hashgraph-online Converter — Cross-Platform Skill Converter
Parse AgentOps skills into a universal SkillBundle format, then convert to target agent platforms.
The intermediate SkillBundle is what keeps conversions honest: every target reads the same parsed contract, so a rendering bug is a target-adapter bug, never a silent reinterpretation of the source. If two targets disagree about a skill's content, the bundle — not either output — arbitrates.
Named failure mode — projection editing: fixing a rendering problem by hand-editing the converted output, which the next conversion clean-writes away.
Anti-pattern: merging new output into an existing target directory to preserve local tweaks. Corrective: fix the source skill or the adapter, then re-run the clean-write conversion.
Constraints
- Treat the canonical source skill as read-only because conversion must not mutate the contract it is translating.
- Clean-write only the explicit target directory to prevent stale resources from surviving a conversion or unrelated paths from being deleted.
- Fail when copied-resource parity or target-format validation fails because a partial bundle is not a usable conversion.
Pipeline
The converter runs a three-stage pipeline:
parse --> convert --> write
Stage 1: Parse
Read the source skill directory and produce a SkillBundle:
- Extract YAML frontmatter from SKILL.md (between
---markers) - Collect the markdown body (everything after the closing
---) - Enumerate all files in
references/andscripts/ - Assemble into a SkillBundle (see
references/skill-bundle-schema.md)
Stage 2: Convert
Transform the SkillBundle into the target platform's format:
| Target | Output Format | Status |
|---|---|---|
codex |
Codex SKILL.md + prompt.md | Implemented |
cursor |
Cursor .mdc rule + optional mcp.json | Implemented |
The Codex adapter produces a SKILL.md with YAML frontmatter (name, description) plus rewritten body content and a prompt.md. Default mode is modular: reference docs, scripts, and resources are copied as files and SKILL.md includes a local resource index instead of inlining everything. Optional inline mode preserves the older behavior by appending inlined references and script code blocks. Codex output normalizes foreign-runtime invocation syntax and paths, rewrites unsupported primitive labels to runtime-neutral wording, and preserves current flat ao CLI commands. It also deduplicates repeated runtime headings while preserving section content. Non-generated resource files and directories are copied with parity checks. Descriptions are truncated to 1024 characters at a word boundary if needed.
The Cursor adapter produces a <name>.mdc rule file with YAML frontmatter (description, globs, alwaysApply: false) and body content. References are inlined into the body, scripts are included as code blocks. Output is budget-fitted to 100KB max -- references are omitted largest-first if the total exceeds the limit. If the skill references MCP servers, a mcp.json stub is also generated.
Stage 3: Write
Write the converted output to disk.
- Default output directory:
.agents/converter/<target>/<skill-name>/ - Write semantics: Clean-write. The target directory is deleted before writing. No merge with existing content.
CLI Usage
# Convert a single skill
bash skills/converter/scripts/convert.sh <skill-dir> <target> [output-dir]
bash skills/converter/scripts/convert.sh --codex-layout inline <skill-dir> codex [output-dir]
# Convert all skills
bash skills/converter/scripts/convert.sh --all <target> [output-dir]
Arguments
| Argument | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
skill-dir |
Yes (or --all) |
Path to skill directory (e.g. skills/council) |
target |
Yes | Target platform: codex, cursor, or test |
output-dir |
No | Override output location. Default: .agents/converter/<target>/<skill-name>/ |
--all |
No | Convert all skills in skills/ directory |
--codex-layout |
No | Codex-only layout mode: modular (default) or inline (legacy inlined refs/scripts) |
Supported Targets
- codex -- Convert to OpenAI Codex format (
SKILL.md+prompt.md) with runtime-neutral rewrites and flataoCLI preservation. Default is modular output with copied resources and a local-resource index; pass--codex-layout inlinefor legacy inlined refs/scripts. Missing copied resources fail fast. - cursor -- Convert to Cursor rules format (
.mdcrule file + optionalmcp.json). Output:<dir>/<name>.mdcand optionally<dir>/mcp.json. - test -- Emit the raw SkillBundle as structured markdown. Useful for debugging the parse stage.
