skillsaw 0.8.0

A configurable linter for agent skills, plugins, and AI coding assistant context

skillsaw Keep your skills sharp. A linter with built-in content intelligence for agentskills.io skills, Claude Code plugins, and plugin marketplaces. Analyzes instruction file quality using attention research, detects weak language and contradictions, and auto-fixes violations with any LLM.

Formerly named claudelint. If you're migrating, see Migrating from claudelint.

Features

• 🧠 Content Intelligence — Research-backed rules that catch weak language, tautological instructions, attention dead zones, embedded secrets, contradictions, and more
• 🔧 LLM Autofix — Fix violations with any LLM via skillsaw lint --fix --llm — parallel processing, scoped re-lint, per-file rollback
• 🔍 Context-Aware — Auto-detects repo type and instruction formats (CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md, Cursor, Copilot, Gemini, Kiro)
• 📐 40+ Rules — Validates structure, metadata, commands, cross-file consistency, context budget, and content quality
• 🏗️ Scaffolding — skillsaw add generates plugins, skills, commands, agents, and hooks
• 📝 Docs — skillsaw docs generates HTML or Markdown documentation
• 🔌 Extensible — Custom rules, banned patterns, per-rule thresholds
• 🤖 CI-Ready — GitHub Action with inline PR comments, deduplication, and thread resolution
• ⚡ Version-Gated — New rules gated behind config versions — no surprises on upgrade

Table of Contents

• Features
• Quick Start
• Installation
  • Via uvx (easiest, no install required)
  • Via pip
  • From source
  • Using Docker
  • GitHub Action
• Repository Types
  • agentskills.io Skills
  • Single Plugin
  • Marketplace (Multiple Plugins)
  • .claude/ Directory
  • CodeRabbit
  • APM (Agent Package Manager)
• Configuration
  • Version Pinning
  • Exclude Patterns
  • Content Paths
• Builtin Rules
• Autofixing
  • Deterministic Fixes (--fix)
  • LLM-Powered Fixes (--fix --llm)
  • Standalone Fix Command (skillsaw fix)
• Custom Rules
• Scaffolding
  • Initialize a Marketplace
  • Add Components
  • Context Detection
• Lint Tree
• Documentation Generation
• Exit Codes
• Example Output
• Migrating from claudelint
  • Removed rules
• Development
• Contributing
• License
• See Also
• Support

Quick Start

# Lint current directory (no install required)
uvx skillsaw

# Fix structural issues automatically
skillsaw lint --fix

# Fix content quality issues with an LLM
skillsaw lint --fix --llm

# Preview LLM fixes without writing
skillsaw lint --fix --llm --dry-run

# Verbose output (includes info-level findings)
skillsaw -v

# Strict mode (warnings become errors)
skillsaw --strict

# Generate default config
skillsaw init

# List all rules with fix support info
skillsaw list-rules

# View the lint tree (what skillsaw sees)
skillsaw tree

# Generate plugin/skill documentation
skillsaw docs

# Scaffold a new marketplace, plugin, or skill
skillsaw add marketplace
skillsaw add plugin my-plugin
skillsaw add skill my-skill

Installation

Via uvx (easiest, no install required)

uvx skillsaw
uvx skillsaw /path/to/skills

Via pip

pip install skillsaw

From source

git clone https://github.com/stbenjam/skillsaw.git
cd skillsaw
pip install -e .

Using Docker

docker pull ghcr.io/stbenjam/skillsaw:latest
docker run -v $(pwd):/workspace ghcr.io/stbenjam/skillsaw

GitHub Action

The built-in GitHub Action installs skillsaw, runs it, and posts violations as inline PR comments with automatic deduplication. Fixed violations have their comment threads resolved.

name: Lint

on: [pull_request]

permissions:
  contents: read
  pull-requests: write

jobs:
  skillsaw:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v5
      - uses: stbenjam/skillsaw@v0
        with:
          strict: true

