Install Script Generator

Install Script Generator

Generate robust, cross-platform installation scripts that users can run with a single bash command via GitHub raw URLs. This SKILL.md is a lean index — long templates and tables live under references/ to protect the agent's context budget.

When to Use

• The user asks for a curl | bash one-liner for their project.
• A repo needs a install.sh that auto-detects OS, arch, and package manager.
• A Python/Go/Node/Rust module should be installable in one command from a fresh machine.

Skip this skill for Dockerfiles, CI/CD pipelines, or one-off local shell scripts.

Prerequisites

• The repo has a known / (check git remote -v) and a default branch.
• The target software's build system is identifiable (Makefile, package.json, setup.py, Cargo.toml, go.mod, etc.).
• python3 is available locally if you plan to run the helper scripts under scripts/.

Reference Files (read on demand to save tokens)

| File | When to read | |------|--------------| | references/install-template.md | When generating install.sh — full bash template with detection helpers, dependency installer, and main entry point | | references/readme-snippet.md | When updating the README — copy-paste install block plus URL format notes | | references/edge-cases.md | When handling unusual OS/sudo/path scenarios and writing step reports | | scripts/env_explorer.py | Local environment probe (OS, arch, package managers, sudo) | | scripts/plan_generator.py | Generates installation_plan.yaml from env + target | | scripts/doc_generator.py | Renders user-facing USAGE_GUIDE.md |

Do not inline these contents into the conversation; link to them. Keeping SKILL.md short preserves the context window for the actual install logic.

Repo Sync (mandatory before edits)

Before creating, updating, or deleting files in an existing repo, sync the current branch with remote:

branch="$(git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD)"
git fetch origin
git pull --rebase origin "$branch"

If the working tree is dirty, git stash push -u -m pre-sync first, sync, then git stash pop. If origin is missing or rebase/stash conflicts occur, stop and ask the user before continuing.

Workflow

Phase 1 — Exploration

1. Identify the target software/module/tool.
2. Inspect the repo for build files (Makefile, package.json, setup.py, Cargo.toml, go.mod, ...).
3. List dependencies the software needs to build and run.
4. Capture / and the default branch from git remote -v and git branch --show-current. Ask the user if missing.
5. Run python3 scripts/env_explorer.py to capture OS, arch, package managers, shell, and sudo availability into env_info.json.

Phase 2 — Planning

1. Resolve the dependency graph and order operations.
2. Detect existing installations to avoid duplicate work.
3. Plan a verification step for each phase.
4. Plan rollback / cleanup on failure.
5. Run python3 scripts/plan_generator.py --target "" --env-file env_info.json to emit installation_plan.yaml.

Phase 3 — Generation (primary output)

Generate install.sh at the repo root using references/install-template.md. The template contains four sections you compose:

1. Header + colour helpers (info, ok, warn, err, die).
2. Detection helpers (detect_os, detect_arch, detect_package_manager, need_sudo).
3. install_deps switch covering apt/dnf/yum/pacman/brew/zypper.
4. install_ (customised per target), verify_installation, and main.

Read references/install-template.md for the exact code; do not paste it into chat. If Windows support is needed, also generate install.ps1 (one-liner: irm | iex).

Phase 4 — Documentation

1. Insert the install block from references/readme-snippet.md into the project README, substituting //.
2. Run python3 scripts/doc_generator.py --target "" --plan installation_plan.yaml to emit USAGE_GUIDE.md.
3. Print the final one-liner so the user can copy it.

Output Files

| File | Description | |------|-------------| | install.sh | Primary output — standalone installer for curl \| bash | | install.ps1 | Optional Windows PowerShell installer | | env_info.json | Local environment probe | | installation_plan.yaml | Ordered install steps | | USAGE_GUIDE.md | User-facing docs |

Acceptance Criteria

• install.sh exists at repo root, starts with #!/usr/bin/env bash and set -euo pipefail.
• Auto-detects OS, architecture, and package manager; exits non-zero with a clear message on unsupported targets.
• Handles sudo gracefully (root, sudo, or fail-fast).
• Verifies the installation at the end (command -v $TOOL_NAME plus --version when available).
• README contains a curl -sSL ... | bash one-liner that resolves to the raw GitHub URL.
• Expected output on success ends with [ OK ] Installation complete!.

Edge Cases

See references/edge-cases.md for the full list. Highlights:

• Unsupported OS / architecture — die with the detected value; user sees what failed.
• No package manager — install_deps aborts with the manager it expected.
• No sudo — need_sudo exits with Run as root or install sudo.
• Windows native — generate install.ps1 separately; install.sh warns under MSYS/Cygwin.
• Script in subdirectory — adjust the raw URL path; note it in the README snippet.

Step Completion Reports

After each phase, emit a ◆ block with √/× checks and a Result: PASS | FAIL | PARTIAL line. The exact templates for the four phases live in references/edge-cases.md so you can copy them verbatim without bloating SKILL.md.

Expected Output

curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/owner/mytool/main/install.sh | bash

Expected runtime banner:

[INFO]  OS: linux | Arch: x86_64 | Package Manager: apt
[ OK ]  Dependencies installed
[ OK ]  mytool 1.2.0 installed successfully
[ OK ]  Installation complete!

Source & license

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

• Author: luongnv89
• Source: luongnv89/skills
• License: MIT
• Homepage: https://luongnv.com

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