skill-publish

Skill Publish

Publish Claude Code plugins and standalone Agent Skills with proper versioning, changelog management, and git workflow.

Determine Publish Type

Before starting, identify the publish type based on project structure:

Indicator	Type
.claude-plugin/plugin.json and/or .codex-plugin/plugin.json exists	Hosted plugin
Standalone SKILL.md with no plugin manifest	Standalone Agent Skill

Hosted plugins publish by pushing to GitHub. Repositories supporting multiple hosts must keep every real manifest and their shared marketplace metadata in sync. Codex caches plugin contents by version, so a stale version can preserve stale skills even after the source commit moves.

Standalone Agent Skills follow the agentskills.io specification and distribute as directories containing SKILL.md.

Hosted Plugin Workflow

1. Check Current State

# Read and validate every host manifest
python3 scripts/check-plugin-manifests.py

# Check git is clean and up to date
git fetch origin && git status

# Review commits since last version bump
git log --oneline $(git describe --tags --abbrev=0 2>/dev/null || echo HEAD~10)..HEAD

2. Reconcile Documentation

CHANGELOG.md is required. Summarize every user-visible or operational change since the last release under Unreleased. Update README.md whenever the public inventory, installation flow, runtime behavior, or advertised feature set changes. Run the repository documentation check when available:

python3 scripts/check-docs.py

Compare the last manifest-bump commit with current HEAD so changes committed under a stale version are not omitted.

3. Bump Every Real Manifest

Use the repository's synchronized bump command when present. For bopen-tools:

python3 scripts/check-plugin-manifests.py --bump-patch

Otherwise edit every host manifest together. Bump the patch version unless the user explicitly requests and justifies a larger change:

0.1.6 → 0.1.7
1.0.23 → 1.0.24

4. Finalize CHANGELOG.md

Move the reviewed Unreleased notes into a dated release entry:

## [X.X.X] - YYYY-MM-DD

### Added
- New features

### Changed
- Changes to existing functionality

### Fixed
- Bug fixes

Keep an empty Unreleased heading for the next change. Verify that the release heading matches every manifest exactly.

5. Validate Plugin Structure

Before publishing, verify the plugin is well-formed:

• .claude-plugin/plugin.json has required name field
• Component directories (commands/, agents/, skills/, hooks/) contain valid files
• Skills have SKILL.md with valid YAML frontmatter (name + description)
• Agents and commands have .md files with YAML frontmatter
• Referenced files and scripts exist
• Every host manifest and marketplace version is synchronized
• CHANGELOG.md contains the release version
• README inventories match the authored skills, agents, commands, and hooks
• Generated host adapters are current

For bopen-tools, run:

python3 scripts/check-plugin-manifests.py
python3 scripts/check-docs.py
python3 scripts/codex-agents/generate.py --check
bash hooks/tests/run-tests.sh
git diff --check

6. Commit and Push

Critical: Pushing to the default branch IS publishing. The Claude Code plugin marketplace automatically picks up the latest commit.

# Stage only reviewed, owned paths; never sweep unrelated worktree changes.
git add .claude-plugin/plugin.json .codex-plugin/plugin.json CHANGELOG.md README.md
git add path/to/each/reviewed/component
git commit -m "Release vX.X.X"
git push origin <default-branch>
git log origin/<default-branch>..<default-branch>

If either real manifest was bumped, push in the same session. A committed but unpushed bump is a stranded release.

7. Verify Publication on Every Host

After pushing, verify the plugin update is available:

CLAUDECODE= claude plugin update <plugin-name>@<publisher>
codex plugin marketplace upgrade
codex plugin add <plugin-name>@<publisher>

The CLAUDECODE= prefix avoids nested Claude session errors. For Codex, marketplace add does not refresh an existing snapshot; use marketplace upgrade before reinstalling. Confirm the installed root contains the new version, then smoke-test both hosts in fresh sessions.

Note: The marketplace may take a few minutes to reflect the new version.

8. Update Downstream References

If the plugin version is tracked elsewhere (e.g., a marketplace page, documentation, or lib/plugins.ts), update those references to match the new version.

Standalone Agent Skill Workflow

For skills not bundled in a Claude Code plugin, follow the agentskills.io specification.

1. Validate SKILL.md

Verify frontmatter meets the spec. For details, consult references/agentskills-spec.md.

Required fields:

• name: 1-64 chars, lowercase alphanumeric + hyphens, must match directory name
• description: 1-1024 chars, describes what and when

Optional fields:

• license, compatibility, metadata, allowed-tools

2. Validate Structure

skill-name/
├── SKILL.md          # Required
├── scripts/          # Optional executables
├── references/       # Optional docs loaded on demand
└── assets/           # Optional static resources

3. Version via Metadata

Track version in the frontmatter metadata field:

metadata:
  author: org-name
  version: "1.1.0"

4. Distribute

Standalone skills distribute as directories. Common methods:

• Git repository (push to GitHub)
• Archive (zip the skill directory)
• Package registry (if applicable)

Common Issues

Plugin Not Updating

If claude plugin update does not pick up changes:

• Verify the push landed on the default branch (usually main or master)
• Check that .claude-plugin/plugin.json is valid JSON
• Wait a few minutes for marketplace propagation

Version Already Exists

If the version string was already used in a previous commit, bump again to the next patch before pushing.

Nested Session Error

Always prefix CLI commands with CLAUDECODE= when running from within an active Claude Code session to avoid the "nested session" error.

Additional Resources

Reference Files

• references/agentskills-spec.md — Complete agentskills.io specification summary for standalone skills