| name | shell |
| description | Efficient shell command handling. You MUST load this skill when handling shell commands with performance monitoring or timeouts. |
| license | MIT |
Shell Handling Skill
Execute shell commands with performance monitoring and timeout protection.
When to Use
- Commands that might hang indefinitely
- Long-running commands (builds, tests, deployments)
- Performance optimization and debugging
When Not to Use
- Quick, reliable commands that execute in milliseconds
- Interactive terminal sessions requiring human input
- Operations better handled by specialized built-in agents or native APIs
Common Pitfalls
- Ignoring Exit Codes: Piping with
time or timeout can mask the exit code of the underlying command. Use set -o pipefail or check $? carefully.
- Overly Aggressive Timeouts: Setting a timeout too close to the expected duration can cause false failures on slower environments (like CI/CD). Add a healthy buffer.
- Runaway Child Processes:
timeout might not kill child processes spawned by the target command unless used with --kill-after or running in a new process group.
Core Patterns
Measure Execution Time
Prefix commands with time for duration visibility:
time command
time npm run build
Limit Execution Time
Use timeout to prevent indefinite hangs:
timeout 30s command
timeout 60s npm test || echo "Failed or timed out"
Combined Usage
time timeout 300s build_script.sh
Key Points
- Combine with
|| for error handling fallbacks
- Set
timeout based on expected runtime plus buffer
- Use
time for all long operations to track performance
timeout --kill-after=5s 30s for forceful termination if needed- If command results are unexpected, briefly explain what happened and why.
Related Skills
- robust-commands:
You MUST load this skill when executing commands requiring resilient error recovery or fallbacks.