Inputs

Input	Description	Default
path	Path to lint	.
version	Specific skillsaw version to install	latest
strict	Treat warnings as errors	false
verbose	Include info-level violations	false
token	GitHub token for posting PR comments	${{ github.token }}

Outputs

Output	Description
exit-code	skillsaw exit code (0=pass, 1=errors, 2=strict+warnings)
errors	Number of errors found
warnings	Number of warnings found
report	Full JSON report

PR comment behavior

• Each violation gets its own inline comment on the relevant line or file
• Comments are deduplicated across re-runs using content fingerprinting
• When a violation is fixed, its comment thread is automatically resolved
• Comments with human replies are preserved

Permissions: contents: read is required for checkout. pull-requests: write is required for posting comments.

Repository Types

skillsaw automatically detects your repository structure. A repository can match multiple types simultaneously (e.g. an agentskills repo that also has .coderabbit.yaml).

agentskills.io Skills

Standalone skill repositories following the agentskills.io specification:

my-skill/
├── SKILL.md              # Required: metadata + instructions
├── scripts/              # Optional: executable code
├── references/           # Optional: documentation
├── assets/               # Optional: templates, resources
├── evals/                # Optional: evaluation tests
│   └── evals.json
└── <any-dir>/            # Arbitrary directories allowed per spec

Skill collections (multiple skills in subdirectories) are also supported:

skills-repo/
├── skill-one/
│   └── SKILL.md
└── skill-two/
    └── SKILL.md

Standard discovery paths (.claude/skills/, .github/skills/, .agents/skills/) are checked automatically.

Single Plugin

my-plugin/
├── .claude-plugin/
│   └── plugin.json
├── commands/
│   └── my-command.md
├── skills/
│   └── my-skill/
│       └── SKILL.md
└── README.md

Marketplace (Multiple Plugins)

skillsaw supports multiple marketplace structures per the Claude Code specification:

Traditional Structure (plugins/ directory)

marketplace/
├── .claude-plugin/
│   └── marketplace.json
└── plugins/
    ├── plugin-one/
    │   ├── .claude-plugin/
    │   └── commands/
    └── plugin-two/
        ├── .claude-plugin/
        └── commands/

Flat Structure (root-level plugin)

marketplace/
├── .claude-plugin/
│   └── marketplace.json    # source: "./"
├── commands/
│   └── my-command.md
└── skills/
    └── my-skill/

Custom Paths and Mixed Structures

Plugins from plugins/, custom paths, and remote sources can coexist in one marketplace. Only local sources are validated.

.claude/ Directory

Repositories with a .claude/ directory containing commands, skills, hooks, agents, or rules. When APM is present, .claude/ is treated as compiled output and this type is not detected.

CodeRabbit

Repositories with a .coderabbit.yaml file. skillsaw validates the instruction fragments within the config.

APM (Agent Package Manager)

Repositories with an .apm/ directory or apm.yml file. APM manages dependencies and compiles instruction files for all supported agents (.claude/, .cursor/rules/, .github/instructions/, etc.). When APM is present it is the authoritative source — .claude/ is treated as compiled output.

Configuration

Generate a default .skillsaw.yaml in your repository root:

skillsaw init

This creates a config file with all builtin rules, their defaults, and descriptions. Edit it to enable, disable, or customize rules for your project. See .skillsaw.yaml.example for a complete example.

Version Pinning

The config file includes a version field set to the skillsaw version that created it. New rules introduced after that version are automatically skipped unless you bump the version or explicitly enable them. Repos without a .skillsaw.yaml run all rules at the latest version — you get new rules automatically but may occasionally fail after a skillsaw upgrade.

Exclude Patterns

Skip files and directories using glob patterns:

exclude:
  - "vendor/**"
  - "generated/**"
  - "node_modules/**"

Content Paths

By default, content intelligence rules only analyze recognized instruction files (CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md, .cursor/rules/, .apm/instructions/, etc.). Use content-paths to extend coverage to any text files that contain instructions for humans or AI agents — markdown, .mdc, .txt, or any other format:

content-paths:
  - "src/**/instructions/**/*.md"
  - ".cursor/rules/*.mdc"
  - "docs/runbooks/*.txt"

Matched files are analyzed by all content-* rules and support LLM-powered fixes via skillsaw fix --llm.

