Skill To Card

Skill-to-Card Pipeline

Creates a skill, publishes it privately to Sundial, generates a trading card, and prints it.

Step 1: Create the Skill

Gather from the user: what the skill should do, concrete usage examples, and any attached files/context.

Read references/skill-creation-guide.md for the full skill creation spec — anatomy, frontmatter rules, body writing guidelines, and design patterns. Follow it exactly.

Use a YAML-safe frontmatter description format for long text:

---
name: skill-name
description: >-
  What the skill does and when to use it. Trigger phrases include:
  "example one", "example two", "example three".
---

Validate frontmatter before push:

npx -y -p gray-matter node -e '
const fs = require("fs");
const matter = require("gray-matter");
const file = process.argv[1];
const src = fs.readFileSync(file, "utf8");
const { data } = matter(src);
if (!data.name || !data.description) {
  throw new Error("SKILL.md frontmatter must include name + description");
}
console.log("Frontmatter OK");
' /absolute/path/to/skill-dir/SKILL.md

Step 2: Publish to Sundial (Private)

1. Authenticate via env var (preferred) or interactive login:

   # Option A: env var (no interactive login needed)
   export SUNDIAL_TOKEN="your-token-here"
   # Option B: interactive
   npx sundial-hub auth login
   

2. Push as private. Use an absolute path to the skill directory. Categories are space-separated (not comma-separated):

   npx sundial-hub push /absolute/path/to/skill-dir \
     --version 1.0.0 \
     --changelog "Initial release" \
     --visibility private \
     --categories creative writing
   

   Valid categories (pick 1-3): product, research, outreach, marketing, admin, health, creative, financial, learning, community, coding, writing, other.

   The push output looks like:

   ✔ Created skill-name v1 on the hub
   View on hub: https://www.sundialhub.com/AUTHOR/SKILL_NAME
   Push complete!
   Skill page: https://www.sundialhub.com/AUTHOR/SKILL_NAME
   

   Parse the author and skill name from this output.

   Important: There is no info or show --json command. Do NOT try npx sundial-hub info — it doesn't exist.

3. After push, fetch generated metadata (including use_cases) via the API:

   curl -s "https://www.sundialhub.com/api/hub/skills/by-author-name/AUTHOR/SKILL_NAME" \
     -H "Authorization: Bearer $SUNDIAL_TOKEN" | python3 -m json.tool
   

   The response JSON has this structure:

   {
     "skill": {
       "name": "skill-name",
       "author": "author-name",
       "description": "...",
       "use_cases": [
         {"title": "Power Name", "desc": "What it does", "icon": "emoji"},
         ...
       ]
     }
   }
   

   use_cases are generated server-side from the skill content. Extract them for the card's Powers. For cards, do not pass all use cases:

   • Keep only 2 or 3 total powers
   • If 3+ exist, use the first 3
   • If only 2 exist, use both
   • Never pass more than 3 --powers arguments

Step 3: Generate Trading Card

Use the bundled script to generate both front and back. You MUST pass --reference-front and --reference-back explicitly — do NOT rely on defaults, they won't resolve correctly.

First, locate the template files bundled with this skill:

• templates/reference-front.jpg — the canonical front card style (cartoon/anime, warm golden)
• templates/reference-back.png — the canonical back card with QR code area

Then run:

uv run SKILL_DIR/scripts/generate_single_card.py \
  --name "Skill Display Name" \
  --author "author-name" \
  --slug "author/skill-name" \
  --reference-front SKILL_DIR/templates/reference-front.jpg \
  --reference-back SKILL_DIR/templates/reference-back.png \
  --character "vivid character description matching the skill's theme — a person or creature with visual elements that represent what the skill does, wearing themed attire, dynamic pose" \
  --powers "emoji **Power Title** -- Power description" \
  --powers "emoji **Power Title** -- Power description" \
  --powers "emoji **Power Title** -- Power description" \
  --rarity Common \
  --qr-url "https://sundialhub.com/author/skill-name" \
  --side both \
  --output-dir /tmp/trading-cards/skill-name

Where SKILL_DIR is the absolute path to this skill-to-card directory. Use absolute paths for all file arguments.

Card data mapping

• name: Skill display name (title case)
• author: From API response skill.author
• slug: author/skill-name
• powers: Map only the selected 2-3 card use cases to: "{icon} **{title}** -- {desc}". Pass each as a separate --powers argument (2 or 3 total).
• character: Invent a vivid fantasy character matching the skill's theme. Include appearance, outfit with skill-themed elements, pose, and expression.
• rarity: New skills default to Common.
• url: https://sundialhub.com/{slug} — used for QR code on card back

Requirements

• GEMINI_API_KEY env var must be set
• Templates are bundled at templates/reference-front.jpg and templates/reference-back.png

Step 4: Print the Card

Printer connection TBD

# Placeholder — replace with actual printer command when connected
# print-card --front /tmp/trading-cards/{name}-common.png \
#            --back /tmp/trading-cards/{name}-common-back.png \
#            --printer PRINTER_NAME
echo "Card images saved to /tmp/trading-cards/{skill-name}/"

Show the user the generated card images and inform them where the files are saved.