Publish Skill

Publishing a skill to the private registry

Requires Python 3.11+ and the shared blueprint library installed in the active interpreter: python -m pip install -e '.[publish]' from the cloned repository. Copying this skill directory alone does not install that dependency. The current runbook is authoritative.

This is the meta-skill that publishes other skills. It is intentionally limited in scope: it assumes the project layout that this blueprint's skill-package/ example uses, and refuses to invent fields it doesn't have.

When to invoke

• User says "publish this skill" / "把这个 skill 发布出去" / "register this skill in our registry" / "send this to skills hub"
• User has just finished editing a directory that contains pyproject.toml and src/<pkg>/skill_files/SKILL.md
• The user's intent is to make a skill discoverable across the organization, not just to test it locally

When NOT to invoke

• The user is editing the skill content itself (use the regular edit flow; do not auto-publish drafts)
• The user is consuming a skill (search / install / use) — that's a different flow, see the consumer scripts
• There's no pyproject.toml in the current directory — this skill cannot publish raw markdown without a packaging step
• The user is on a machine without AWS credentials — refuse to proceed and explain how to set them up

How this skill works

The work is delegated to a single Python script: scripts/publish.py. The script is parameterized — it reads defaults from ~/.skillpublish/config.toml and accepts CLI flags to override.

Always read resources/publish-skill-runbook.md before running anything. The runbook covers:

• The preflight checks the script performs (and what to do when one fails)
• How the four "knobs" (account / registry / CodeArtifact repo / namespace) decide where the skill lands
• The DRAFT → PENDING_APPROVAL → APPROVED lifecycle and who is expected to push each transition
• Common errors (record name collision, IAM AccessDenied, version immutability) and their resolutions

Defaults and overrides

The script reads ~/.skillpublish/config.toml:

[default]
region = "us-east-1"
codeartifact_domain = "skills-demo"
codeartifact_repository = "skills-prod"
registry_name = "skills-demo-registry"

If the file is absent, the script uses the demo defaults shown above. Confirm that these are the intended destinations before publishing; pass explicit flags otherwise.

Permissions

This skill cannot bypass IAM. Dry-run only checks local metadata and makes no AWS calls. During real publication, AWS enforces authorization. Tokens are passed to Twine through its environment, never persisted in pip configuration. The publisher role must not approve records.

For the full permission set required to run this skill end-to-end, see docs/09-publishing-iam.md.

Default behavior is conservative

Two safeguards by default:

• No auto-submit. The script creates the record and stops at DRAFT. The author reviews via console / get-registry-record before running with --auto-submit to advance to PENDING_APPROVAL.
• No update of existing content. Identical name/version metadata is reused; different content at the same version is rejected. A new version may use the same name. Retry an already-uploaded wheel with --wheel ... --skip-upload; its digest is still checked.

If the user explicitly says "submit it for approval" / "go all the way", pass --auto-submit. Otherwise leave the conservative default.

What this skill does NOT do

• It does not approve records (separation of duty — only curators can; their IAM grants UpdateRegistryRecordStatus).
• It does not delete or yank records (also a curator's domain).
• It does not create the registry, the CodeArtifact domain, or any IAM resources — those are infrastructure provisioned by cdk deploy once per account.
• It does not validate skill quality (content review, scanning, policy compliance) — those belong on the curator's checklist or in an EventBridge-triggered scanner pipeline (see Phase 2).