Agent skill

Perl Patterns

by affaan-m in affaan-m/ECC

Modern Perl 5.36+ idioms, best practices, and conventions for building robust, maintainable Perl applications.

MITAuto-check passedDevelopment

Install Perl Patterns

skills CLI
$ npx skills add affaan-m/ECC --skill perl-patterns -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install affaan-m/ECC perl-patterns --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/affaan-m/ECC.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/perl-patterns .claude/skills/perl-patterns && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.

Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/

Facts

Skill name
perl-patterns
GitHub stars
276k
Used in
4 other repos
Token cost
~2.9k tokens
SKILL.md length
343 words
Files
1
Skills in repo
683
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

Modern Perl 5.36+ idioms, best practices, and conventions for building robust, maintainable Perl applications.

  • Works in 5 steps: Use v5.36 Pragma → Subroutine Signatures → Context Sensitivity → …
  • Reviewing modern Perl 5.36+ code
  • SKILL.md covers When to Activate, How It Works, Core Principles and Error Handling, plus 6 more sections
  • Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md

What it does

Perl Patterns is an agent skill from affaan-m/ECC. Modern Perl 5.36+ idioms, best practices, and conventions for building robust, maintainable Perl applications. Use when writing or reviewing modern Perl 5.36+ code.

Its SKILL.md is about 2.9k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. It is a single SKILL.md file with no bundled scripts.

It sits in Development. The repository describes itself as: The agent harness performance optimization system. Skills, instincts, memory, security, and research-first development for Claude Code, Codex, Opencode, Cursor and beyond. The licence is MIT.

When your agent uses it

  • Reviewing modern Perl 5.36+ code

Example prompts

  • “/perl-patterns”

Workflow steps

5 steps, taken from the step headings in SKILL.md.

  1. Use v5.36 Pragma
  2. Subroutine Signatures
  3. Context Sensitivity
  4. Postfix Dereferencing
  5. The isa Operator (5.32+)

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 4eb71d9. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

  • Tool permissions

    Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

    From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

  • Runs code

    No scripts in the folder and no shell commands in SKILL.md (its code samples are perl, ini and bash).

    From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

  • Network

    No URLs in SKILL.md.

    From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

  • Credentials

    Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

    From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Perl Patterns loads about 2.9k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 45 tokens; SKILL.md has 343 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~45
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~2.9k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Auto-check passed

The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from affaan-m/ECC at commit 4eb71d9, republished under its MIT licence (© affaan-m). 343 words, ~2,870 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/perl-patterns/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).
name
perl-patterns
description
Modern Perl 5.36+ idioms, best practices, and conventions for building robust, maintainable Perl applications. Use when writing or reviewing modern Perl 5.36+ code.
metadata.origin
ECC

Modern Perl Development Patterns

Idiomatic Perl 5.36+ patterns and best practices for building robust, maintainable applications.

When to Activate

  • Writing new Perl code or modules
  • Reviewing Perl code for idiom compliance
  • Refactoring legacy Perl to modern standards
  • Designing Perl module architecture
  • Migrating pre-5.36 code to modern Perl

How It Works

Apply these patterns as a bias toward modern Perl 5.36+ defaults: signatures, explicit modules, focused error handling, and testable boundaries. The examples below are meant to be copied as starting points, then tightened for the actual app, dependency stack, and deployment model in front of you.

Core Principles

1. Use v5.36 Pragma

A single use v5.36 replaces the old boilerplate and enables strict, warnings, and subroutine signatures.

perl
# Good: Modern preamble
use v5.36;

sub greet($name) {
    say "Hello, $name!";
}

# Bad: Legacy boilerplate
use strict;
use warnings;
use feature 'say', 'signatures';
no warnings 'experimental::signatures';

sub greet {
    my ($name) = @_;
    say "Hello, $name!";
}
2. Subroutine Signatures

Use signatures for clarity and automatic arity checking.

perl
use v5.36;

# Good: Signatures with defaults
sub connect_db($host, $port = 5432, $timeout = 30) {
    # $host is required, others have defaults
    return DBI->connect("dbi:Pg:host=$host;port=$port", undef, undef, {
        RaiseError => 1,
        PrintError => 0,
    });
}

# Good: Slurpy parameter for variable args
sub log_message($level, @details) {
    say "[$level] " . join(' ', @details);
}

