Install Architect Playbook Locally

/install-architect-playbook-locally

Copy every skill folder from this architect-playbook repository into /.claude/skills/. After running this, every architect-playbook slash command works inside the current project, and only inside the current project. Other projects on the machine are untouched.

Usage

/install-architect-playbook-locally                 # install or update every skill into .claude/skills/
/install-architect-playbook-locally --dry-run       # print the plan without copying anything
/install-architect-playbook-locally --force         # overwrite destinations even if they appear newer
/install-architect-playbook-locally --include=name  # install only one named skill (repeatable)
/install-architect-playbook-locally --exclude=name  # skip a named skill (repeatable)

What this skill does

1. Resolves the playbook root. Locate the architect-playbook repository the user wants to install from. The playbook root is the directory that contains this skill's parent folder (install-architect-playbook-locally/SKILL.md). If the skill is being run from inside ~/.claude/skills/install-architect-playbook-locally/SKILL.md (already globally installed), ask the user for the path to the playbook clone.
2. Resolves the destination. /.claude/skills/. Create it if it does not exist.
3. Enumerates source skills. Every direct sub-folder of the playbook root that contains a SKILL.md, except install-architect-playbook-locally and install-architect-playbook-globally themselves (those should not be installed into target projects — they belong to the playbook).
4. Copies each skill folder with cp -R / /. The destination becomes a complete, self-contained copy. Subsequent edits to the playbook do not propagate; re-run this skill to refresh.
5. Reports the result with one line per skill: installed, updated, skipped (stub), or skipped (newer at destination).

Implementation steps

Step 1 — Resolve the playbook root

# This skill file lives at /install-architect-playbook-locally/SKILL.md when running
# from the source repository. Detect that case first.
SKILL_DIR="$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]:-$0}")" && pwd 2>/dev/null || pwd)"
PLAYBOOK_ROOT="$(dirname "$SKILL_DIR")"

if [ ! -f "$PLAYBOOK_ROOT/install-architect-playbook-locally/SKILL.md" ]; then
  echo "Could not auto-detect the architect-playbook root."
  echo "Re-run from inside a clone of architect-playbook, or pass --from=."
  exit 1
fi

When invoked as a slash command (not as a shell script), use the Read tool to find the playbook clone the user pointed at, or ask the user for the path.

Step 2 — Resolve destination

DEST="$(pwd)/.claude/skills"
mkdir -p "$DEST"

Step 3 — Enumerate skills to install

For each direct sub-folder of $PLAYBOOK_ROOT that contains a SKILL.md, build a list. Exclude:

• install-architect-playbook-locally
• install-architect-playbook-globally
• Any folder whose name begins with .

Apply --include and --exclude filters from the command line.

Step 4 — Detect stubs

A SKILL.md is considered a stub if its body contains the literal string **Status:** stub. Stubs are still copied by default (so they are visible as slash commands and the user knows what is on the way), but the report flags them with skipped (stub) if --no-stubs is passed.

Step 5 — Copy each skill

for skill in "${SKILLS[@]}"; do
  src="$PLAYBOOK_ROOT/$skill"
  dst="$DEST/$skill"

  if [ -d "$dst" ] && [ -z "$FORCE" ]; then
    # Compare modification time; skip if destination is newer.
    if [ "$(stat -f %m "$dst/SKILL.md" 2>/dev/null || stat -c %Y "$dst/SKILL.md")" \
         -gt "$(stat -f %m "$src/SKILL.md" 2>/dev/null || stat -c %Y "$src/SKILL.md")" ]; then
      echo "skipped (newer at destination): $skill"
      continue
    fi
  fi

  rm -rf "$dst"
  cp -R "$src" "$dst"
  echo "installed: $skill"
done

Step 6 — Print the summary

installed:                  pre-audit-setup
installed:                  system-self-improve
installed (stub):           security-audit
installed (stub):           performance-audit
...

15 skills installed into ./.claude/skills/
Open a new Claude Code chat in this directory to pick up the new slash commands.

Idempotency rules

• Re-running with no flags is safe. Files only change if the source is newer (or --force is set).
• This skill never deletes a destination skill that is not in the source — manual cleanup only.
• This skill never touches ~/.claude/skills/. For machine-wide install, use /install-architect-playbook-globally.

Safety

• Refuses to write outside /.claude/skills/.
• Refuses to follow symlinks out of the playbook root when copying.
• --dry-run is honored — when set, the skill only prints the plan.

Recommended commit message

If the user wants to track the installed skills in version control:

chore: install architect-playbook skills into .claude/skills/

What this skill explicitly does NOT do

• Install graphify (run /pre-audit-setup for that).
• Modify settings.json (run /pre-audit-setup).
• Run any audit.
• Affect any project other than the current working directory.

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: BenSheridanEdwards
• Source: BenSheridanEdwards/ArchitectPlaybook
• License: MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.