Agent skill · software engineering · aiskillstore
shell-scripting
Shell scripting best practices and patterns. Use when writing bash/zsh
Why this skill is useful
Provides specific error handling patterns and automation scripts that enhance shell scripting capabilities beyond generic knowledge.
What it needs
About 4k tokens when loaded. Last updated 2026-08-07. 405 stars on the source repository.
What this skill does
Shell Scripting Comprehensive shell scripting skill covering bash/zsh patterns, automation, error handling, and CLI tool development. When to Use This Skill Writing automation scripts Creating CLI tools System administration tasks Build and deployment scripts Log processing and analysis File manipulation and batch operations Cron jobs and scheduled tasks Script Structure Template Error Handling Set Options Trap for Cleanup Error Checking Patterns Variables & Substitution Variable Expansion Arrays Associative Arrays Control Flow Conditionals Loops Input/Output Reading Input Output & Redirection Text Processing Common Patterns Best Practices Do Quote all variable expansions: "$VAR" Use [[ ]] over [ ] for tests Use $(command) over backticks Check return values Use readonly for constants Use local in functions Provide --help option Use meaningful exit codes Don't Parse ls output Use eval with untrusted input Assume paths don't have spaces Ignore shellcheck warnings Write one giant script (modularize) Reference Files references/oneliners.md - Useful one-liner commands Integration with Other Skills developer-experience - For tooling automation debugging - For script debugging testing - For script testing patterns
How to use it
Reference it in AdaL, Claude Code, Cursor or any coding agent — nothing to install:
@skills aiskillstore/shell-scripting