Agent skill

perl-development

This skill should be used when the user asks to "write a Perl script", "create Perl code", "modern Perl best practices", "Perl 5.30+", "use strict warnings autodie", or mentions Perl pragmas, subroutines, error handling, or scripting patterns. Provides comprehensive Perl 5.30+ development guidance.

Stars 33
Forks 4

Install this agent skill to your Project

npx add-skill https://github.com/Jamie-BitFlight/claude_skills/tree/main/plugins/perl-development/skills/perl-development

SKILL.md

Modern Perl 5.30+ Development

Procedural guidance for writing secure, maintainable Perl scripts following modern best practices.

Essential Script Header

Every Perl script MUST begin with these elements:

perl
#!/usr/bin/env perl

use strict;
use warnings;
use autodie;

Pragma purposes:

Pragma Effect
strict Enforces variable declarations, prevents barewords, restricts refs
warnings Enables compile-time and runtime warning messages
autodie Converts failed builtins (open, close, etc.) to exceptions

Standard Module Imports

Import modules in logical groups:

perl
# Core pragmas
use strict;
use warnings;
use autodie;

# Feature pragmas (Perl 5.10+)
use feature qw(say state signatures);

# Standard library
use Getopt::Long qw(GetOptions);
use Pod::Usage qw(pod2usage);
use File::Basename qw(basename dirname);
use Cwd qw(abs_path getcwd);
use FindBin;
use lib $FindBin::Bin;

# Third-party modules
use Path::Tiny;
use Try::Tiny;

Variable Declaration Patterns

Declare variables with appropriate scope:

perl
# Script constants (use constant or Readonly)
use constant {
    SCRIPT_NAME    => basename($PROGRAM_NAME),  # use English; $PROGRAM_NAME == $0
    SCRIPT_VERSION => "1.0.0",
};

# Lexical variables (preferred)
my $config_file = 'config.yaml';
my @input_files = ();
my %options = ();

# State variables (persist across calls)
sub get_counter {
    state $count = 0;
    return ++$count;
}

Error Handling Patterns

Using autodie

With autodie, failed system calls throw exceptions automatically:

perl
use autodie;

# These throw on failure - no explicit check needed
open my $fh, '<', $filename;
close $fh;
chdir $directory;

Using Try::Tiny for complex error handling

perl
use Try::Tiny;

try {
    process_file($filename);
}
catch {
    my $error = $_;
    $error =~ s/ at \S+ line \d+\.?\n?$//;
    warn "Failed to process: $error\n";
}
finally {
    cleanup_resources();
};

Using eval blocks (built-in)

perl
eval {
    risky_operation();
    1;
} or do {
    my $error = $@ || 'Unknown error';
    warn "Operation failed: $error\n";
};

Subroutine Patterns

Modern signatures (Perl 5.20+)

perl
use feature 'signatures';
no warnings 'experimental::signatures';

sub greet ($name, $greeting = 'Hello') {
    return "$greeting, $name!";
}

sub process_files (@files) {
    for my $file (@files) {
        process_single_file($file);
    }
}

Traditional parameter handling

perl
sub process_data {
    my ($input, $options) = @_;
    $options //= {};

    my $verbose = $options->{verbose} // 0;
    my $output  = $options->{output}  // '-';

    # ... implementation
}

File Operations

Modern file handling with Path::Tiny

perl
use Path::Tiny;

my $file = path($filename);

# Read entire file
my $content = $file->slurp_utf8;
my @lines   = $file->lines_utf8;

# Write file
$file->spew_utf8($content);
$file->append_utf8("New line\n");

# Path manipulation
my $parent = $file->parent;
my $name   = $file->basename;
my $abs    = $file->absolute;

Traditional three-argument open

perl
# Reading
open my $fh, '<:encoding(UTF-8)', $filename;
my @lines = <$fh>;
close $fh;

# Writing
open my $out, '>:encoding(UTF-8)', $output_file;
print $out $content;
close $out;

# Appending
open my $log, '>>:encoding(UTF-8)', $log_file;

Argument Parsing with Getopt::Long

perl
use Getopt::Long qw(GetOptions);
use Pod::Usage qw(pod2usage);

my ($help, $version, $verbose, $config_file);

GetOptions(
    'help|h'     => \$help,
    'version|v'  => \$version,
    'verbose|V'  => \$verbose,
    'config|c=s' => \$config_file,
) or pod2usage(2);

pod2usage(-exitval => 0, -verbose => 1) if $help;

if ($version) {
    say SCRIPT_NAME . " version " . SCRIPT_VERSION;
    exit 0;
}

# Validate required arguments
pod2usage(-message => "Missing required argument", -exitval => 1)
    unless @ARGV >= 1;

POD Documentation Template

Include documentation at the end of scripts:

perl
__END__

=head1 NAME

script-name.pl - Brief description of what the script does

=head1 SYNOPSIS

B<script-name.pl> [OPTIONS] <argument>

=head1 DESCRIPTION

Detailed description of the script's purpose and behavior.

=head1 OPTIONS

=over 4

=item B<-h>, B<--help>

Show this help message and exit.

=item B<-v>, B<--version>

Show version information and exit.

=item B<-c>, B<--config>=I<FILE>

Path to configuration file.

=back

=head1 EXAMPLES

    # Basic usage
    script-name.pl input.txt

    # With options
    script-name.pl --verbose --config=my.conf input.txt

=head1 AUTHOR

Your Name <email@example.com>

=cut

Security Best Practices

Taint Mode

Enable for scripts handling external input:

perl
#!/usr/bin/env perl -T

use strict;
use warnings;

# Untaint validated data
if ($input =~ /^(\w+)$/) {
    my $clean = $1;  # Now untainted — $1 holds the capture group
}

Avoiding shell injection

perl
# WRONG - shell interpolation risk
my $output = `grep $pattern $file`;
system("rm $file");

# CORRECT - list form avoids shell
system('grep', $pattern, $file);
my @result = capturex('grep', $pattern, $file);

# CORRECT - IPC::System::Simple for capture
use IPC::System::Simple qw(capture capturex);
my $output = capturex('grep', $pattern, $file);

Secure temporary files

perl
use File::Temp qw(tempfile tempdir);

my ($fh, $filename) = tempfile(UNLINK => 1);
my $tmpdir = tempdir(CLEANUP => 1);

Logging Pattern

perl
use Term::ANSIColor qw(colored);

sub log_info    { say colored(['cyan'],   "INFO: $_[0]"); }
sub log_success { say colored(['green'],  "SUCCESS: $_[0]"); }
sub log_warning { say colored(['yellow'], "WARNING: $_[0]"); }
sub log_error   { say STDERR colored(['red'], "ERROR: $_[0]"); }
sub log_debug   { say colored(['blue'],   "DEBUG: $_[0]") if $ENV{DEBUG}; }

Script Template

Refer to the complete example template:

  • Perl Example Script - Full working template

Additional Resources

Reference Files

  • Modern Perl Modules - Recommended CPAN modules
  • Perl Truthiness Gotchas - Common pitfalls with Perl values

Related Skills

For CPAN module management, activate the perl-cpan-ecosystem skill. For environment setup with perlbrew, activate the perl-environment-setup skill. For testing patterns, activate the perl-testing skill.

Expand your agent's capabilities with these related and highly-rated skills.

Jamie-BitFlight/claude_skills

ccc

This skill should be used when code search is needed (whether explicitly requested or as part of completing a task), when indexing the codebase after changes, or when the user asks about ccc, cocoindex-code, or the codebase index. Trigger phrases include 'search the codebase', 'find code related to', 'update the index', 'ccc', 'cocoindex-code'.

33 4
Explore
Jamie-BitFlight/claude_skills

agent-browser

Browser automation CLI for AI agents. Use when the user needs to interact with websites, including navigating pages, filling forms, clicking buttons, taking screenshots, extracting data, testing web apps, or automating any browser task. Triggers include requests to "open a website", "fill out a form", "click a button", "take a screenshot", "scrape data from a page", "test this web app", "login to a site", "automate browser actions", or any task requiring programmatic web interaction.

33 4
Explore
Jamie-BitFlight/claude_skills

delegate

Quick delegation template for sub-agent prompts. Use when assigning work to a sub-agent, before invoking the Agent tool, or when preparing prompts for specialized agents. Provides the WHERE-WHAT-WHY framework. For comprehensive delegation guidance, activate the agent-orchestration how-to-delegate skill.

33 4
Explore
Jamie-BitFlight/claude_skills

swarm-spawning

Spawn agents and teammates in Claude Code swarms. Use when choosing between subagents vs teammates, selecting agent types (Explore, Plan, general-purpose, plugin agents), configuring spawn backends (in-process, tmux, iterm2), or setting environment variables for spawned agents.

33 4
Explore
Jamie-BitFlight/claude_skills

knowledge-explorer

Manage the research/ knowledge base (KB) of tool and library research entries. Use when browsing KB topics, adding new research entries, updating existing entries with dated revisions, fetching GitHub repo metadata into a draft KB entry, or migrating old-format entries to skill-spec frontmatter. Triggers on tasks like "what do we have on X", "add this to the KB", "update the KB entry for Y", "fetch github info for owner/repo", or "migrate old entries".

33 4
Explore
Jamie-BitFlight/claude_skills

design-anti-patterns

Enforce anti-AI UI design rules based on the Uncodixfy methodology. Use when generating HTML, CSS, React, Vue, Svelte, or any frontend UI code. Prevents "Codex UI" — the generic AI aesthetic of soft gradients, floating panels, oversized rounded corners, glassmorphism, hero sections in dashboards, and decorative copy. Applies constraints from Linear/Raycast/Stripe/GitHub design philosophy: functional, honest, human-designed interfaces. Triggers on: UI generation, dashboard building, frontend component creation, CSS styling, landing page design, or any task producing visual interface code.

33 4
Explore

Didn't find tool you were looking for?

Be as detailed as possible for better results