How do I install the Package Layout skill?

Run npx skillmds@latest add using-system/package-layout in your terminal (requires Node.js), paste this page's agent-chat prompt into Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-connected agent, or download the SKILL.md file and copy it into your agent's skills directory.

Is Package Layout safe to use?

This skill has not completed SkillMD's automated safety review yet. SkillMD never runs a skill's scripts for you; review the SKILL.md before installing.

Which AI agents work with Package Layout?

This skill is tagged as working with Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex. SKILL.md is an open format, so most agents that read a skills directory can load it too.

Is Package Layout free to use?

Yes. Installing skills from SkillMD is free, and the skill stays under its author's original license.

Who published Package Layout?

using-system (@using-system) published this skill. Their other Agent Skills are listed on their SkillMD profile.

Package Layout by using-system — Agent Skill

Name: Package Layout
Author: using-system

Package Layout

Where this package is installed and what each part of it is - every skill, its reference files, its scripts, and the sibling directories the install carries. Use when a mission block needs the skills' directory, when a contract must name a reference or a script by path, or when anything is about to look for the package on disk. The answer comes from the script's own location, so it is exact wherever a host installed the package, and nothing has to be searched for or written down in advance.

using-system cb0a797 2 files · 6.6 KB Updated Sep 17, 2026

File contents

Where the package is

A host installs this package wherever it likes. Nothing downstream can know that path in advance, and everything downstream needs it: a mission block's Skills: line, a contract pointing at a reference file, an agent about to run a skill's script.

Working it out is not a task for an agent. One that tries globs the repository, opens whatever it meets on the way, and spends turns on it before any work begins — measured, in one observation preflight: 34 file reads and 13 globs against 16 shell commands, including an unrelated command file it found while looking.

Ask the installation where it is

python3 <this skill's directory>/scripts/layout.py              # the whole map
python3 <this skill's directory>/scripts/layout.py --skill <name>   # one skill
python3 <this skill's directory>/scripts/layout.py --json           # parseable

That is the whole surface — --skill and --json, nothing required — so --help has nothing to add and the file has nothing to read.

It prints the skills' root and the sibling directories the install carries, then, per skill, its SKILL.md, its references/<name>.md and its scripts/<name>. --skill <name> narrows it to one, which is what a mission block needs; an unknown name exits 1 and lists what is installed.

The script sits inside the installation, so its own location is the answer: no path is hardcoded, no directory is searched, and it costs about fifty milliseconds. It describes an installation and never judges one — a skill without references or scripts simply shows none.

What to do with it

Carry the path, never the search. A caller that dispatches an agent puts the skills' root in the mission block; a contract that names a reference gives the path this script printed. An agent that receives one opens the file; an agent that receives none runs this script rather than looking around.

Never write an install path into a committed file. The paths this prints are a machine's, and a report or a spec that quotes one is wrong on every other machine — and, under a home directory, names the user.

---name: package-layoutdescription: Where this package is installed and what each part of it is - every skill, its reference files, its scripts, and the sibling directories the install carries. Use when a mission block needs the skills' directory, when a contract must name a reference or a script by path, or when anything is about to look for the package on disk. The answer comes from the script's own location, so it is exact wherever a host installed the package, and nothing has to be searched for or written down in advance.---# Where the package isA host installs this package wherever it likes. Nothing downstream canknow that path in advance, and everything downstream needs it: a missionblock's `Skills:` line, a contract pointing at a reference file, anagent about to run a skill's script.Working it out is not a task for an agent. One that tries globs therepository, opens whatever it meets on the way, and spends turns on itbefore any work begins — measured, in one observation preflight: 34 filereads and 13 globs against 16 shell commands, including an unrelatedcommand file it found while looking.## Ask the installation where it is```bashpython3 <this skill's directory>/scripts/layout.py # the whole mappython3 <this skill's directory>/scripts/layout.py --skill <name> # one skillpython3 <this skill's directory>/scripts/layout.py --json # parseable```That is the whole surface — `--skill` and `--json`, nothing required —so `--help` has nothing to add and the file has nothing to read.It prints the skills' root and the sibling directories the installcarries, then, per skill, its `SKILL.md`, its `references/<name>.md`and its `scripts/<name>`. `--skill <name>` narrows it to one, which iswhat a mission block needs; an unknown name exits 1 and lists what isinstalled.The script sits inside the installation, so its own location is theanswer: no path is hardcoded, no directory is searched, and it costsabout fifty milliseconds. It describes an installation and never judgesone — a skill without references or scripts simply shows none.## What to do with it**Carry the path, never the search.** A caller that dispatches an agentputs the skills' root in the mission block; a contract that names areference gives the path this script printed. An agent that receives oneopens the file; an agent that receives none runs this script rather thanlooking around.**Never write an install path into a committed file.** The paths thisprints are a machine's, and a report or a spec that quotes one is wrongon every other machine — and, under a home directory, names the user.

Frequently asked questions