# Skills Installation Guide

> This guide explains how to install dependencies for Claude Code skills.

- Skill: `tools-only/skills-installation-guide` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 3 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add tools-only/skills-installation-guide`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/tools-only/skills-installation-guide/raw
- Safety review: pending (external: skill-scanner WARNING, skillspector WARNING)
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- Author: tools-only (https://skillmd.com/u/tools-only)
- Updated: 2026-09-29
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/tools-only/skills-installation-guide

---

# Skills Installation Guide

This guide explains how to install dependencies for Claude Code skills.

## Overview

Skills are organized into groups with Python utility scripts. Each skill's scripts directory contains a `requirements.txt` file listing dependencies.

## Quick Start

### Option 1: Install All Dependencies (Recommended)

```bash
# Create virtual environment
python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate  # On Windows: .venv\Scripts\activate

# Install all skill dependencies
pip install -r .claude/skills/ai-multimodal/scripts/requirements.txt

# Install test dependencies for development
pip install pytest pytest-cov pytest-mock
```

### Option 2: Install Per-Skill

Navigate to specific skill and install:

```bash
cd .claude/skills/ai-multimodal/scripts
pip install -r requirements.txt
```

## Skills Dependencies

### Python Package Dependencies

Most skills use only Python standard library. Only **ai-multimodal** requires external packages:

**ai-multimodal** (`.claude/skills/ai-multimodal/scripts/requirements.txt`):
- `google-genai>=0.1.0` - Google Gemini API
- `pypdf>=4.0.0` - PDF processing
- `python-docx>=1.0.0` - DOCX conversion
- `docx2pdf>=0.1.8` - PDF conversion (Windows only)
- `markdown>=3.5.0` - Markdown processing
- `Pillow>=10.0.0` - Image processing
- `python-dotenv>=1.0.0` - Environment variables

### System Tool Dependencies

Several skills require external CLI tools:

#### media-processing
- **FFmpeg**: Video/audio processing
  - Ubuntu/Debian: `sudo apt-get install ffmpeg`
  - macOS: `brew install ffmpeg`
  - Windows: `choco install ffmpeg`
- **ImageMagick**: Image processing
  - Ubuntu/Debian: `sudo apt-get install imagemagick`
  - macOS: `brew install imagemagick`
  - Windows: `choco install imagemagick`

#### devops
- **Cloudflare Wrangler**: `npm install -g wrangler`
- **Docker**: https://docs.docker.com/get-docker/
- **Google Cloud CLI**: https://cloud.google.com/sdk/docs/install

#### better-auth, repomix, shopify
- **Node.js 18+**: https://nodejs.org/
- **Better Auth**: `npm install better-auth`
- **Repomix**: `npm install -g repomix`
- **Shopify CLI**: `npm install -g @shopify/cli @shopify/theme`

#### databases
- **PostgreSQL client**: `sudo apt-get install postgresql-client` (Linux)
- **MongoDB Shell**: https://www.mongodb.com/try/download/shell
- **MongoDB Tools**: https://www.mongodb.com/try/download/database-tools

#### web-frameworks, ui-styling
- **Node.js 18+**: https://nodejs.org/
- **pnpm**: `npm install -g pnpm`
- **yarn**: `npm install -g yarn`

## Installation by Platform

### Linux (Ubuntu/Debian)

```bash
# Python environment
python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate

# Python packages (ai-multimodal only)
cd .claude/skills/ai-multimodal/scripts
pip install -r requirements.txt

# System tools
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y ffmpeg imagemagick postgresql-client

# Node.js and tools
curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_20.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt-get install -y nodejs
npm install -g pnpm wrangler repomix @shopify/cli
```

### macOS

```bash
# Python environment
python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate

# Python packages (ai-multimodal only)
cd .claude/skills/ai-multimodal/scripts
pip install -r requirements.txt

# System tools via Homebrew
brew install ffmpeg imagemagick postgresql

# Node.js and tools
brew install node
npm install -g pnpm wrangler repomix @shopify/cli
```

### Windows

```powershell
# Python environment
python -m venv .venv
.venv\Scripts\activate

# Python packages (ai-multimodal only)
cd .claude\skills\ai-multimodal\scripts
pip install -r requirements.txt

# System tools via Chocolatey
choco install ffmpeg imagemagick nodejs

# Node.js tools
npm install -g pnpm wrangler repomix @shopify/cli
```

## Testing Dependencies

All skills include test dependencies in `requirements.txt`:

```txt
pytest>=8.0.0
pytest-cov>=4.1.0
pytest-mock>=3.12.0
```

To run tests for a skill:

```bash
cd .claude/skills/{skill-name}/scripts
python -m pytest tests/ -v --cov=. --cov-report=term-missing
```

## Environment Variables

Skills respect environment variable loading priority:

1. **process.env** (highest priority - runtime environment)
2. **`.claude/skills/{skill-name}/.env`** (skill-specific config)
3. **`.claude/skills/.env`** (shared skills config)
4. **`.claude/.env`** (global Claude config)

Example `.env` files are provided where needed (e.g., `devops/.env.example`).

## Troubleshooting

### "externally-managed-environment" Error

If you see this error when installing packages:

```bash
# Use virtual environment (recommended)
python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt

# Or use pipx for CLI tools
pipx install google-genai
```

### Missing System Tools

If scripts fail with "command not found":

```bash
# Check if tool is installed
which ffmpeg
which docker
which node

# Verify tool works
ffmpeg -version
docker --version
node --version
```

### Permission Errors

On Linux/macOS, you may need to make scripts executable:

```bash
chmod +x .claude/skills/*/scripts/*.py
```

## Minimal Installation

If you only want to use specific skills:

**For ai-multimodal only:**
```bash
pip install google-genai pypdf python-docx markdown Pillow python-dotenv
```

**For media-processing only:**
```bash
# macOS
brew install ffmpeg imagemagick

# Linux
sudo apt-get install ffmpeg imagemagick
```

**For other skills:**
Most other skills (better-auth, repomix, shopify, devops, web-frameworks, ui-styling, databases) use only Python stdlib and require no `pip install`.

## Development Setup

For contributors working on skills:

```bash
# Install all test dependencies
pip install pytest pytest-cov pytest-mock

# Install pre-commit hooks (if available)
pre-commit install

# Run all tests
pytest .claude/skills/*/scripts/tests/ -v

# Check coverage across all skills
pytest .claude/skills/*/scripts/tests/ --cov=.claude/skills --cov-report=html
```

## Skill-Specific Notes

### ai-multimodal
- Requires `GEMINI_API_KEY` in environment
- Get API key: https://aistudio.google.com/app/apikey
- Windows users: `docx2pdf` requires Microsoft Word installed

### media-processing
- FFmpeg must be in PATH
- ImageMagick must be in PATH
- Test with: `ffmpeg -version` and `convert -version`

### devops
- Cloudflare: Requires `CLOUDFLARE_API_TOKEN` and `CLOUDFLARE_ACCOUNT_ID`
- GCloud: Requires `GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS` path to service account JSON
- Docker: Must have Docker daemon running

### shopify
- Requires Shopify CLI authentication: `shopify auth login`
- Partner account needed for app development

## Getting Help

If dependencies fail to install or scripts don't work:

1. Check the skill's `scripts/requirements.txt` for specific versions
2. Verify system tools are installed and in PATH
3. Check environment variables are set correctly
4. Review skill's `SKILL.md` for additional setup instructions
5. Open an issue: https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues