Skill Install Improved

You install an improved variant of one skill instead of the skill as published: resolve the target to a local directory → run skill-auto-improver on it → install the improved result → report what was improved and from what. The improvement is a step inside the install, not a separate errand. One skill per run.

When to Use

• The user says "install <skill> but improve it first" or "install an improved version of <skill>"
• The user points at a catalog skill below the 85/8 floor and wants the better version on their machine
• The user has a local or cloned skill directory and wants the improved variant installed, not the raw one

Do not trigger for: improving without installing (skill-auto-improver), contributing upstream (skill-upstream-pr), authoring from scratch (skill-creator), plain installs (asm install <source>), or bulk-improving many skills at once.

Prerequisites

Verify each before resolving anything. Stop and tell the user if any fails.

• asm and git on PATH
• Python 3 and ~/.claude/skills/skill-creator/scripts/quick_validate.py — skill-auto-improver requires it
• Network access to GitHub, for the repo and name forms
• Write access to the install target — the directory for the chosen tool and scope (for claude: ~/.claude/skills/ global, .claude/skills/ project). Other tools install elsewhere; take the real path from asm list --json or the install output.

The user's own files are never modified (design decision)

Every input form is improved on a throwaway copy under $(mktemp -d) — local paths included. Deliberate: an install that rewrites the user's working copy is a side effect they did not ask for, skill-auto-improver mandates git fetch + git pull --rebase before any edit (against a local path that rebases their branch), and copying makes all forms behave identically.

Trade-off: the improvement lands only in the installed copy, not the user's tree. The copy has no origin and no history, so the improver's mandatory repo sync is inapplicable and is skipped — nothing to clobber, nothing pushed. Say so out loud when you skip it. To persist the change, point them at skill-auto-improver (their path) or skill-upstream-pr (the source repo).

Inputs

The user identifies one target skill, in any of four forms — a local path (skills/foo), a local SKILL.md file path, a repo (https://github.com/owner/repo, owner/repo), or a skill name (code-review). Phase 0 normalizes all of them to one local directory, $SKILL_PATH.

Also needed before Phase 3: the install scope (global or project) and the target tool (-p/--tool — claude, codex, agents, …). Ask for either one the user did not state; never guess. asm install hard-fails without --tool in a non-interactive run, and -y does not cover it.

Optional: a --name <alt> intent.

Workflow

Execute phases in order. Do not skip or reorder.

Phase 0 — Resolve the target to one local directory

Full contract in references/target-resolution.md. In short, with WORK="$(mktemp -d)":

• Local path — cp -R into $WORK. A SKILL.md file path folds to its parent first; skill-auto-improver takes a directory, not a file.
• Repo — plain git clone into $WORK. Never gh repo fork — this skill performs no public GitHub action.
• Skill name — asm search "<term>" --available --json, then copy the string after asm install from the chosen result's installCommand verbatim. Never hand-construct github:owner/repo:path. Clone what it names.

Set $SKILL_PATH to the directory holding the chosen SKILL.md. If the checkout holds several and no subpath was given, enumerate them (find "$WORK" -maxdepth 5 -name SKILL.md -type f) and ask which one. Never guess.

Record for the report: the supplied identifier, the resolved install or clone URL, and the upstream commit SHA.

Phase 1 — Delegate to skill-auto-improver

This skill does not reimplement the improvement loop. Follow the workflow in skills/skill-auto-improver/SKILL.md with $SKILL_PATH as the target: Phase 0 (baseline), Phase 1 (asm eval --fix plus frontmatter normalization), Phases 2–4 (Gate 1 fixes, then the category loop against the 85/8 floor), Phases 5–7 (version bump, the 8-iteration cap, .asm-improver/report.md).

Two adaptations, because the target is a throwaway copy:

• Its "Repo Sync Before Edits" step is inapplicable. Log — repo sync skipped (throwaway copy, no origin) and continue.
• .asm-improver/ is written relative to the current working directory, so run the loop with cwd inside $SKILL_PATH, or Phase 2 has nothing to harvest.

If the baseline already clears both gates the improver stops without editing — a valid outcome, see Edge Cases.

Phase 2 — Harvest artifacts, then clean up

Harvest before any cleanup. Everything lives under $SKILL_PATH/.asm-improver/ and dies with the temp dir. Read baseline.json, the highest-numbered iter-N.json, and report.md; extract the fields listed in references/install-and-report.md.

Only once those values are captured, remove the two artifacts that must not ship — the SKILL.md.bak backup left by asm eval --fix, and .asm-improver/. asm install copies the source recursively, so leftovers land in the installed skill:

rm -f "$SKILL_PATH/SKILL.md.bak"
rm -rf "$SKILL_PATH/.asm-improver"

Both deletions are confined to the mktemp -d copy — confirm $SKILL_PATH is still inside $WORK first. Never point either command at a user-supplied path.

Phase 3 — Install the improved directory

skill-auto-improver never renames, so the improved variant keeps the original frontmatter name and collides with any existing install of the original. asm install never refuses on a collision — it plans the force overwrite itself, and with -y it deletes and replaces the target directory with no prompt. -f changes nothing here. So probe before invoking it. Flags and the full policy are in references/install-and-report.md.

asm list --json    # probe: is this skill already installed for $TOOL / $SCOPE?

• Neither name matches — install; nothing is touched.
• Frontmatter name matches for $TOOL — force is set, even if that entry sits in another scope. What gets deleted is the target directory ($SKILL_PATH's basename, or alt, under the install base for $TOOL/$SCOPE), which need not be the matched entry's path. Name that target path and whatever the probe shows there, and get explicit confirmation before running asm install. There is no failure to fall back on once it is invoked.
• Only the directory name matches — no delete, but the copy still merges into the existing directory: colliding files are overwritten and the previous occupant's other files survive inside the installed skill. Confirm this one too.
• Opt-out — --name <alt> installs side by side, on request only. It does not suppress force, so anything already at <base>/<alt> is deleted and replaced; check alt against the probe. Warn first: both then share one frontmatter name and identical triggers, the duplicate-trigger hazard the ASM auditor flags.

Both names come out of the same probe: the frontmatter name plus $TOOL decides whether force is set, the target directory name decides what is destroyed.

Only once the probe is read and any collision above is confirmed:

asm install "$SKILL_PATH" -p "$TOOL" --scope "$SCOPE" --json -y

Install $SKILL_PATH, never the original source — that would install the unimproved skill. Take the installed path from the install command's own --json output (.path); never assume ~/.claude/skills/.

Phase 4 — Report, then clean up

Fill in the template in references/install-and-report.md. The output must state that an improved variant was installed rather than the published skill, the provenance (supplied identifier, resolved URL, upstream SHA), the before → after numbers, the collision path taken and what it replaced, and the installed path.

Remove $WORK only after the report is complete.

Step Completion Reports (mandatory)

Emit a compact status block after each phase:

◆ Phase N — [phase name] ([N of 5])
··································································
  [check 1]:         √ pass
  [check 2]:         × fail — [reason]
  Result:            PASS | FAIL | PARTIAL

Use √ for pass, × for fail, — for context. Checks per phase:

• Phase 0 — Form identified, Copied to temp, SKILL_PATH unambiguous, Provenance recorded
• Phase 1 — Baseline captured, Improver ran, Repo sync skipped, Gates cleared or stop reason known
• Phase 2 — Metrics harvested, .bak removed, .asm-improver removed, Deletions confined to temp
• Phase 3 — Collision probed before install, Overwrite confirmed (if any), Tool and scope supplied, Install succeeded
• Phase 4 — Report printed, Provenance shown, Temp dir removed

Acceptance Criteria

• Exactly one target resolved, from a local path, a repo, or a skill name
• $SKILL_PATH is a directory containing SKILL.md, under a mktemp -d copy — the user's files unmodified
• Name resolution copied installCommand verbatim; no hand-constructed github: URL
• Repo resolution used plain git clone; no fork, no push, no public GitHub action
• Several SKILL.md candidates and no supplied path → the user was asked, not guessed
• skill-auto-improver ran on $SKILL_PATH; baseline.json, iter-N.json, and report.md read before cleanup
• SKILL.md.bak and .asm-improver/ removed before the install, both deletions confined to $WORK
• asm install pointed at $SKILL_PATH — the improved directory — never the original source — with both -p/--tool and --scope supplied
• A collision was probed for before asm install ran; on a match the run overwrote only after explicit confirmation, or used --name <alt> after warning; the report says which
• The report names the installed path, says an improved variant was installed, and shows before → after plus provenance
• $WORK removed only after the report is complete

Expected output

• One skill installed under the chosen scope, containing the improved SKILL.md
• A report per references/install-and-report.md, leading with "installed an improved variant of <name>" and the before → after numbers
• No .asm-improver/ and no SKILL.md.bak inside the installed skill
• No change to the user's own skill directories, and no remote GitHub state touched

Example

"Install code-review, improved" on a skill that starts at 71 ends like this:

◆ Installed an improved variant of `code-review`
  Installed to:    ~/.claude/skills/code-review   (read from install --json .path)
  Install path:    confirmed overwrite of the previous install at that path
  Tool / scope:    claude / global
  Supplied as:     code-review
  Resolved from:   github:owner/repo:skills/code-review @ a1b2c3d
  Overall score:   71 (C) → 92 (A)   Min category: 5 → 8
  Version:         1.0.0 → 1.3.0     Iterations: 3 of 8

Edge Cases

• Baseline already passes both gates — the improver stops without editing. Phase 2's cleanup and Phase 3's probe still run: Phase 0 of the improver writes .asm-improver/ before it decides no edits are needed, so clean up first, then probe for a collision. Install the original, unchanged, and report plainly that no improvement was needed, naming the baseline score. Never imply a delta that did not happen.
• Improver ends in BLOCKER (8 iterations, or stalled) — better than baseline but below the floor. Show the blocker list and ask whether to install the partial result or abort. Never install one silently.
• Local-path target — improved on a copy, so the user's tree is untouched and the repo sync is skipped. Point them at skill-auto-improver or skill-upstream-pr to persist the change.
• Several SKILL.md files in a clone — enumerate and ask. Never batch, never guess.
• asm search returns nothing, or several equally-plausible matches — show the candidates and ask; never install the first hit.
• Target has no frontmatter — asm eval --fix cannot add it. Report and stop; do not install an unimprovable skill as if it were improved.
• Collision is a same-named skill from another source — the install would silently replace someone else's skill, with no error and no prompt. The probe is the only chance to catch it: name the target directory and whatever the probe shows there (name, dirName, provider, scope), confirm, and offer --name <alt> — all before asm install runs.
• Temp dir removed before harvesting — the metrics are gone and the before/after criterion cannot be met. Harvest in Phase 2, always before cleanup.
• Clone or disk failure mid-resolve — stop, remove $WORK, report. Never install a partial checkout.

References

• references/target-resolution.md — the three input forms normalized to one local $SKILL_PATH
• references/install-and-report.md — install flags, collision policy, harvested fields, report template
• skills/skill-auto-improver/SKILL.md — the improvement loop this skill delegates to
• skills/skill-upstream-pr/SKILL.md — the sibling path when the improvement should go back to the source repo
• asm install --help and asm search --help — flag references