# Setup

> Verify where this repository's skills live for skill-quality, the resolved skills_root, and explain how to change the personal skills_root option through Claude Code. Use when: 'set up skill-quality', 'configure skill-quality', or the checker reports a missing skills directory. Check-only: verifies, reports, and prints reconfiguration guidance; there is nothing setup may write here. Re-runnable and safe.

- Skill: `melodic-software/setup-41` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 2 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add melodic-software/setup-41`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/melodic-software/setup-41/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- Author: melodic-software (https://skillmd.com/u/melodic-software)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/melodic-software/setup-41

---


## Purpose

Check-only setup under the Check-only carve-out (`docs/PLUGIN-PHILOSOPHY.md` "Setup is explicit
and repeatable" in the marketplace repository): this plugin's configuration surface contains no
writable artifact, so `check` resolves and verifies the skills root and prints the reconfiguration
guidance below, and no `apply` is offered because there is nothing it could conformingly write.
`skills_root` is a personal `userConfig` scalar owned by Claude Code's native configuration
surface. Claude Code prompts for it when the plugin is enabled, stores non-sensitive options in
user settings, and ignores `pluginConfigs` entries in a project's `.claude/settings.json` or
`.claude/settings.local.json`. Releases before 2.1.207 read those entries.
This skill never writes it.

Official contract, verified 2026-09-06 against Claude Code 2.1.263:
<https://code.claude.com/docs/en/plugins-reference#user-configuration>. Recheck when that page
stops naming the three settings sources it reads `pluginConfigs` from, or when a release note
names `pluginConfigs` scope.

Action routing: no argument or `check` runs the check. Non-interactive, never prompts.

## `check` (read-only)

Read the rendered `${user_config.skills_root}` value. Never inspect or edit settings files or
`pluginConfigs` directly. Resolve the candidate root, verify it, and report PASS/FAIL/INFO with one
remediation per FAIL. Do not modify anything.

1. **Resolve the root** in order: configured `skills_root`; else `${CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR}/.claude/skills`;
   else repository directories containing child `SKILL.md` files. Report which rung resolved (INFO when
   the zero-config default `.claude/skills` applies).
2. **Verify** the resolved root exists and enumerates skills (child `SKILL.md` files). PASS with the
   directory and skill count; FAIL when it is absent or empty, with the resolution result in the
   remediation line. Never claim success for a missing directory.

## Reconfiguration guidance (printed by `check`; the operator applies it)

This skill has no legitimate write of its own. `skills_root` lives in Claude Code's native config
surface, which setup must not hand-edit (Check-only carve-out, native `userConfig` class), so
`check` closes by routing rather than writing:

- **Skills not found / wrong root (FAIL):** if the skills live somewhere other than the resolved root,
  the personal `skills_root` should point there. Reconfigure through the path below, then rerun `check`.
- **Reconfiguring the personal option:** through Claude Code's native flow, per the marketplace's
  plugin-reconfiguration convention
  (<https://github.com/melodic-software/claude-code-plugins/blob/main/docs/conventions/plugin-reconfiguration/README.md>,
  which owns the verified-version record): interactive `/plugin configure skill-quality@<marketplace>`
  any time, or headless `claude plugin install skill-quality@<marketplace> -s <scope> --config skills_root=<dir>`
  (repeatable per key) — against an already-installed plugin it prints `already installed` and
  still writes the value. Do **not** uninstall to reconfigure: that drops this plugin's entire
  stored `pluginConfigs` entry, resetting every option in the README's Options reference to its
  manifest default. `-s` defaults to `user`; pass the scope `claude plugin list` reports, and run
  from that project's directory for a `project`/`local` scope, or the write lands at a scope that
  does not load. This skill never writes user settings or `pluginConfigs`.
- **One-run override (no persistence):** for a single run against a different root, the checker also
  honors the `CHECK_SKILL_SKILLS_ROOT` environment variable; do not persist that variable on the user's
  behalf.

After any reconfiguration, rerun `check` **in a fresh session** and verify by invoking
`/skill-quality:check` via the Skill tool, without turning setup into the full quality audit. The
fresh session is not optional: the rendered `${user_config.skills_root}` is injected when this skill
loads, so a same-session rerun still resolves the OLD root and would report a correct write as a
failure. Re-running `check` when the root resolves and enumerates changes nothing and reports
"already configured".

## What this skill does NOT do

- Write the plugin cache, Claude Code user settings, or `pluginConfigs`.
- Persist the `CHECK_SKILL_SKILLS_ROOT` environment override.
- Perform the full skill-quality audit, or invent organization-specific paths, IDs, or env-var prefixes.