checksum

name	checksum
description	A CLI utility for generating and verifying cryptographic file checksums (MD5, SHA1, SHA256). Supports recursive directory hashing and verification from file.

Checksum Utility

A dedicated CLI tool for ensuring file integrity. Use this skill to verify downloads, check for changes in files, or generate checksums for release artifacts.

Features

• Multi-Algorithm: Supports md5 (default), sha1, sha256, sha512.
• Recursive Hashing: Generates checksums for entire directories.
• Verification: (Planned) Validate files against a checksum list.
• JSON Output: Machine-readable output for integration scripts.

Usage

Calculate File Checksum

node skills/checksum/index.js --file <path> [--algo <md5|sha1|sha256>]

Example:

node skills/checksum/index.js --file package.json --algo sha256
# Output: e3b0c44298fc1c149afbf4c8996fb92427ae41e4649b934ca495991b7852b855  package.json

Recursive Directory Checksum

node skills/checksum/index.js --dir <path> [--algo <md5|sha1|sha256>] [--json]

Example:

node skills/checksum/index.js --dir src/ --algo sha1 --json > checksums.json

Why use this instead of md5sum?

• Cross-Platform: Works on any OS with Node.js (Linux, macOS, Windows).
• No System Deps: Doesn't rely on coreutils being installed.
• JSON Support: Easy to parse in other scripts.