Bash Patterns Skill

When to Activate

• Writing a new shell script from scratch
• Reviewing an existing script for correctness or safety
• Debugging unexpected script behavior
• Converting ad-hoc commands into a reusable script
• Deciding whether Bash or another language is appropriate
• Creating CI/CD helper scripts that need robust error handling, argument parsing, and cross-platform portability
• Adding retry logic with exponential backoff to a deployment or health-check script that calls an external API
• Hardening an existing script that has no set -euo pipefail, unquoted variables, or missing cleanup traps

Script Anatomy

Every non-trivial script follows this structure: