Pack Create

You are the PACK-CREATE skill — scaffolds a new pack in <repo>/packs/<name>/ or ~/.lintel/packs/<name>/.

What this skill does

Creates a new pack directory + manifest. Three modes:

• Blank pack: starts from packs/_default/pack.yaml skeleton (every field declared with neutral value)
• Extending pack: declares its identity and extends: <parent-name>; inherits the parent's blocks and declares only intentional overrides
• Cloned pack: copies an existing pack as a starting point (operator edits per their needs)

When to use

• Operator wants a new pack for a fresh customer/team/domain
• Sister pack to an existing pack (extends: shared parent)
• Forking an existing pack for an isolated experiment

When NOT to use

• Tweaking an existing pack — just edit packs/<name>/pack.yaml directly
• One-off override for a single workflow — use --mode on /li:cycle instead

Workflow

Step 1 — Resolve target location

LINTEL_HOME="${LINTEL_HOME:-$HOME/.lintel}"
pack_source_root="${LINTEL_SOURCE_ROOT:-${REPO_ROOT:-$LINTEL_HOME}}"
target_repo="${LINTEL_REPO_ROOT:-$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel 2>/dev/null || true)}"
[ -n "$target_repo" ] && LINTEL_REPO_ROOT="$target_repo"
source "$pack_source_root/lib/pack-resolver.sh"
REPO_PACKS="${target_repo:+$target_repo/packs}"
HOME_PACKS="$LINTEL_PACKS_DIR"

# Operator chooses scope: repo or configured pack store (normally ~/.lintel/packs).
# Default: repo if invoked inside a git repo with packs/ dir; else home

Use the authorized --scope repo|home; if the destination remains ambiguous, ask once and show the resolved path. home follows LINTEL_PACKS_DIR when configured. Repo scope requires a working repository. Resolve helper paths from the installed source bundle, not from the target repository; Copilot supplies LINTEL_SOURCE_ROOT.

Step 2 — Validate name + check existing

# Name must be kebab-case, filesystem-safe, not already taken
name="${1:?usage: /li:pack-create <name> [--extends <parent>]}"
echo "$name" | grep -qE '^[a-z][a-z0-9-]*$' || { echo "ERROR: name must be kebab-case"; exit 1; }
[ -d "$REPO_PACKS/$name" ] || [ -d "$HOME_PACKS/$name" ] && { echo "ERROR: pack '$name' already exists"; exit 1; }

Step 3 — Resolve template

Set extends from --extends, defaulting to empty. Resolve target_dir from the scope already chosen. Use either --from or --extends: cloning copies explicit overrides, while inheritance tracks its parent. A template is needed only for a blank or cloned pack.

if [ -z "${extends:-}" ]; then
  template_name="${from_pack:-_default}" # from_pack is the parsed --from argument
  template_dir=$(_pack_dir "$template_name") || { echo "ERROR: template pack missing"; exit 1; }
  template="$template_dir/pack.yaml"
  [ -f "$template" ] || { echo "ERROR: template manifest missing"; exit 1; }
fi

If --from <existing-pack>: use that pack's manifest as template instead.

Step 4 — Validate parent (if --extends)

if [ -n "${extends:-}" ]; then
  if ! validate_pack "$extends" 2>/dev/null; then
    echo "ERROR: parent pack '$extends' does not exist or fails validation"
    exit 1
  fi
fi

Step 5 — Write manifest

mkdir -p "$target_dir/$name"
if [ -n "${extends:-}" ]; then
  # A copied neutral compliance block would replace the enterprise parent's rules.
  # Omitted blocks inherit; an explicit child block replaces the whole parent block.
  printf 'schema_version: "1"\nname: %s\nversion: 1.0.0\nextends: %s\n' \
    "$name" "$extends" > "$target_dir/$name/pack.yaml"
else
  awk -v name="$name" '
    /^name:/ { print "name: " name; next }
    { print }
  ' "$template" > "$target_dir/$name/pack.yaml"
fi

Step 6 — Validate result

if validate_pack "$name" 2>&1; then
  echo "✓ Pack '$name' created at $target_dir/$name/"
else
  echo "ERROR: pack created but validation failed — review pack.yaml"; exit 1
fi

Step 7 — Audit + surface next steps

audit_log pack-lifecycle pack_created "name=$name" "extends=${extends:-none}" "scope=$scope"

Surface:

• Path to new pack
• "Activate with: /li:pack-switch $name"
• "List all packs: /li:pack-list"

Pause-points

• Step 1 if scope ambiguous: ask repo or home
• After Step 6 if validation fails: surface, ask to retry or abandon

Integration

Reads:

• packs/_default/pack.yaml (template)
• lib/pack-resolver.sh (validation)

Writes:

• <scope>/packs/<name>/pack.yaml
• ~/.lintel/audit/pack-lifecycle.jsonl

Triggers (recommends):

• /li:pack-switch <name> to activate the new pack
• /li:pack-list to confirm

Anti-patterns

• Creating a pack to override one field — edit pack.yaml of an existing pack instead
• Not validating extends parent — broken extends silently degrades to _default at runtime
• Copying neutral blocks into an inherited pack — child blocks replace the parent's complete block; only declare an override when the change is intentional
• Auto-activating after create — operator decides when to switch (avoids surprise behavior changes mid-session)