Files

SKILL.mdagentsreferencesscripts

Install

Install the containing plugin

/plugin install shared-skills@llm-skills

Invoke this skill after installation

/shared-skills:tar

Download tar-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: tar description: Archive and compress files with automatic format detection and safe extraction paths. Use when the agent needs to create tarballs, extract archives, or validate archive contents before processing.

tar

Create and extract archives with compression support and explicit path control.

Quick Start

Verify tar is available: tar --version or man tar
Establish the command surface: man tar or tar --help
Start with list-only operation: tar -tf archive.tar.gz

Intent Router

Load only the reference file needed for the active request.

references/install-and-setup.md — Installing tar (GNU, BSD) on macOS, Linux, Windows
references/cheatsheet.md — Common operations, compression flags, extraction patterns
references/advanced-usage.md — GNU vs BSD differences, compression formats, symlink handling
references/troubleshooting.md — Path traversal, extraction failures, encoding issues

Core Workflow

Verify tar is available: tar --version
List archive contents first (safe, read-only): tar -tf archive.tar.gz
Validate no suspicious paths (../, absolute paths): tar -tf archive.tar.gz | grep -E '^\.|/'
Extract to explicit directory with path control: tar -xzf archive.tar.gz -C safe_dir/

Quick Command Reference

tar --version                          # Check version
tar -tf archive.tar.gz                 # List contents (read-only)
tar -tv archive.tar.gz                 # List with details
tar -tzf archive.tar.gz                # Auto-detect compression and list
tar -czf archive.tar.gz directory/     # Create gzip-compressed archive
tar -cjf archive.tar.bz2 directory/    # Create bzip2-compressed archive
tar -xzf archive.tar.gz -C output/     # Extract with path control
tar -xzf archive.tar.gz --strip-components=1  # Strip leading directories
man tar                                # Full manual

Safety Notes

Area	Guardrail
Path traversal	Always list contents first. Reject archives with `../` or absolute paths. Extract to controlled directory with `-C`.
Symlinks	tar preserves symlinks. Be cautious with archives from untrusted sources that may link to sensitive files.
Ownership	tar preserves user/group ownership. Use `--no-same-owner` or `--no-same-permissions` if extracting untrusted archives.
Compression detection	Modern tar auto-detects compression (`-f`). Explicit flags (`-z`, `-j`) ensure reproducibility.
Large files	tar supports files >2GB. Verify disk space before extraction.
Sparse files	tar preserves sparse file structure (GNU tar). Extracted files will expand.

Source Policy

Treat the installed tar behavior and man tar as runtime truth.
Use GNU tar documentation (gnu.org/software/tar) for GNU-specific features.
Use BSD tar manual for BSD variant behavior differences.

Resource Index

scripts/install.sh — Install tar on macOS or Linux.
scripts/install.ps1 — Install tar on Windows or any platform via PowerShell.