Character Count

Count string length deterministically for text with hard limits. Use this skill when a post, reply, caption, commit message, or other text must stay within a...

Security Scan

The skill's code, instructions, and requirements align with its stated purpose (deterministic local character counting); it requests no credentials, performs no networking, and uses only a bundled Python script.

Purpose & Capability

Name/description match the included script and README: the skill deterministically counts characters using Python's len(). Required binary is only python3, which is appropriate and minimal.

Instruction Scope

SKILL.md restricts behavior to counting provided text via stdin or --text and describes output formats; it does not instruct reading unrelated files, environment variables, or sending data externally.

Install Mechanism

No install spec (instruction-only with a bundled script) — nothing is downloaded or written to disk during install beyond the packaged files.

Credentials

The skill requests no environment variables or credentials. The single required binary (python3) is proportional to the task.

Persistence & Privilege

always is false and the skill is user-invocable. agents/openai.yaml allows implicit invocation (normal for skills); this is expected and not excessive by itself.

Assessment

This skill appears to do exactly what it claims: run the bundled Python script locally to compute Python string length. Before installing, note that Python's len() counts code points, not grapheme clusters or platform-specific token weighting (e.g., Twitter/X counts URLs/emojis differently), so the result is a deterministic local gate but may not match every platform's rules. The skill requests no secrets and performs no network I/O. If you need platform-accurate counts (or Unicode grapheme-aware counts), request or implement a specialized validator instead.

Use this skill when text must fit within a strict character limit and guessing is not acceptable.

This skill is portable and self-contained. The counting logic lives in the bundled script at scripts/character_count.py.

Scope

This skill measures exact string length as seen by Python len(text).

• It is suitable for generic hard-limit workflows.
• It is not a platform-specific compliance engine.
• If a platform applies custom weighting rules for URLs, Unicode, or special tokens, treat this skill as a deterministic local gate, not as a guarantee of platform acceptance.

Rules

• Never estimate character counts manually.
• Always count the final text exactly as it will be posted or saved.
• If the text is too long, rewrite it and count again.
• Prefer the JSON output mode for deterministic downstream use.
• Do not describe the result as platform-accurate unless the target platform uses plain string length.

Recommended Usage

The bundled script requires python3. For broad portability, assume Python 3.8 or newer.

From the skill root, pass the exact final text over stdin so shell quoting does not alter the content:

printf '%s' "$FINAL_TEXT" | python3 scripts/character_count.py --limit 280 --json

If you are calling it from another working directory, use the full path to the script inside the installed skill folder.

If stdin is inconvenient, pass the text as an argument:

python3 scripts/character_count.py --limit 280 --json --text "Hello world"

Output Contract

--json returns a single JSON object:

{"chars":11,"limit":280,"remaining":269,"ok":true}

Field meanings:

• chars: exact Python string length of the provided text
• limit: the configured limit
• remaining: limit - chars
• ok: true when chars <= limit

Without --json, the script prints plain text key-value lines:

chars=11
limit=280
remaining=269
ok=true

Twitter and X Workflow

For tweets and replies:

1. Draft the final post text.
2. Count it with --limit 280.
3. If ok is false, shorten the text.
4. Count again.
5. Post only after the script reports ok=true.
6. If you need exact X enforcement, add a platform-specific validation step in addition to this skill.

Notes

• Count the exact final text, including spaces, punctuation, hashtags, and URLs.
• Do not add or remove characters after counting unless you count again.
• Use printf '%s' instead of echo to avoid introducing a trailing newline.
• If the script receives no text, treat that as a calling error and fix the invocation before proceeding.