# Bad: Manual argument unpacking
sub connect_db {
    my ($host, $port, $timeout) = @_;
    $port    //= 5432;
    $timeout //= 30;
    # ...
}
3. Context Sensitivity

Understand scalar vs list context — a core Perl concept.

perl
use v5.36;

my @items = (1, 2, 3, 4, 5);

my @copy  = @items;            # List context: all elements
my $count = @items;            # Scalar context: count (5)
say "Items: " . scalar @items; # Force scalar context
4. Postfix Dereferencing

Use postfix dereference syntax for readability with nested structures.

perl
use v5.36;

my $data = {
    users => [
        { name => 'Alice', roles => ['admin', 'user'] },
        { name => 'Bob',   roles => ['user'] },
    ],
};

# Good: Postfix dereferencing
my @users = $data->{users}->@*;
my @roles = $data->{users}[0]{roles}->@*;
my %first = $data->{users}[0]->%*;

# Bad: Circumfix dereferencing (harder to read in chains)
my @users = @{ $data->{users} };
my @roles = @{ $data->{users}[0]{roles} };
5. The isa Operator (5.32+)

Infix type-check — replaces blessed($o) && $o->isa('X').

perl
use v5.36;
if ($obj isa 'My::Class') { $obj->do_something }

Error Handling

eval/die Pattern
perl
use v5.36;

sub parse_config($path) {
    my $content = eval { path($path)->slurp_utf8 };
    die "Config error: $@" if $@;
    return decode_json($content);
}
Try::Tiny (Reliable Exception Handling)
perl
use v5.36;
use Try::Tiny;

sub fetch_user($id) {
    my $user = try {
        $db->resultset('User')->find($id)
            // die "User $id not found\n";
    }
    catch {
        warn "Failed to fetch user $id: $_";
        undef;
    };
    return $user;
}
Native try/catch (5.40+)
perl
use v5.40;

sub divide($x, $y) {
    try {
        die "Division by zero" if $y == 0;
        return $x / $y;
    }
    catch ($e) {
        warn "Error: $e";
        return;
    }
}

Modern OO with Moo

Prefer Moo for lightweight, modern OO. Use Moose only when its metaprotocol is needed.

perl
# Good: Moo class
package User;
use Moo;
use Types::Standard qw(Str Int ArrayRef);
use namespace::autoclean;

has name  => (is => 'ro', isa => Str, required => 1);
has email => (is => 'ro', isa => Str, required => 1);
has age   => (is => 'ro', isa => Int, default  => sub { 0 });
has roles => (is => 'ro', isa => ArrayRef[Str], default => sub { [] });

sub is_admin($self) {
    return grep { $_ eq 'admin' } $self->roles->@*;
}

sub greet($self) {
    return "Hello, I'm " . $self->name;
}

1;

# Usage
my $user = User->new(
    name  => 'Alice',
    email => 'alice@example.com',
    roles => ['admin', 'user'],
);

# Bad: Blessed hashref (no validation, no accessors)
package User;
sub new {
    my ($class, %args) = @_;
    return bless \%args, $class;
}
sub name { return $_[0]->{name} }
1;
Moo Roles
perl
package Role::Serializable;
use Moo::Role;
use JSON::MaybeXS qw(encode_json);
requires 'TO_HASH';
sub to_json($self) { encode_json($self->TO_HASH) }
1;

package User;
use Moo;
with 'Role::Serializable';
has name  => (is => 'ro', required => 1);
has email => (is => 'ro', required => 1);
sub TO_HASH($self) { { name => $self->name, email => $self->email } }
1;
Native class Keyword (5.38+, Corinna)
perl
use v5.38;
use feature 'class';
no warnings 'experimental::class';

class Point {
    field $x :param;
    field $y :param;
    method magnitude() { sqrt($x**2 + $y**2) }
}

my $p = Point->new(x => 3, y => 4);
say $p->magnitude;  # 5

Regular Expressions

Named Captures and /x Flag
perl
use v5.36;

# Good: Named captures with /x for readability
my $log_re = qr{
    ^ (?<timestamp> \d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2} \s \d{2}:\d{2}:\d{2} )
    \s+ \[ (?<level> \w+ ) \]
    \s+ (?<message> .+ ) $
}x;

if ($line =~ $log_re) {
    say "Time: $+{timestamp}, Level: $+{level}";
    say "Message: $+{message}";
}

