mk:pack

What This Skill Does

Pack snapshots an external repository into a single AI-friendly file via repomix. The output is a portable, shareable document for pasting into external LLMs (ChatGPT, Gemini, claude.ai web), distributing to reviewers, or archiving. It includes a secret scan by default and supports Tree-sitter-based --compress mode that extracts only class/function/interface signatures.

When to Use

Triggers:

• Pasting a third-party library into an external LLM for analysis
• Security audit of vendor/library before adoption -- one file for review
• Research or offline reading of an unfamiliar repo
• Creating a shareable snapshot for code review or issue filing
• Extracting API surface signatures with --compress

Anti-triggers:

• Packing the current project to re-read in Claude Code. Claude Code already reads files lazily. Use mk:scout for inbound analysis instead.
• Replacing mk:scout for structured codebase exploration -- pack produces a flat dump; scout produces an architectural fingerprint.
• Adopting external code into your project -- use mk:chom for replication workflows.

Core Capabilities

• Multi-format output -- markdown, XML, JSON, or plain text
• File selection -- --include and --ignore glob patterns, plus --remove-comments for supported languages
• API surface extraction -- --compress uses Tree-sitter to extract only signatures (classes, functions, interfaces), producing a compact artifact
• Secret scanning -- Secretlint scan runs by default; warnings are surfaced to the user
• Self-pack guard -- blocks packing the current git root unless --self is explicitly passed
• Auto-generated output path -- .claude/packs/{YYYYMMDD-HHMM}-{slug}.{ext}

Arguments

Flag	Effect
--style markdown|xml|json|plain	Output format (default: markdown)
--include PATTERN`	Comma-separated globs to force inclusion
--ignore PATTERN`	Additional ignore patterns (.gitignore respected by default)
--remove-comments	Strip comments for supported languages
--compress	Tree-sitter signature extraction -- API surface only
--self	Allow packing the current git root (rare override)
--no-security-check	Disable Secretlint scan (emits explicit warning)
--output PATH`	Override the auto-generated output path

Workflow

1. Parse source -- classify as remote (owner/repo, GitHub URL) or local path.
2. Self-pack guard -- block if target resolves to current git root and --self not passed.
3. Compute output path -- .claude/packs/{timestamp}-{slug}.{ext}.
4. Invoke repomix -- npx --yes repomix@^1.11 [flags] -o OUTPUT.
5. Surface secret-scan results -- parse repomix output for security warnings.
6. Handoff -- print output path with reminder: "Do NOT Read this file back into the current session."

Usage

/mk:pack yamadashy/repomix
/mk:pack https://github.com/vercel/ai --style markdown
/mk:pack vercel/ai --compress
/mk:pack vendor/library --style xml --output audit-library.xml
/mk:pack owner/repo --include "src/**/*.ts" --remove-comments

Example Prompt

/mk:pack TanStack/query --compress
"I need just the public API surface to decide if we should adopt it."

Common Use Cases

• Auditing a vendor dependency before adding it to package.json
• Pastoring a library's source into ChatGPT to ask architecture questions
• Extracting only the public API of a large library for quick evaluation
• Creating a permanent snapshot of a repo at a specific point in time
• Sharing a filtered view of a codebase (only src/, no comments) with a reviewer

Pro Tips

• First run is slow (~10s). npx fetches repomix on first invocation. Subsequent runs use the npm cache.
• --compress is a genuine win for API queries. It produces a small, signature-only artifact that mk:scout cannot match. Use it for "what's the public API of library X" questions.
• Never Read packed output back into Claude Code. It defeats the purpose and burns context. Paste into an external LLM instead.
• Offline first run fails. npx needs network until repomix is cached. Run npx repomix --version once online to warm the cache.
• Secret scanner is defense-in-depth, not audited. Review output manually before sharing externally.

Canonical source: .claude/skills/pack/SKILL.md