Builtin Rules

agentskills.io

These rules validate skills against the agentskills.io specification. They auto-enable for agentskills repos, single plugins, and marketplaces whenever skills are detected.

Rule ID	Description	Default Severity	Autofix
agentskill-valid	SKILL.md must have valid frontmatter with name and description	error (auto)	auto, llm
agentskill-name	Skill name must be lowercase with hyphens and match directory name	error (auto)	auto
agentskill-description	Skill description should be meaningful and within length limits	warning (auto)	-
agentskill-structure	Skill directories should only contain recognized subdirectories (stricter than spec)	warning (disabled)	-
agentskill-evals	Validate evals/evals.json format when present	error (auto)	-
agentskill-evals-required	Require evals/evals.json for each skill (opt-in)	error (disabled)	-

agentskill-structure parameters:

Parameter	Description	Default
allowed_dirs	Directory names allowed in the skill root	["assets", "evals", "references", "scripts"]

Plugin Structure

Rule ID	Description	Default Severity	Autofix
plugin-json-required	Plugin must have .claude-plugin/plugin.json	error (auto)	-
plugin-json-valid	Plugin.json must be valid JSON with required fields	error (auto)	-
plugin-naming	Plugin names should use kebab-case	warning (auto)	-
plugin-readme	Plugin should have a README.md file	warning (auto)	llm

plugin-json-valid parameters:

Parameter	Description	Default
recommended-fields	Fields that trigger a warning if missing from plugin.json	["description", "version", "author"]

Command Format

Rule ID	Description	Default Severity	Autofix
command-naming	Command files should use kebab-case naming	warning	auto
command-frontmatter	Command files must have valid frontmatter with description	error	auto
command-sections	Command files should have Name, Synopsis, Description, and Implementation sections	warning (disabled)	-
command-name-format	Command Name section should be 'plugin-name:command-name'	warning (disabled)	-

Marketplace

Rule ID	Description	Default Severity	Autofix
marketplace-json-valid	Marketplace.json must be valid JSON with required fields	error (auto)	-
marketplace-registration	Plugins must be registered in marketplace.json	error (auto)	auto

Skills, Agents, Hooks

Rule ID	Description	Default Severity	Autofix
skill-frontmatter	SKILL.md files should have frontmatter with name and description	warning	auto, llm
agent-frontmatter	Agent files must have valid frontmatter with name and description	error	auto, llm
hooks-json-valid	hooks.json must be valid JSON with proper hook configuration structure	error	-

MCP (Model Context Protocol)

Rule ID	Description	Default Severity	Autofix
mcp-valid-json	MCP configuration must be valid JSON with proper mcpServers structure	error	-
mcp-prohibited	Plugins should not enable non-allowlisted MCP servers	error (disabled)	-

mcp-prohibited parameters:

Parameter	Description	Default
allowlist	MCP server names that are permitted	[]

Rules Directory

Rule ID	Description	Default Severity	Autofix
rules-valid	.claude/rules/ files must be markdown with valid optional paths frontmatter	error (auto)	-

Openclaw

Validates metadata.openclaw in SKILL.md frontmatter against the openclaw spec. Only fires when metadata.openclaw is present.

Rule ID	Description	Default Severity	Autofix
openclaw-metadata	Validate metadata.openclaw fields against the openclaw spec	warning (auto)	-

Instruction Files

Validates AI coding assistant instruction files (AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md, GEMINI.md) at the repository root. Checks encoding, non-emptiness, and that @import references resolve to existing files. Disabled by default.

Rule ID	Description	Default Severity	Autofix
instruction-file-valid	Instruction files (AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md, GEMINI.md) must be valid and non-empty	warning (auto)	-
instruction-imports-valid	Import references (@path) in CLAUDE.md and GEMINI.md must point to existing files	warning (auto)	-

Context Budget

Warns when instruction and configuration files exceed recommended token limits. Uses a len(text) / 4 approximation for token counting. Supports per-category warn and error thresholds. Disabled by default.

Rule ID	Description	Default Severity	Autofix
context-budget	Warn when instruction or config files exceed recommended token limits	warning (auto)	-

context-budget parameters:

Parameter	Description	Default
limits	Token limits per file category (int for warn-only, or {warn, error} dict)	{"agents-md": {"warn": 6000, "error": 12000}, "claude-md": {"warn": 6000, "error": 12000}, "gemini-md": {"warn": 6000, "error": 12000}, "instruction": {"warn": 4000, "error": 8000}, "skill": {"warn": 3000, "error": 6000}, "command": {"warn": 2000, "error": 4000}, "agent": {"warn": 2000, "error": 4000}, "rule": {"warn": 2000, "error": 4000}, "skill-description": {"warn": 200, "error": 500}, "command-description": {"warn": 200, "error": 500}}

Content Intelligence

Rules that go beyond structural validation to analyze the quality of instruction files. Built on attention research (lost-in-the-middle, instruction-following limits) and prompt engineering best practices. All support LLM-powered fixes via --fix --llm. See docs/designs/content-rules-research.md for the full research basis behind each rule.

Rule ID	Description	Default Severity	Autofix
content-weak-language	Detect hedging, vague, and non-actionable language in instruction files	warning (auto)	llm
content-tautological	Detect tautological instructions that the model already follows by default	warning (auto)	llm
content-critical-position	Detect critical instructions in the middle of files where LLM attention is lowest	warning (auto)	llm
content-redundant-with-tooling	Detect instructions that duplicate .editorconfig, ESLint, Prettier, or tsconfig settings	warning (auto)	llm
content-instruction-budget	Check if instruction count in a file exceeds LLM instruction budget (~150)	warning (auto)	llm
content-negative-only	Detect prohibitions without a positive alternative (agent has no path forward)	warning (auto)	llm
content-section-length	Warn about markdown sections longer than ~500 tokens	info (auto)	llm
content-contradiction	Detect likely contradictions within instruction files using keyword-pair heuristics	warning (auto)	llm
content-hook-candidate	Detect instructions that should be automated as hooks instead of prose instructions	info (auto)	llm
content-actionability-score	Score instruction files on actionability (verb density, commands, file references)	info (auto)	llm
content-cognitive-chunks	Check that instruction files are organized into cognitive chunks with headings	info (auto)	llm
content-embedded-secrets	Detect potential API keys, tokens, and passwords in instruction files	error (auto)	llm
content-banned-references	Detect banned or deprecated model names, APIs, and custom patterns	warning (auto)	llm
content-inconsistent-terminology	Detect inconsistent terminology across instruction files (e.g., mixing 'directory' and 'folder')	info (auto)	llm

content-critical-position parameters:

Parameter	Description	Default
min-lines	Minimum file length (in lines) before the rule activates	50

content-section-length parameters:

Parameter	Description	Default
max-tokens	Maximum estimated tokens per section before triggering a warning	500

content-banned-references parameters:

Parameter	Description	Default
banned	Additional banned patterns as list of {pattern, message} dicts	[]
skip-builtins	Disable built-in deprecated model/API checks	false

CodeRabbit

Validates .coderabbit.yaml config files for YAML syntax. Instruction text fields (reviews.instructions, per-path instructions, per-tool instructions, chat.instructions) are automatically checked by the content-* rules above. Auto-enabled when .coderabbit.yaml is detected.

Rule ID	Description	Default Severity	Autofix
coderabbit-yaml-valid	.coderabbit.yaml must be valid YAML	error (auto)	-

APM (Agent Package Manager)

Validates repositories using the APM directory layout (.apm/). Auto-enables when .apm/ is detected.