# Bad: Positional captures (hard to maintain)
if ($line =~ /^(\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2} \d{2}:\d{2}:\d{2})\s+\[(\w+)\]\s+(.+)$/) {
    say "Time: $1, Level: $2";
}
Precompiled Patterns
perl
use v5.36;

# Good: Compile once, use many
my $email_re = qr/^[A-Za-z0-9._%+-]+\@[A-Za-z0-9.-]+\.[A-Za-z]{2,}$/;

sub validate_emails(@emails) {
    return grep { $_ =~ $email_re } @emails;
}

Data Structures

References and Safe Deep Access
perl
use v5.36;

# Hash and array references
my $config = {
    database => {
        host => 'localhost',
        port => 5432,
        options => ['utf8', 'sslmode=require'],
    },
};

# Safe deep access (returns undef if any level missing)
my $port = $config->{database}{port};           # 5432
my $missing = $config->{cache}{host};           # undef, no error

# Hash slices
my %subset;
@subset{qw(host port)} = @{$config->{database}}{qw(host port)};

# Array slices
my @first_two = $config->{database}{options}->@[0, 1];

# Multi-variable for loop (experimental in 5.36, stable in 5.40)
use feature 'for_list';
no warnings 'experimental::for_list';
for my ($key, $val) (%$config) {
    say "$key => $val";
}

File I/O

Three-Argument Open
perl
use v5.36;

# Good: Three-arg open with autodie (core module, eliminates 'or die')
use autodie;

sub read_file($path) {
    open my $fh, '<:encoding(UTF-8)', $path;
    local $/;
    my $content = <$fh>;
    close $fh;
    return $content;
}

# Bad: Two-arg open (shell injection risk, see perl-security)
open FH, $path;            # NEVER do this
open FH, "< $path";        # Still bad — user data in mode string
Path::Tiny for File Operations
perl
use v5.36;
use Path::Tiny;

my $file = path('config', 'app.json');
my $content = $file->slurp_utf8;
$file->spew_utf8($new_content);

# Iterate directory
for my $child (path('src')->children(qr/\.pl$/)) {
    say $child->basename;
}

Module Organization

Standard Project Layout
text
MyApp/
├── lib/
│   └── MyApp/
│       ├── App.pm           # Main module
│       ├── Config.pm        # Configuration
│       ├── DB.pm            # Database layer
│       └── Util.pm          # Utilities
├── bin/
│   └── myapp                # Entry-point script
├── t/
│   ├── 00-load.t            # Compilation tests
│   ├── unit/                # Unit tests
│   └── integration/         # Integration tests
├── cpanfile                 # Dependencies
├── Makefile.PL              # Build system
└── .perlcriticrc            # Linting config
Exporter Patterns
perl
package MyApp::Util;
use v5.36;
use Exporter 'import';

our @EXPORT_OK   = qw(trim);
our %EXPORT_TAGS = (all => \@EXPORT_OK);

sub trim($str) { $str =~ s/^\s+|\s+$//gr }

1;

Tooling

perltidy Configuration (.perltidyrc)
text
-i=4        # 4-space indent
-l=100      # 100-char line length
-ci=4       # continuation indent
-ce         # cuddled else
-bar        # opening brace on same line
-nolq       # don't outdent long quoted strings
perlcritic Configuration (.perlcriticrc)
ini
severity = 3
theme = core + pbp + security

[InputOutput::RequireCheckedSyscalls]
functions = :builtins
exclude_functions = say print

[Subroutines::ProhibitExplicitReturnUndef]
severity = 4

[ValuesAndExpressions::ProhibitMagicNumbers]
allowed_values = 0 1 2 -1
Dependency Management (cpanfile + carton)
bash
cpanm App::cpanminus Carton   # Install tools
carton install                 # Install deps from cpanfile
carton exec -- perl bin/myapp  # Run with local deps
perl
# cpanfile
requires 'Moo', '>= 2.005';
requires 'Path::Tiny';
requires 'JSON::MaybeXS';
requires 'Try::Tiny';

on test => sub {
    requires 'Test2::V0';
    requires 'Test::MockModule';
};

