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Agent skill

Init Textbook

by dmccreary in dmccreary/ibook-skills

Scaffolds a new intelligent textbook project from scratch — mkdocs.yml, docs/ directory tree, starter pages, and license files.

CC-BY-NC-4.0Auto-check passedDevelopment

Install Init Textbook

skills CLI
$ npx skills add dmccreary/ibook-skills --skill init-textbook -a claude-code

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

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install dmccreary/ibook-skills init-textbook --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/dmccreary/ibook-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/archived/init-textbook .claude/skills/init-textbook && 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
init-textbook
GitHub stars
105
Token cost
~5.2k tokens
SKILL.md length
2,143 words
Files
17 (incl. assets)
Skills in repo
32
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
CC-BY-NC-4.0

At a glance

Scaffolds a new intelligent textbook project from scratch — mkdocs.yml, docs/ directory tree, starter pages, and license files.

  • Works in 6 steps: Verify the directory is fit for… → Gather inputs → Confirm the substitution table → …
  • Tasks that involve Project scaffolding
  • SKILL.md covers Purpose, When to Use, What This Skill Creates and Inputs the Skill Must Gather, plus 6 more sections
  • Calls git and pip; reaches dmccreary.github.io

What it does

Init Textbook is an agent skill from dmccreary/ibook-skills. Scaffolds a new intelligent textbook project from scratch — mkdocs.yml, docs/ directory tree, starter pages, and license files. Use at the very start of a new project, before chapters, learning graph, or MicroSims exist.

Its SKILL.md is about 5.2k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. The skill folder holds 24 other files, including assets (for example `assets/templates/docs/about.md`, `assets/templates/docs/chapters/index.md` and `assets/templates/docs/contact.md`).

It sits in Development, covering Project scaffolding.

When your agent uses it

  • Tasks that involve Project scaffolding

Example prompts

  • “Use the init-textbook skill to scaffold a new intelligent textbook project from scratch — mkdocs.yml, docs/ directory tree, starter pages, and…”
  • “/init-textbook”

Requirements

  • Python 3

Workflow steps

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

  1. Verify the directory is fit for scaffolding
  2. Gather inputs
  3. Confirm the substitution table
  4. Create directories and copy templates
  5. Verify the result builds
  6. Print the next-steps menu

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 6789126. 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

    Shell commands in SKILL.md call:

    • git
    • pip

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

  • Network

    Hosts in commands or code, which the agent is likely to contact:

    • dmccreary.github.io

    Also links to:

    • linkedin.com

    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

Init Textbook loads about 5.2k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 59 tokens; SKILL.md has 2,143 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~59
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~5.2k

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

Its licence (CC-BY-NC-4.0) doesn't allow us to republish the file, so here is its outline and opening line. It has 2,143 words (~5,175 tokens).

“This skill drops a complete, sensible default scaffold into an empty (or nearly empty) project directory so the user can run mkdocs serve and see a working intelligent textbook within minutes. The scaffold matches the consensus pattern across our recent…”

— opening of SKILL.md by dmccreary, CC-BY-NC-4.0
name
init-textbook
model
sonnet
license
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Read the full SKILL.md on GitHub

Files

SKILL.md and 16 other files (assets) in skills/archived/init-textbook of dmccreary/ibook-skills.

  • SKILL.md
  • assets/templates/.gitignore
  • assets/templates/docs/about.md
  • assets/templates/docs/chapters/index.md
  • assets/templates/docs/contact.md
  • assets/templates/docs/course-description.md
  • assets/templates/docs/css/extra.css
  • assets/templates/docs/img/cover.png
  • assets/templates/docs/img/license.png
  • assets/templates/docs/index.md
  • assets/templates/docs/learning-graph/index.md
  • assets/templates/docs/license.md
  • assets/templates/docs/sims/index.md
  • … and 4 more

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 6789126

Compare with similar skills

Init Textbook next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.

Init Textbook compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Init Textbook this skilldmccreary/ibook-skills105—~5.2kAutomated safety check: PassCC-BY-NC-4.0
Nx Generatenomcopter/react-mosaic4.8k7 repos~1.9kAutomated safety check: PassCustom licence
PonytailDavidObando/gsharp5648 repos~1.7kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Run Nx Generatornrwl/nx29k2 repos~592Automated safety check: NotesMIT
Conductor Setupgemini-cli-extensions/conductor3.8k—~4.2kAutomated safety check: PassApache-2.0
Mirage VFS Adapter Authoringstrukto-ai/mirage3.7k—~2.5kAutomated safety check: PassApache-2.0

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Categories

Questions about Init Textbook

What does Init Textbook do?

Scaffolds a new intelligent textbook project from scratch — mkdocs.yml, docs/ directory tree, starter pages, and license files. Init Textbook is an agent skill from dmccreary/ibook-skills.yml, docs/ directory tree, starter pages, and license files.

When should I use Init Textbook?

Init Textbook fits situations like: tasks that involve Project scaffolding.

How do I install Init Textbook in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add dmccreary/ibook-skills --skill init-textbook -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/archived/init-textbook in dmccreary/ibook-skills) into .claude/skills/init-textbook in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Init Textbook in Codex?

Run `npx skills add dmccreary/ibook-skills --skill init-textbook -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/archived/init-textbook in dmccreary/ibook-skills) into .agents/skills/init-textbook in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Init Textbook 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 dmccreary/ibook-skills --skill init-textbook -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/init-textbook, .gemini/skills/init-textbook, .github/skills/init-textbook and .opencode/skills/init-textbook in your project.

What does Init Textbook need to run?

Going by SKILL.md and its folder, Init Textbook needs the command-line tools its instructions call (git and pip). Our summary lists: Python 3.

Does Init Textbook access the network?

SKILL.md names 2 domains. In commands or code: dmccreary.github.io; the agent is likely to contact it when it follows the instructions. As links in the text: linkedin.com. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Init Textbook 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 Init Textbook use?

Init Textbook is published under the CC-BY-NC-4.0 licence (declared in SKILL.md).

How many tokens does Init Textbook use?

About 5.2k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 21k 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 Init Textbook?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Init Textbook: Nx Generate (nomcopter/react-mosaic, 4.8k stars), Ponytail (DavidObando/gsharp, 564 stars), Run Nx Generator (nrwl/nx, 29k stars) and Conductor Setup (gemini-cli-extensions/conductor, 3.8k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Init Textbook?

dmccreary (a GitHub user) maintains it in dmccreary/ibook-skills, which has 105 GitHub stars. The repository holds 32 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 8, 2026.

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