Files

SKILL.mdagentsreferences

Install

Install the containing plugin

/plugin install shared-skills@llm-skills

Invoke this skill after installation

/shared-skills:cp

Download cp-skill.zip

This skill is bundled inside shared-skills. Install the plugin once, then Claude Code can use any of its included skills. Browse the full plugin repository at github.com/alisonaquinas/llm-shared-skills.

SKILL.md

name: cp description: > Copy files and directories with cp for duplicating, backing up, and distributing content. Use when the agent needs to copy a single file, recursively copy a directory tree, preserve metadata and permissions, avoid overwriting newer files, or create a backup before modifying the original.

cp

Copy files and directories with control over overwrite behaviour, metadata preservation, and backup creation.

Quick Start

Verify availability: cp --version (GNU) or man cp
Copy a file: cp source.txt destination.txt
Recursively copy a directory: cp -r src/ dest/

Intent Router

references/cheatsheet.md — Common flags, recursive copy, metadata preservation, overwrite control
references/advanced-usage.md — Archive mode, backup suffixes, sparse files, reflinks, progress reporting
references/troubleshooting.md — Permission errors, cross-filesystem issues, symlink handling, silent overwrites

Core Workflow

Confirm source path and destination intent before running
Use -i (interactive) or -n (no-clobber) to protect against silent overwrites
Use -r for directories; add -a (archive) to also preserve permissions, timestamps, and symlinks
Verify the copy with diff or ls -l on both sides
Clean up the original only after confirming the copy is intact

Quick Command Reference

cp source.txt dest.txt              # Copy a single file
cp -r src/ dest/                    # Recursively copy directory
cp -a src/ dest/                    # Archive: preserves permissions, times, symlinks
cp -i source.txt dest.txt           # Prompt before overwriting
cp -n source.txt dest.txt           # Never overwrite existing files
cp -u source.txt dest.txt           # Copy only when source is newer
cp -v source.txt dest.txt           # Verbose: print each file copied
cp -p source.txt dest.txt           # Preserve mode, ownership, timestamps
cp --backup=numbered source.txt d/  # Create numbered backups of overwritten files
cp -r --preserve=all src/ dest/     # Copy tree preserving all metadata (GNU)
man cp                              # Full manual

Safety Notes

Area	Guardrail
Silent overwrite	By default `cp` overwrites the destination without warning. Use `-i` interactively or `-n` in scripts to prevent data loss.
Directory trailing slash	`cp -r src dest` behaves differently depending on whether `dest` exists. If `dest` exists, `src` is copied inside it. If not, `dest` is created as the copy. Verify intent before running.
Permissions	Without `-p` or `-a`, copied files inherit the umask of the current process. Use `-a` or `--preserve` when permissions must match the source.
Symlinks	By default `cp` follows symlinks and copies the referenced file. Use `-P` (or `-d`) to copy the symlink itself.
Cross-filesystem	Hardlinks are silently converted to copies. Use `rsync -aH` to preserve hardlinks across filesystems.
Disk space	Verify available space before copying large trees. `df -h` and `du -sh src/` are useful pre-flight checks.

Source Policy

Treat man cp and cp --help as runtime truth. GNU and BSD cp differ in some flags.
For large or critical copies, prefer rsync — it supports resuming, checksums, and dry-run.
Always verify the result with diff -r or md5sum for integrity-sensitive copies.

cp