Overview
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.
Best for
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
Installation
Add open-sourcing to your agent with:
/plugin marketplace add trailofbits/skillsReview a skill’s source before installing it — skills can instruct your agent to run commands. This command comes from the skill’s public repository, which is the source of truth for setup steps. New to skills? Read how to install Claude Code skills.
Supported agents
- Claude Code — ships a claude code plugin marketplace
License
open-sourcing is published under the CC-BY-SA-4.0 license.
Strengths
- Clear CC-BY-SA-4.0 license — safe to read and adapt within its terms
- Ships in trailofbits/skills, an established project with 6,646 GitHub stars
- Works with Claude Code
- Actively maintained — repository updated in the last 90 days
Author
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.
- Which agents does open-sourcing work with?
- open-sourcing lists Claude Code — named in its SKILL.md, its plugin marketplace or its repository topics. Skills use the portable SKILL.md format, so other agents that read that format may load it too.
- 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.