Extending
To add a new target platform:
- Add a conversion function to
scripts/convert.sh(pattern:convert_<target>) - Update the target table above
- Add reference docs to
references/if the target format needs documentation
Examples
Converting a single skill to Codex format
Caller asks: Convert skills/council to Codex format.
What happens:
- The converter parses
skills/council/SKILL.mdfrontmatter, markdown body, and anyreferences/andscripts/files into a SkillBundle. - The Codex adapter transforms the bundle into a
SKILL.md(body + inlined references + scripts as code blocks) and aprompt.md(Codex prompt referencing the skill). - Output is written to
.agents/converter/codex/council/.
Result: A Codex-compatible skill package ready to use with OpenAI Codex CLI.
Batch-converting all skills to Cursor rules
Caller asks: Convert all canonical skills to Cursor format.
What happens:
- The converter scans every directory under
skills/and parses each into a SkillBundle. - The Cursor adapter transforms each bundle into a
.mdcrule file with YAML frontmatter and body content, budget-fitted to 100KB max. Skills referencing MCP servers also get amcp.jsonstub. - Each skill's output is written to
.agents/converter/cursor/<skill-name>/.
Result: All skills are available as Cursor rules, ready to drop into a .cursor/rules/ directory.
Troubleshooting
| Problem | Cause | Solution |
|---|---|---|
parse error: no frontmatter found |
SKILL.md is missing the --- delimited YAML frontmatter block |
Add frontmatter with at least name: and description: fields, or run Heal Skill on the source package first |
Cursor .mdc output is missing references |
Total bundle size exceeded the 100KB budget limit | The converter omits references largest-first to fit the budget. Split large reference files or move non-essential content to external docs |
| Output directory already has old files | Previous conversion artifacts remain | This is expected -- the converter clean-writes by deleting the target directory before writing. If old files persist, manually delete .agents/converter/<target>/<skill>/ |
--all skips a skill directory |
The directory has no SKILL.md file |
Ensure each skill directory contains a valid SKILL.md. Run Heal Skill to detect empty directories |
Codex prompt.md description is truncated |
The skill description exceeds 1024 characters | This is by design. The converter truncates at a word boundary to fit Codex limits. Shorten the description in SKILL.md frontmatter if the truncation point is awkward |
| Conversion fails with passthrough parity check | A resource entry from source skill wasn't copied to output | Ensure source entries are readable and copyable (including nested files). Re-run conversion; failure is intentional to prevent drift between skills/ and converted output |
Output Specification
- Path:
.agents/converter/<target>/<skill-name>/by default, or the exact caller-supplied output directory. - Filename: Codex emits
SKILL.md,prompt.md, and copied resources; Cursor emits<skill-name>.mdcand optionalmcp.json;testemits the raw bundle representation. - Format: target-valid UTF-8 text with required frontmatter, rewritten runtime references, and byte-present passthrough resources; Cursor output remains within 100KB.
- Exit code: run
bash skills/converter/scripts/convert.sh <skill-dir> <target> <output-dir>and require zero; treat parse, budget, write, or passthrough-parity failure as nonzero and incomplete. - Downstream handoff: report the source skill, target, output directory, layout, omitted Cursor references if any, and validation result to the installer or projection gate.
Quality Checklist
- The source tree is unchanged and the output tree contains no files left over from an earlier conversion.
- Every required target file parses with its target frontmatter/schema and every eligible source resource is present.
- Runtime-specific rewrites preserve the source meaning without reintroducing deprecated command forms or foreign-runtime paths.
References
references/skill-bundle-schema.md-- SkillBundle interchange format specification
Reference Documents
- references/skill-bundle-schema.md
Source: hashgraph-online/awesome-codex-plugins → plugins/boshu2/agentops/skills-codex/converter/SKILL.md