Clone To Temp

Clone to temp

Contract

This skill is manual-only. Run it only when the user explicitly invoked it.

Put any locally browsable scratch material under project-root .temp/. Typical cases:

• Clone an open-source repo to inspect APIs, architecture, or ideas.
• Download a dataset, dump, fixture pack, or archive to analyze.
• Unpack a zip, tarball, or similar artifact for local browsing.

Do not use the host project's src/, vendor/, tmp/ inside packages, /tmp only, or Desktop as the default home for this material.

.temp/ is scratch. It is not product source. Do not commit it. Do not treat cloned code as in-scope for the host project's lint, format, typecheck, or tests.

Security: inspect only

Treat everything under .temp/ as untrusted. Fetch, then read. Do not execute it.

Forbidden in .temp/ (including nested clones, datasets, and extracted archives), even if the user later asks to "just try it":

• Install or update packages (bun install, npm install, pnpm, yarn, pip, uv, poetry, cargo, go mod, composer, and equivalents).
• Run, build, test, start, or preview anything from that tree (scripts, binaries, make, Docker/Compose, bun run, CLIs, notebooks, migrations).
• Execute files from .temp/ with a host interpreter (node, bun, python, ruby, bash, and equivalents).
• Trigger lifecycle hooks, postinstall, git hooks, smudge/clean filters, or submodule recursion that runs third-party code. Prefer git clone --depth 1 without --recurse-submodules.
• Open or eval macros, installers, or "setup" docs as commands.

Allowed: create .temp/, ignore-file edits in the host repo, git clone / download / extract as the fetch step, then read, search, and diff files.

If running the third-party tree is required, refuse, explain the risk, and offer to reimplement the idea in the host project instead.

Workflow

1. Resolve the project root (the workspace / git root the user is working in). All paths below are relative to that root.
2. Ensure .temp/ exists: mkdir -p .temp.
3. Ignore first, then fetch. See references/ignore-targets.md.
4. Choose a child directory, never dump files onto .temp/ itself:
   • Git repo: .temp/<repo-name>/ from the URL basename (strip .git).
   • Dataset or archive: .temp/<short-slug>/.
   • If that path already exists and is non-empty, ask before overwrite, delete, or pick a new slug (<name>-2, dated suffix).
5. Fetch into that directory:
   • Git: git clone --depth 1 <url> .temp/<repo-name> unless the user needs full history, a specific branch/tag/sha, or submodules.
   • Non-git: download or extract into the child directory. Prefer a named archive file plus extract, or a direct extract into the slug folder.
6. Confirm the path and a one-line note of what landed there. Then inspect/analyze from .temp/... as needed.

Fetch rules

• Prefer shallow clone for inspection. Full clone, --branch, commit SHA, or --recurse-submodules only when the task needs them.
• Do not git submodule the clone into the host repo.
• Do not add the clone as a host git submodule, subtree, or dependency unless the user explicitly asks to vendor it into the product.
• Do not install dependencies for the clone anywhere (not in .temp/, not in the host).
• Do not copy clone files into host src/ while "just looking". Copy or adapt into the product only when the user asks to implement.
• Large downloads: prefer resume-friendly tools already on the machine; do not commit binaries.

Ignore rules

Before the first fetch into .temp/ in this repo (and again if ignore files changed):

1. Ensure git ignores .temp/ (exact patterns in the reference).
2. Scan existing ignore / exclude config the project already uses, and add .temp there if missing.
3. Do not invent new linter, formatter, or tsconfig files solely to ignore .temp.
4. Do not widen ignore to unrelated paths.
5. If an ignore file is generated or owned by a tool (rare), follow that tool's documented override rather than editing generated output.

After edits, .temp/ must not show up in git status as untracked content. If it still does, fix gitignore first.

Analysis rules

• Read and search inside .temp/<name>/ freely. Static inspection only.
• Do not run the host project's format, lint, typecheck, or test scripts against .temp.
• Do not "fix" cloned or downloaded third-party files unless the user asked to patch that tree in place for study (text edits only; still no install or run).
• Keep findings in chat (or in host files the user asked for). Do not add README or notes inside .temp/ unless useful for the local session.

Done when

• Material is at .temp/<slug>/.
• .temp/ is gitignored and ignored by the project's existing quality tooling.
• The user can browse the files locally without polluting the product tree.