Rule ID	Description	Default Severity	Autofix
apm-yaml-valid	apm.yml must exist with valid YAML and required fields (name, version, description)	error (auto)	-
apm-structure-valid	.apm/ directory must contain skills/ or instructions/ with valid structure	warning (auto)	-

Autofixing

skillsaw supports two levels of autofixing — deterministic fixes for structural issues and LLM-powered fixes for content quality. Rules declare which fix type they support (see the Autofix column in the rules tables above).

Deterministic Fixes (--fix)

Safe, pattern-based fixes that run instantly without any external dependencies:

skillsaw lint --fix              # Apply safe structural fixes

Examples: adding missing frontmatter, renaming files to kebab-case, registering unregistered plugins in marketplace.json, fixing skill names to match directory names. These are marked SAFE confidence and applied automatically.

LLM-Powered Fixes (--fix --llm)

All content intelligence rules support LLM-powered fixes. The LLM reads your instruction files, rewrites violations, and re-lints in a loop until the file is clean — or rolls back if it made things worse.

# Fix content violations with an LLM (any LiteLLM-compatible model)
skillsaw lint --fix --llm

# Preview what would change without writing to disk
skillsaw lint --fix --llm --dry-run

# Use a specific model (OpenAI, Anthropic, Vertex AI, local, etc.)
skillsaw lint --fix --llm --model vertex_ai/claude-sonnet-4-6
skillsaw lint --fix --llm --model openrouter/minimax/minimax-m1

How it works:

1. skillsaw lints your repo and groups violations by file
2. Each file is sent to an LLM agent with 5 scoped tools: read_file, write_file, replace_section, lint (re-runs skillsaw), and diff
3. The LLM iteratively edits the file and re-lints until violations are resolved
4. After the LLM finishes, skillsaw compares violation counts — if a file got worse, it's rolled back to the original
5. Files are processed in parallel with a live progress bar showing ETA

The LLM never has access to arbitrary shell commands — it can only read, edit, lint, and diff within your repo. Use --dry-run to review all proposed changes as unified diffs before committing to them.

Check skillsaw list-rules to see which rules support auto, llm, or both fix types.

Standalone Fix Command (skillsaw fix)

For more control over LLM fixes, use the standalone fix subcommand:

skillsaw fix --llm                          # Fix with default model
skillsaw fix --llm --model vertex_ai/claude-sonnet-4-6
skillsaw fix --llm --all                    # Include info-level violations
skillsaw fix --llm --workers 8              # Parallel workers (default: 4)
skillsaw fix --llm --max-iterations 10      # Max iterations per file
skillsaw fix --llm --dry-run                # Preview changes

This provides a richer terminal UI with progress bars, per-file ETA, and detailed tool call logging. Use skillsaw fix --llm for interactive development; use skillsaw lint --fix --llm for CI or scripted workflows.

Custom Rules

Create custom validation rules by extending the Rule base class:

from pathlib import Path
from typing import List
from skillsaw import Rule, RuleViolation, Severity, RepositoryContext

class NoTodoCommentsRule(Rule):
    @property
    def rule_id(self) -> str:
        return "no-todo-comments"

    @property
    def description(self) -> str:
        return "Command files should not contain TODO comments"

    def default_severity(self) -> Severity:
        return Severity.WARNING

    def check(self, context: RepositoryContext) -> List[RuleViolation]:
        violations = []
        for plugin_path in context.plugins:
            commands_dir = plugin_path / "commands"
            if not commands_dir.exists():
                continue
            for cmd_file in commands_dir.glob("*.md"):
                content = cmd_file.read_text()
                if "TODO" in content:
                    violations.append(
                        self.violation("Found TODO comment", file_path=cmd_file)
                    )
        return violations

Then reference it in .skillsaw.yaml:

custom-rules:
  - ./my_custom_rules.py

rules:
  no-todo-comments:
    enabled: true
    severity: warning

Scaffolding

skillsaw add scaffolds marketplaces, plugins, and components with best-practice structure, CI, and branding out of the box.

Initialize a Marketplace

# Interactive (prompts for name, owner, colors)
skillsaw add marketplace

# Non-interactive
skillsaw add marketplace --name my-plugins --owner myuser --color-scheme ocean-blue

This creates the full marketplace structure: marketplace.json, settings.json, GitHub Pages site, GitHub Actions CI, Makefile, and an example plugin.

