Zig Skills for Claude Code

Two comprehensive Zig programming skills for Claude Code:

Most users should only install zig-programming. The zig-async skill is for Zig 0.16+ nightly builds which reintroduce async I/O. It is not compatible with stable Zig 0.15.2.

Quick Installation

Option 1: Zip File (Easiest)

Download from repository root and extract:

# Main Zig skill (recommended for all users)
curl -LO https://github.com/whit3rabbit/claude-zig-skill/raw/main/zig-programming.zip
unzip zig-programming.zip -d ~/.claude/skills/zig-programming/

Restart Claude Code after installation.

Option 2: Plugin Installation (Claude Code)

# Add this repo as a marketplace
/plugin marketplace add whit3rabbit/claude-zig-skill

# Install main skill (recommended for all users)
/plugin install zig-programming@whit3rabbit-claude-zig-skill

# Optional: Install async skill (only for Zig 0.16+ nightly)
# /plugin install zig-async@whit3rabbit-claude-zig-skill

For team distribution, add to .claude/settings.json:

{
  "permissions": {
    "additionalPluginMarketplaces": ["whit3rabbit/claude-zig-skill"]
  }
}

Verify Installation

ls ~/.claude/skills/zig-programming/SKILL.md

---

zig-programming Skill

The main skill for all Zig programming needs.

What’s Included

Recipe Topics

• Fundamentals (19) - Philosophy, basics, getting started
• Data Structures (20) - Arrays, hashmaps, sets, sorting
• Strings & Text (14) - Parsing, manipulation, Unicode
• Memory & Allocators (6) - Arena, GPA, custom allocators
• Comptime (24) - Metaprogramming, generics, type reflection
• Networking (18) - HTTP, sockets, REST APIs
• Concurrency (8) - Threading, atomics, synchronization
• And 8 more topics…

Supported Zig Versions

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zig-async Skill

Warning: Nightly Only - This skill is for Zig 0.16+ nightly builds only. Do NOT install if you’re using stable Zig 0.15.2 or earlier. The async I/O model in 0.16+ is completely different from the removed async/suspend/resume in older versions.

Specialized skill for Zig’s new async I/O model being developed for version 0.16+.

What’s Included

Topics Covered

• io_uring integration and event loops
• Async/await patterns (new model, not the removed async/suspend/resume)
• Concurrent task management
• Cancellation and timeouts
• Error handling in async contexts

When to Use This Skill

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Usage Examples

The skills activate automatically when working with Zig code:

You: "How do I iterate with an index in Zig 0.13?"
Claude: [Provides version-specific for loop syntax]

You: "Show me how to use ArenaAllocator"
Claude: [Loads Recipe 18.2 with tested code]

You: "How does async I/O work in Zig 0.16?"
Claude: [Uses zig-async skill for io_uring patterns - requires 0.16+ nightly]

Note: For stable Zig (0.15.2 and earlier), only the zig-programming skill is needed. Async I/O patterns are only available in Zig 0.16+ nightly builds.

---

Developer Guide

Repository Structure

claude-zig-skill/
├── README.md                    # This file
├── CLAUDE.md                    # Claude Code project instructions
├── build-skills.sh              # Creates both zip files
├── zig-programming.zip          # Distributable (~1.8MB)
├── zig-async-skill.zip          # Distributable (~80KB)
│
├── .claude-plugin/
│   └── marketplace.json         # Plugin marketplace (lists both skills)
│
├── zig-programming/             # Main Zig skill source
│   ├── SKILL.md
│   ├── .claude-plugin/plugin.json
│   ├── references/              # Multi-version docs
│   ├── recipes/                 # 223 BBQ Cookbook recipes
│   ├── examples/
│   ├── assets/templates/
│   ├── scripts/                 # Runtime scripts
│   └── build/                   # Build tools (not distributed)
│
├── zig-async-skill/             # Async I/O skill source
│   ├── SKILL.md
│   ├── .claude-plugin/plugin.json
│   ├── references/
│   ├── examples/
│   └── assets/templates/
│
├── converter/                   # Zig HTML docs converter
│   └── zig_docs_converter.py
│
└── docs-test/                   # Test output

Building Zip Files

Use the included script to create distributable zips:

# Build both skills
./build-skills.sh

# Build only zig-programming
./build-skills.sh zig

# Build only zig-async
./build-skills.sh async

Output files are created in the repository root.

Key Scripts

Updating Recipes

cd zig-programming
python build/cookbook_converter.py --verbose

Adding a New Zig Version

cd zig-programming
python build/build_references.py --version 0.16.0 --verbose

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Troubleshooting

Skill Not Activating

ls -la ~/.claude/skills/zig-programming/SKILL.md
head -20 ~/.claude/skills/zig-programming/SKILL.md

Restart Claude Code after changes.

Version Detection Issues

Add to your project’s CLAUDE.md:

This project targets Zig 0.15.2

---

Links

• This Repository: github.com/whit3rabbit/claude-zig-skill
• BBQ Cookbook: github.com/whit3rabbit/zig-bbq-cookbook
• Official Zig Docs: ziglang.org/documentation
• Claude Code Skills: docs.claude.com/en/docs/claude-code/skills

License

MIT License. Zig documentation content follows Zig project licensing.

---

Version: 1.1.0 | Skills: zig-programming, zig-async | Recipes: 223