open-sourcing

open-sourcing is an open-source workflow skill for Claude Code and compatible agents, published by trailofbits. Its author describes it as: “This skill should be used when the user asks to "open source this project", "prepare this repository for public release", "make this repo public", "check open-source readiness", "choose a license for this project", or…”. The project has 6.6k stars on GitHub and is available under the CC-BY-SA-4.0 license. Add it to your setup with `/plugin marketplace add trailofbits/skills`.

What open-sourcing does

Prepare a repository for public release so that an outsider with no prior context can build, use, and contribute to it — and so that nothing sensitive ships with it. Work through the steps in order; the secrets audit comes first because its outcome (keeping vs. recreating the repository) affects everything after it.

Installation

Add open-sourcing to your agent with:

/plugin marketplace add trailofbits/skills

Always review a skill's source before installing it. This command comes from the skill's public repository; the linked repo is the source of truth for exact setup steps.

What's inside

The SKILL.md for open-sourcing is organised into these sections:

• When to Use
• When NOT to Use
• Workflow
• Step 1: Detect the organization profile
• Step 2: Audit for secrets — before anything else
• Step 3: Run the readiness check
• Step 4: Documentation
• Step 5: Licensing
• Step 6: Tests and CI
• Step 7: Repository settings
• Step 8: Releases and versioning
• Step 9: Language-specific practices

When to use it

Reach for open-sourcing when you want workflow help from your agent without writing the same instructions every session. Load the skill and the agent picks it up automatically for relevant tasks.

Strengths

• Clear CC-BY-SA-4.0 license — safe to read and adapt
• Ships in trailofbits/skills, an established project with 6,646 GitHub stars
• Actively maintained (recent commits)

Topics

Frequently asked questions

What does open-sourcing do?

This skill should be used when the user asks to "open source this project", "prepare this repository for public release", "make this repo public", "check open-source readiness", "choose a license for this project", or "set up release automation" ahead of a public launch. Provides a release-readiness workflow covering secrets hygiene, licensing, documentation, CI, and language-specific packaging.

How do I install open-sourcing?

Run /plugin marketplace add trailofbits/skills in your agent, then reload your skills. Review the source at https://github.com/trailofbits/skills before installing.

Is open-sourcing free to use?

Yes. open-sourcing is free and open source under the CC-BY-SA-4.0 license, so you can read, run, and adapt it within that license's terms.

Where does open-sourcing come from?

open-sourcing ships inside trailofbits/skills, a repository that contains 41 catalogued skills in total. The repository's 6,646 GitHub stars apply to that whole collection, not to this skill on its own.