bash-scripting
Create production-ready bash scripts with error handling
Building reliable shell scripts requires defensive patterns and thorough testing. This workflow guides you through creating robust bash scripts with proper error handling, logging, and automated test coverage.
Download the skill ZIP
Upload in Claude
Go to Settings → Capabilities → Skills → Upload skill
Toggle on and start using
Test it
Using "bash-scripting". Create a backup script with error handling
Expected outcome:
- Script template with strict mode enabled
- Usage function with option documentation
- Logging functions with timestamps
- Trap handlers for cleanup on failure
- Main backup logic with error checking
- Bats test file with 5+ test cases
Using "bash-scripting". Add logging to my existing script
Expected outcome:
- log() function with INFO/WARN/ERROR levels
- Timestamp formatting (YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS)
- Debug mode toggle via VERBOSE flag
- Log rotation configuration example
- Integration points for existing functions
Security Audit
SafeStatic analyzer flagged 42 patterns but all are false positives. The skill is workflow documentation referencing other skills (@bash-pro, @bash-defensive-patterns) and contains a safe bash template using standard command substitution. No executable security risks detected.
Quality Score
What You Can Build
System Administration Automation
Create reliable scripts for server maintenance, backup operations, and system monitoring with proper error handling and logging.
CI/CD Pipeline Development
Build deployment and build scripts with comprehensive testing, rollback capability, and detailed logging for troubleshooting.
Infrastructure Tooling
Develop command-line tools for infrastructure management with professional argument parsing, usage documentation, and edge case handling.
Try These Prompts
Create a bash script template with strict mode (set -euo pipefail), usage function, argument parsing, and basic logging. Include cleanup trap handler.
Add comprehensive error handling to my bash script including trap handlers for EXIT/INT/TERM, retry logic for failed commands, and meaningful exit codes.
Generate Bats test cases for my bash script covering normal execution, error conditions, edge cases, and argument validation. Include mock functions for external commands.
Guide me through all 7 phases to create a production-ready deployment script with logging, error handling, rollback capability, Bats tests, and ShellCheck configuration.
Best Practices
- Always use strict mode (set -euo pipefail) to catch errors early
- Quote all variable expansions to handle spaces and special characters
- Use ShellCheck before deployment to catch common mistakes
Avoid
- Using backticks instead of $(...) for command substitution
- Ignoring return codes from critical commands
- Hardcoding paths instead of using variables or arguments