PPTB Skills

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create-pptb-tool ​

This skill automates the first step of building a PPTB tool: producing a package.json manifest that satisfies every field the ToolBox host requires, plus the @pptb/types dev dependency and pptb-validate script a developer needs before their first publish. A developer reaches for it at the very start of a new tool project, instead of hand-assembling the manifest from memory and re-discovering which fields are mandatory.

The skill must not produce a manifest missing any of name, version, displayName, description, main, icon, license, contributors, or configurations — the ToolBox host refuses to load a tool missing any of them.

When to use it ​

  • "Scaffold a new PPTB tool"
  • "Create a new tool project for ToolBox"
  • "Set up the package.json for my PPTB tool"
  • "I'm starting a new PPTB tool called ___"
  • Starting a fresh repository intended to become a ToolBox tool, with no existing manifest

Inputs ​

  • Tool name (used to derive the scoped npm package name, e.g. @myorg/my-tool) and displayName
  • Short description of what the tool does
  • license — one of the approved identifiers (MIT, Apache-2.0, BSD-2-Clause, BSD-3-Clause, GPL-2.0, GPL-3.0, LGPL-3.0, ISC, AGPL-3.0-only)
  • Contributor name(s) and optional URL(s)
  • Source repository URL (for configurations.repository)
  • Whether the tool needs a second Dataverse connection (features.multiConnection)
  • Entry-point file name (defaults to index.html) and icon path (defaults to icons/tool.svg)

What it does ​

  1. Generates package.json at the project root with the required top-level fields: name, version ("1.0.0" default), displayName, description, main, icon, license, contributors, configurations.
  2. Populates configurations.repository (required) and, when provided, configurations.website and configurations.readmeUrl.
  3. Sets icon to an SVG path relative to the dist root and reminds the developer to use fill="currentColor" in the SVG so it adapts to light/dark themes — iconURL under configurations is not supported.
  4. Adds features.multiConnection ("optional" or "required") only when the developer indicated the tool needs a second connection, and omits the features object entirely otherwise.
  5. Installs @pptb/types as a dev dependency and adds a "validate": "pptb-validate" script to package.json, per the local-validation workflow.
  6. Scaffolds the entry-point file (main) and an icons/ folder with a placeholder SVG using fill="currentColor".
  7. Runs npm run validate (or npx pptb-validate) once scaffolding is complete and surfaces any errors before the developer starts writing tool code.

Example ​

Before: an empty project directory.

After (package.json):

json
{
  "name": "@myorg/my-awesome-tool",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "displayName": "My Awesome Tool",
  "description": "Manage Dataverse solutions across environments with ease.",
  "main": "index.html",
  "icon": "icons/tool.svg",
  "license": "MIT",
  "contributors": [{ "name": "Jane Dev", "url": "https://janedev.com" }],
  "configurations": {
    "repository": "https://github.com/myorg/my-awesome-tool"
  },
  "devDependencies": {
    "@pptb/types": "^1.0.0"
  },
  "scripts": {
    "validate": "pptb-validate"
  }
}

Checklist it enforces ​

  • [ ] name, version, displayName, description, main, icon, license, contributors, and configurations are all present.
  • [ ] license uses one of the approved identifiers.
  • [ ] Each entry in contributors has at least a name.
  • [ ] configurations.repository is populated with a real repository URL.
  • [ ] icon is an SVG path relative to dist, using fill="currentColor".
  • [ ] @pptb/types is installed as a dev dependency and a validate script runs pptb-validate.
  • [ ] npm run validate exits with code 0 before the developer starts writing tool code.
  • Package Manifest — the manifest schema this skill is built on
  • Local Validation — the pptb-validate workflow this skill wires up
  • Related skills: ../validate-pptb-tool/, ../configure-csp/