Quick Reference: Modern Perl Idioms

Legacy PatternModern Replacement
use strict; use warnings;use v5.36;
my ($x, $y) = @_;sub foo($x, $y) { ... }
@{ $ref }$ref->@*
%{ $ref }$ref->%*
open FH, "< $file"open my $fh, '<:encoding(UTF-8)', $file
blessed hashrefMoo class with types
$1, $2, $3$+{name} (named captures)
eval { }; if ($@)Try::Tiny or native try/catch (5.40+)
BEGIN { require Exporter; }use Exporter 'import';
Manual file opsPath::Tiny
blessed($o) && $o->isa('X')$o isa 'X' (5.32+)
builtin::true / falseuse builtin 'true', 'false'; (5.36+, experimental)

Anti-Patterns

perl
# 1. Two-arg open (security risk)
open FH, $filename;                     # NEVER

# 2. Indirect object syntax (ambiguous parsing)
my $obj = new Foo(bar => 1);            # Bad
my $obj = Foo->new(bar => 1);           # Good

# 3. Excessive reliance on $_
map { process($_) } grep { validate($_) } @items;  # Hard to follow
my @valid = grep { validate($_) } @items;           # Better: break it up
my @results = map { process($_) } @valid;

# 4. Disabling strict refs
no strict 'refs';                        # Almost always wrong
${"My::Package::$var"} = $value;         # Use a hash instead

# 5. Global variables as configuration
our $TIMEOUT = 30;                       # Bad: mutable global
use constant TIMEOUT => 30;              # Better: constant
# Best: Moo attribute with default

# 6. String eval for module loading
eval "require $module";                  # Bad: code injection risk
eval "use $module";                      # Bad
use Module::Runtime 'require_module';    # Good: safe module loading
require_module($module);

Remember: Modern Perl is clean, readable, and safe. Let use v5.36 handle the boilerplate, use Moo for objects, and prefer CPAN's battle-tested modules over hand-rolled solutions.

© affaan-m, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

Just SKILL.md in skills/perl-patterns of affaan-m/ECC.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 4eb71d9

Used in 4 other repositories

We found 10 copies of this SKILL.md (exact, near-identical or edited) in other folders, from 4 other GitHub owners. This page covers the copy in affaan-m/ECC, which our catalogue first saw on October 7, 2026.

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Perl Patterns compared with similar skills
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Categories

Questions about Perl Patterns

What does Perl Patterns do?

Modern Perl 5.36+ idioms, best practices, and conventions for building robust, maintainable Perl applications. Perl Patterns is an agent skill from affaan-m/ECC.36+ idioms, best practices, and conventions for building robust, maintainable Perl applications.

When should I use Perl Patterns?

Perl Patterns fits situations like: reviewing modern Perl 5.36+ code.

How do I install Perl Patterns in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add affaan-m/ECC --skill perl-patterns -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/perl-patterns in affaan-m/ECC) into .claude/skills/perl-patterns in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Perl Patterns in Codex?

Run `npx skills add affaan-m/ECC --skill perl-patterns -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/perl-patterns in affaan-m/ECC) into .agents/skills/perl-patterns in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Perl Patterns in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?

Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add affaan-m/ECC --skill perl-patterns -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/perl-patterns, .gemini/skills/perl-patterns, .github/skills/perl-patterns and .opencode/skills/perl-patterns in your project.

What does Perl Patterns need to run?

SKILL.md names no scripts, command-line tools or credentials: Perl Patterns is instructions for the agent only.

Does Perl Patterns access the network?

SKILL.md contains no URLs. Any network use would come from the scripts or tools the agent runs. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Perl Patterns safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.

What licence does Perl Patterns use?

Perl Patterns is published under the MIT licence (the repository's licence). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Perl Patterns use?

About 2.9k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 11k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full.

What are the alternatives to Perl Patterns?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Perl Patterns: Vercel Composition Patterns (supabase/supabase, 111k stars), Finishing a Development Branch (obra/superpowers, 297k stars), Typescript Advanced Types (rolling-scopes/rsschool-app, 10k stars) and PR Babysitter (openinterpreter/openinterpreter, 69k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Perl Patterns?

affaan-m (a GitHub user) maintains it in affaan-m/ECC, which has 276,111 GitHub stars. The repository holds 683 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 10, 2026.

Source: affaan-m/ECC on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.