Add Components

# Add a plugin to a marketplace
skillsaw add plugin my-plugin

# Add a skill, command, agent, or hook
skillsaw add skill my-skill
skillsaw add command greet
skillsaw add agent helper
skillsaw add hook PreToolUse

Context Detection

skillsaw automatically detects your repo type and places files in the right location:

• Marketplace — components go under plugins/<name>/
• Single-plugin repo — components go in the repo root
• .claude/ repo — components go under .claude/

In a marketplace with multiple plugins, specify --plugin <name> or skillsaw will prompt interactively.

Lint Tree

skillsaw tree visualizes the typed lint tree — the internal data structure that all rules operate on. Every lintable entity (plugins, skills, commands, agents, instruction files, config files) is a typed node in the tree.

# View the lint tree
skillsaw tree

# View a specific path
skillsaw tree /path/to/repo

Example output:

my-marketplace/
    ├── AGENTS.md (agents-md)
    ├── marketplace.json
    ├── plugins/ [marketplace]
    │   └── my-plugin/ [plugin]
    │       ├── hello.md (command)
    │       └── my-skill/ [skill]
    │           └── SKILL.md (skill)
    └── .coderabbit.yaml
        └── reviews.instructions (coderabbit)

Documentation Generation

skillsaw can generate documentation for your plugins, skills, and marketplaces:

# Generate HTML docs (default)
skillsaw docs

# Generate Markdown
skillsaw docs --format markdown

# Write to a specific file
skillsaw docs --format markdown -o docs/README.md

# Write to a directory
skillsaw docs -o my-docs/

# Custom title
skillsaw docs --title "My Plugin Docs"

The generated documentation includes plugin metadata, command descriptions, skill summaries, and configuration details extracted from your repository.

Exit Codes

• 0 - Success (no errors, or warnings only in non-strict mode)
• 1 - Failure (errors found, or warnings in strict mode)

Example Output

Linting: /path/to/skills-repo

Errors:
  ✗ ERROR [skills/my-skill/SKILL.md]: Name 'My Skill' must contain only lowercase letters, numbers, and hyphens
  ✗ ERROR [plugins/git/.claude-plugin/plugin.json]: Missing plugin.json

Warnings:
  ⚠ WARNING [skills/helper/SKILL.md]: Description exceeds 1024 characters (1087)
  ⚠ WARNING [plugins/utils]: Missing README.md (recommended)

Summary:
  Errors:   2
  Warnings: 2

Migrating from claudelint

This project was renamed from claudelint to skillsaw. To migrate:

1. Update your package: pip install skillsaw (instead of pip install claudelint)
2. Rename .claudelint.yaml to .skillsaw.yaml (the old name is still discovered as a fallback)
3. Update CLI usage: skillsaw (instead of claudelint)
4. Update imports in custom rules: from skillsaw import ... (the old from claudelint import ... still works)

The claudelint command still works as a shim but prints a deprecation warning.

Removed rules

The following rules from claudelint have been removed in skillsaw:

Rule ID	Reason
commands-dir-required	Claude Code now treats skills/ and commands/ as the same mechanism; requiring a commands/ directory is no longer meaningful
commands-exist	Same as above — plugins don't need to have commands

If your .skillsaw.yaml references these rule IDs, skillsaw will emit a warning about the unknown rule.

Development

# Run tests
pytest tests/ -v

# Format code
black src/ tests/

# Build Docker image
docker build -t skillsaw .

Contributing

Contributions welcome! See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines and DEVELOPMENT.md for setup instructions.

License

Apache 2.0 - See LICENSE for details.

See Also

• agentskills.io Specification
• Claude Code Documentation
• Claude Code Plugins Reference
• AI Helpers Marketplace - Example marketplace using skillsaw

Support

• Issues: https://github.com/stbenjam/skillsaw/issues
• Discussions: https://github.com/stbenjam/skillsaw/discussions