable
- `/cs-skill-management list enabled` → Quick list

⚡ Token Efficiency

Before (LLM-based):

  1. Read 7 skill.md files (30 lines each) = ~600 tokens
  2. Read settings.local.json = ~50 tokens
  3. Parse and format = ~150 tokens
  4. Total: ~800 tokens

After (Script-based):

  1. Run Python script = ~30 tokens
  2. Parse JSON output = ~20 tokens
  3. Total: ~50 tokens

Savings: 750 tokens (94% reduction)

🛠️ Implementation Notes

Auto-Detection of Project Root

The script automatically finds the project root by searching for .claude/ directory:

current = Path.cwd()
while current != current.parent:
    if (current / '.claude').exists():
        self.project_root = current
        break
    current = current.parent

Cross-Platform Compatibility

  • Uses pathlib.Path for Windows/Mac/Linux compatibility
  • Pure Python (no external dependencies)
  • Works with Python 3.6+

Error Handling

  • Validates JSON before saving
  • Handles missing files gracefully
  • Provides clear error messages
  • Safe fallbacks for parsing errors

YAML Parsing

Simple frontmatter parser (no external deps):

  • Extracts YAML between --- markers
  • Parses key: value pairs
  • Handles arrays in tags field
  • Falls back to defaults on errors

📝 Customization Points

Adding New Actions

To add new script actions, modify skill-manager.py:

# Add to argument choices
parser.add_argument('action',
                   choices=['discover', 'list', 'enable', 'disable',
                            'status', 'export', 'json', 'YOUR_ACTION'],
                   help='Action to perform')

# Add handler in main()
elif args.action == 'YOUR_ACTION':
    manager.your_custom_method()

Custom Filtering

Add custom skill filters:

def list_skills(self, filter_type: str = 'all') -> None:
    skills = self.discover_skills()

    if filter_type == 'by-tag':
        # Custom tag-based filtering
        skills = [s for s in skills if 'your-tag' in s['tags']]

🔍 Example Output

Discover Command

$ python .claude/skills/skill-manager/scripts/skill-manager.py discover

📋 Skills (7 total)

✅ changelog-manager (v2.8.0)
   Update project changelog with uncommitted changes
   Permissions: 4 configured

✅ cli-modern-tools (v1.0.0)
   Auto-suggest modern CLI tool alternatives
   Permissions: 1 configured

⬜ colored-output (v1.0.0)
   Centralized colored output formatter
   Permissions: 0 configured

...

Status Command

$ python .claude/skills/skill-manager/scripts/skill-manager.py status changelog-manager

📊 Skill Details: changelog-manager
============================================================

Basic Info:
  Name: changelog-manager
  Version: 2.8.0
  Description: Update project changelog with uncommitted changes
  Author: Claude Code

Status:
  ✅ Enabled
  Auto-activate: Yes

Permissions (4):
  ✅ Skill(changelog-manager)
  ✅ Bash(python scripts/generate_docs.py:*)
  ✅ Bash(git tag:*)
  ✅ Bash(git commit:*)

Tags:
  changelog, versioning, git, release-management

📦 File Structure

.claude/skills/skill-manager/
├── skill.md                    # This file (skill instructions)
├── scripts/
│   └── skill-manager.py        # Native Python script
└── README.md                   # User documentation (optional)

🚀 Future Enhancements

Potential additions:

  1. Interactive TUI - Use rich or textual for terminal UI
  2. Skill Templates - Generate new skills from templates
  3. Dependency Management - Track skill dependencies
  4. Backup/Restore - Automatic backup before changes
  5. Import Config - Import exported configurations
  6. Batch Operations - Enable/disable multiple skills at once
  7. Search - Full-text search across skill descriptions

Version History

v1.0.0

  • Initial release
  • Native Python implementation
  • Skill discovery and parsing
  • Enable/disable functionality
  • Status and details display
  • JSON export
  • Cross-platform support
  • Zero external dependencies