Refactor any Claude Code skill by extracting deterministic operations into a Python script.
Every time a skill runs, the AI re-reads hundreds of lines of prose to re-derive mechanical operations: "does this file exist?", "run this regex", "copy with timestamp". This is wasteful. codify splits skills into two parts: code for mechanics, prompts for judgment.
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/anombyte93/codify/main/install.sh | bashInstalls to ~/.claude/skills/codify/. Run the same command to upgrade.
# Check for updates
bash ~/.claude/skills/codify/install.sh --check-update/codify <skill-name>
Where <skill-name> is the directory name under ~/.claude/skills/.
Reads the skill's SKILL.md and classifies every block:
| Category | Goes to | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Deterministic | script.py | File existence checks, regex validation, math, template loading, file copying, JSON parsing |
| Judgment | SKILL.md | User questions, decisions, content generation, quality assessment, continuation logic |
Creates a Python script with argparse subcommands. Every subcommand:
- Does one thing well
- Outputs JSON to stdout
- Responds to
--help - Uses stdlib only (no dependencies)
Replaces deterministic prose with script calls:
# Before (in SKILL.md)
Check if .taskmaster/ exists. If it does, look for PRD files
in .taskmaster/docs/. Read tasks.json to count tasks...
(~40 lines of detection logic)
# After (in SKILL.md)
python3 script.py preflight
# Returns JSON: has_taskmaster, prd_path, task_count, ...- Runs
--helpon every subcommand - Runs read-only commands to verify JSON output
- Saves original as
SKILL.md.pre-codify
| Skill | SKILL.md Before | SKILL.md After | Reduction | script.py |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| prd-taskmaster | 1,342 lines | 302 lines | 77.5% | 1,079 lines (11 subcommands) |
| start | 637 lines | 204 lines | 68.0% | 320 lines (9 subcommands) |
script.py = AI's calculator and file manager (deterministic tools)
SKILL.md = AI's playbook for user interaction and decisions (judgment)
The AI calls script.py like any other tool. Script returns structured JSON. AI interprets the results and makes decisions. Neither replaces the other.
- Claude Code CLI
- Python 3.8+
MIT - see LICENSE
Built by Atlas AI