Scrivener Integrity

Scrivener Integrity

You help the writer confirm a Scrivener 3 (.scriv) project is sound, repair its derived data, and make a full backup before any risky work. The write skills call this skill proactively — every mutating command auto-backups (zip) and auto-snapshots a document before overwriting its text — but a writer can also run these checks directly.

The governing idea: a .scriv is a structured package, and most of what looks alarming in it is normal. Absent content and "mismatched" checksums are not corruption. This skill is calibrated to say "your project is fine" when it is, and to hard-fail only when the project genuinely cannot be opened.

When to use

• "Is this project OK / validate this / check this .scriv" → verify
• "Fix the checksums / rebuild the search index" → repair [--what checksums|search-index|all]
• "Back this up / back up first / make a safety copy" → backup [--out <dir>]
• "What snapshots does this document have" → snapshots <id> (then see scrivener-snapshots)
• "Is it safe to edit / is the project open" → preflight (auto-run before every write)
• "Did a sync conflict happen" → preflight flags conflict files & undownloaded iCloud today; a dedicated conflicts command is 🔜 planned

Commands

JSON output by default; add --format text for a human-readable report. Always pass --project pointing at the .scriv package (or its .scrivx).

preflight — is it safe to write? (auto-run before every write)

python3 ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/tools/scrivener/cli.py preflight --project "<path.scriv>"

Reports whether the project looks open in Scrivener or mid cloud-sync. Every mutating command runs this automatically and refuses to write (exit 3) on a blocking signal — pass --force to override. Blocking signals: a Scrivener lock file in the package, Scrivener holding files open (via lsof, macOS/Linux), undownloaded iCloud placeholders (.*.icloud), or sync-conflict files. Other open handles (Spotlight, cloud daemons) are info, never blocking. This guard lives in the toolkit, so it protects Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, and CI alike — a Claude Code PreToolUse hook would only cover Claude Code.

verify — validate the package

python3 ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/tools/scrivener/cli.py verify --project "<path.scriv>"
python3 ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/tools/scrivener/cli.py verify --project "<path.scriv>" --format text

Parses the .scrivx binder, walks the binder tree, and reports findings as errors, warnings, or info. It is deliberately conservative (see philosophy below).

repair — recompute derived data

python3 ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/tools/scrivener/cli.py repair --what checksums --project "<path.scriv>"
python3 ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/tools/scrivener/cli.py repair --what search-index --project "<path.scriv>"
python3 ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/tools/scrivener/cli.py repair --what all --project "<path.scriv>"

repair only ever rewrites data Scrivener can regenerate itself: it recomputes Files/Data/docs.checksum (SHA-1 of content.rtf, notes.rtf, synopsis.txt) and/or rebuilds Files/search.indexes. It never touches your text, snapshots, comments, or metadata. repair is a mutating command, so it backs up first by default.

backup — full timestamped zip

python3 ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/tools/scrivener/cli.py backup --project "<path.scriv>"
python3 ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/tools/scrivener/cli.py backup --project "<path.scriv>" --out "<dir>"

Zips the entire .scriv package (binder, all Data/<UUID> payloads, snapshots, settings) to a timestamped archive. This is separate from Scrivener's own on-close backup rotation; the toolkit never writes into Scrivener's backup folder. Run this before any large restructuring or a global replace.

snapshots <id> — list a document's snapshots

python3 ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/tools/scrivener/cli.py snapshots <uuid-or-title> --project "<path.scriv>"

Lists the snapshots stored under a document's Data/<UUID>/snapshots/ (title + timestamp). Use this to confirm an auto-snapshot was captured before an edit, or to find a version to read/diff/restore — those operations live in scrivener-snapshots.

The advisory-checksum philosophy

Scrivener writes docs.checksum to detect external/sync edits — it is a change hint, not an integrity assertion. Real, perfectly valid projects routinely carry stale entries (about 32% of entries were stale in the reference project, simply from normal use). So verify treats checksum state as advisory:

• A stale/mismatched entry on a checksummed file → info (offer repair --checksums).
• An absent entry for a file Scrivener doesn't checksum → info, never a problem.
• A missing Data/<UUID> directory or absent content.rtf → normal. Special root folders, folders, and empty/never-written documents legitimately have no body. Image items store content.<ext> instead of content.rtf.

Checksum mismatches are never reported as corruption and never block a write skill.

What verify does and doesn't flag

verify hard-fails (error) on only two things:

1. An unparseable .scrivx — the binder XML won't load.
2. An explicitly referenced file that is missing — e.g. a docs.checksum entry, an Image item's declared content.<FileExtension>, or a referenced content.comments/snapshot file that is named but gone from disk.

Everything else is a warning (worth noting, safe to proceed) or info (advisory, e.g. stale checksums → suggest repair). Absent body content is never an error.

Safety

• The toolkit checks for you. Every mutating command runs preflight first and refuses to write if the project looks open in Scrivener or mid cloud-sync (override with --force). Still close Scrivener and let Dropbox/iCloud finish — the check is a backstop, not a license to edit a live project. verify/snapshots/preflight are read-only; repair/backup mutate.
• Write skills auto-backup (zip) and auto-snapshot a document before overwriting its text.
• Titles are not unique — pass a UUID to snapshots/repair when a title is ambiguous.

Reference

• references/integrity-model.md — verify semantics (errors vs warnings vs info), the advisory-checksum model and the 32% stale reality, what backup zips, what repair rewrites, and the planned restore / backups list / conflicts workflows.

Toolkit support

Related skills

• scrivener-snapshots — take/list/read/diff/restore document versions; snapshots <id> here just lists what exists.
• scrivener-edit — the write/restructure operations that auto-backup and auto-snapshot; this skill is the safety net they rely on.
• scrivener-sync — Sync with External Folder; run verify/backup before and after a sync round-trip, and watch for conflicts.
• scrivener-format — the .scriv package format (where docs.checksum, search.indexes, Data/<UUID>, and snapshots live on disk).