Skill Zip Export

Exports a note as a Claude skill zip, with SKILL.md built from the note properties and the scripts, references, and assets subfolders included.

Features

• Command Export active note as Claude skill (zip) creates <name>.zip containing <name>/SKILL.md and the optional subfolders.
• name and description are taken from the note properties; the note body becomes the skill instructions. Other properties (for example model and temperature) are not exported.
• New notes created directly in the configured skills folder receive the full subtree automatically.
• The destination of the zip can be a vault folder or any absolute path on disk.

Requirements

• Obsidian desktop (version 1.5.0 or later). Mobile is not supported, because child processes are used.
• Windows: PowerShell (Compress-Archive), included with Windows.
• Linux and macOS: bash and zip. The zip tool is included with macOS and can be installed on most Linux distributions (for example sudo apt install zip).

Installation

Community plugins (once listed): Settings, Community plugins, Browse, search for "Skill Zip Export", Install, Enable.

Manual: copy main.js and manifest.json from the latest release into <vault>/.obsidian/plugins/skill-zip-export/, reload Obsidian, and enable the plugin.

Usage

Note format

---
name: my-skill
description: Does X when the user asks for Y. Use when Z.
---

Instructions of the skill. Additional files are referenced by relative
path, for example references/api.md.

• name: lowercase letters, numbers, and hyphens (other characters are converted; the file name is used if the property is missing).
• description: required, at most 1024 characters. It states what the skill does and when it applies.
• The note body must not be empty.

Folder layout

Skills/my-skill/
  my-skill.md
  scripts/
  references/
  assets/

Resulting archive:

my-skill.zip
  my-skill/
    SKILL.md
    scripts/
    references/
    assets/

Only scripts, references, and assets next to the note are included. Files that Obsidian does not display (for example .py or .ps1) must be added through the file system; they are copied correctly.

Running the export

1. Open the skill note so that it is the active note.
2. Open the command palette (Ctrl+P, or Cmd+P on macOS).
3. Run Skill Zip Export: Export active note as Claude skill (zip).

A notice shows the path of the created file. The zip is written to the output folder from the settings; Obsidian does not display zip files in the file explorer, so the file is opened through the system file manager. A keyboard shortcut can be assigned under Settings, Hotkeys, by searching for "Skill Zip Export". If the export fails, a notice names the missing item (for example the description property), and further details are shown in the developer console (Ctrl+Shift+I).

Automatic subtree

When a new note is created directly inside the skills folder, the plugin creates a folder named after the note, adds the three subfolders, and moves the note into the new folder. An empty note receives empty name and description properties. Renaming the note afterwards (for example from Untitled) renames the folder as well, provided that the note had the same name as its folder and that no folder with the new name exists. The skill name in the archive is always read from the name property, and the file name is used only if the property is missing.

Settings

Upload to Claude

Settings, Capabilities, Skills, Upload skill (the wording may differ between versions).

Limitations

• Desktop only.
• Older builds of Windows PowerShell 5.1 can write backslashes in archive paths; if an upload fails for this reason, replace Compress-Archive in main.js with tar.exe -a -c -f.

License

MIT