Pak Publish Workflow

PAK Publish Workflow

Complete workflow for validating and publishing skills to the PAK registry at paks.stakpak.dev.

Constitutional Constraints

• Validate before publish - Never publish a skill without running paks validate first
• Quote YAML safely - Any description containing colons (:) must be wrapped in double quotes
• Commit before publish - All changes must be committed to git before publishing
• One skill at a time - Verify each skill publishes successfully before moving to the next

When to Use

• Publishing new skills to the PAK registry
• Batch publishing multiple skills
• Troubleshooting validation failures
• Setting up the paks CLI for the first time

Inputs

Workflow

Step 1: Install PAK CLI

First-time setup only.

# macOS/Linux via Homebrew
brew tap stakpak/stakpak
brew install paks

# Verify installation
paks --version

Step 2: Validate Skill

Before publishing, ensure the skill passes validation.

cd /path/to/skill-directory
paks validate .

Common Validation Errors:

Fix: Colon in Description

❌ Invalid:

description: Analyze this: and that

✅ Valid:

description: "Analyze this - and that"

Step 3: Commit Changes

Skills must be committed before publishing.

git add skill-directory/
git commit -m "Add skill-name skill"
git push origin main

Step 4: Publish to Registry

Single skill:

paks publish skill-directory -y

Batch publish:

for skill in skill1 skill2 skill3; do
  echo "Publishing $skill..."
  paks publish "$skill" -y
done

Publish persona bundles:

for bundle in persona-bundles/*/; do
  paks publish "$bundle" -y
done

Step 5: Verify Publication

# Search for your skill
paks search skill-name

# View skill details
paks info owner/skill-name

# Test installation
paks install owner/skill-name

Browse at: https://paks.stakpak.dev

Output Format

## PAK Publish Report

### Skills Published

| Skill | Version | Status |
|-------|---------|--------|
| walkability-audit | v1.0.2305 | ✅ Published |
| induced-demand-analysis | v1.0.2306 | ✅ Published |

### Validation Issues Fixed

| Skill | Issue | Fix Applied |
|-------|-------|-------------|
| walkability-audit | Colon in description | Quoted description |

### Verification

- Registry search: `paks search urban-planning` ✅
- Install test: `paks install owner/skill` ✅

Error Handling

Example

Input: Publish all urban planner skills to PAK

Execution:

1. Validate all skills:

cd /Users/ziggs/Documents/InfiniteBackroom/paks-skills

for skill in walkability-audit induced-demand-analysis brt-system-design; do
  if paks validate "$skill" > /dev/null 2>&1; then
    echo "✓ $skill valid"
  else
    echo "✗ $skill INVALID"
  fi
done

2. Fix any validation errors:

# If description has colon, edit SKILL.md:
# Change: description: Text with: colon
# To:     description: "Text with - colon"

3. Commit fixes:

git add .
git commit -m "Fix YAML frontmatter for PAK validation"
git push origin main

4. Publish all:

for skill in walkability-audit induced-demand-analysis brt-system-design; do
  paks publish "$skill" -y
done

5. Verify:

paks search walkability
# Output: sethmblack/walkability-audit

Quick Reference

Integration

This skill pairs well with:

• skill-creation - Create new skills before publishing
• yaml-validation - Catch frontmatter issues early