fix(setup): mirror support files + asset dirs alongside SKILL.md in link_claude_skill_dirs

Closes #1499.

`link_claude_skill_dirs` previously only symlinked SKILL.md into each skill
directory. Skills like /review reference sibling files (checklist.md,
greptile-triage.md, specialists/, TODOS-format.md) via the
`.claude/skills/review/` path — but those files were never linked, so the
skill hit its own STOP point on every global install.

After this fix, link_claude_skill_dirs also:
- Symlinks all .md support files (except SKILL.md and *.tmpl) alongside SKILL.md
- Symlinks support asset directories (specialists/, bin/, references/,
  templates/, migrations/, etc.) while excluding build dirs (dist/, src/,
  test/, tests/, scripts/, node_modules/)

Idempotent — re-running ./setup upgrades existing installs cleanly.
Supersedes the partial fix in #1486 (bin/ only); this covers all asset types.

Affected skills: review (checklist.md, greptile-triage.md, design-checklist.md,
TODOS-format.md, specialists/), qa (references/, templates/), careful (bin/),
freeze (bin/), plan-devex-review (dx-hall-of-fame.md), cso (ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.md),
setup-gbrain (memory.md), gstack-upgrade (migrations/).

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

Author: NikhileshNanduri

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -1,5 +1,21 @@
 # Changelog
 
+## [1.45.2.0] - 2026-05-27
+
+## **`/setup` now mirrors support files and asset directories alongside SKILL.md so skills can read their own assets without path hacks.**
+
+Skills like `/review` and `/qa` ship with sidecars — `checklist.md`, `greptile-triage.md`, `specialists/`, `templates/`, `bin/` — that their SKILL.md reads at runtime via `.claude/skills/<skill>/<file>`. Before this fix, `link_claude_skill_dirs` in `setup` only symlinked `SKILL.md`, leaving every sidecar unreachable. Skills worked around this with long absolute paths; new skills couldn't assume they had access to their own assets.
+
+Now `setup` iterates over sibling `.md` files and qualifying subdirectories in each skill source dir and calls `_link_or_copy` for each. The Windows path compatibility guard (`_link_or_copy` instead of raw `ln -snf`) is preserved. The fix also adds two new invariant tests to `test/gen-skill-docs.test.ts` that will catch any future regression.
+
+### Itemized changes
+
+#### Fixed
+- `setup`: `link_claude_skill_dirs` now mirrors supporting `.md` files (except `SKILL.md` itself) and subdirectories (except `dist`, `src`, `test`, `tests`, `scripts`, `node_modules`) via `_link_or_copy` — fixes #1499
+
+#### Added
+- `test/gen-skill-docs.test.ts`: two new invariant tests asserting `link_claude_skill_dirs` mirrors support files and directories using `_link_or_copy`
+
 ## [1.45.0.0] - 2026-05-25
 
 ## **Design boards now live 24 hours, not 10 minutes. One daemon hosts every board, one tab survives the whole day.**

VERSION

@@ -1 +1 @@
-1.45.0.0
+1.45.2.0

package.json

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "gstack",
-  "version": "1.45.0.0",
+  "version": "1.45.2.0",
   "description": "Garry's Stack — Claude Code skills + fast headless browser. One repo, one install, entire AI engineering workflow.",
   "license": "MIT",
   "type": "module",

setup

@@ -474,6 +474,28 @@ link_claude_skill_dirs() {
       # Validate target isn't a symlink before creating the link
       if [ -L "$target/SKILL.md" ]; then rm "$target/SKILL.md"; fi
       _link_or_copy "$gstack_dir/$dir_name/SKILL.md" "$target/SKILL.md"
+      # Mirror supporting .md files (checklist.md, greptile-triage.md, etc.)
+      # so SKILL.md can read them via .claude/skills/<skill>/<file>.
+      # Excludes SKILL.md (already linked above) and *.tmpl sources.
+      for support_file in "$gstack_dir/$dir_name"/*.md; do
+        [ -f "$support_file" ] || continue
+        fname="$(basename "$support_file")"
+        [ "$fname" = "SKILL.md" ] && continue
+        if [ -L "$target/$fname" ]; then rm "$target/$fname"; fi
+        _link_or_copy "$support_file" "$target/$fname"
+      done
+      # Mirror support asset directories (specialists/, references/, templates/, bin/, etc.)
+      # Excludes build and source dirs: dist, src, test, tests, scripts, node_modules.
+      for support_dir in "$gstack_dir/$dir_name"/*/; do
+        [ -d "$support_dir" ] || continue
+        sname="$(basename "$support_dir")"
+        case "$sname" in
+          dist|src|test|tests|scripts|node_modules) continue ;;
+        esac
+        if [ -L "$target/$sname" ]; then rm "$target/$sname"; fi
+        if [ -e "$target/$sname" ] && [ ! -L "$target/$sname" ]; then rm -rf "$target/$sname"; fi
+        _link_or_copy "$gstack_dir/$dir_name/$sname" "$target/$sname"
+      done
       linked+=("$link_name")
     fi
   done

test/gen-skill-docs.test.ts

@@ -2287,6 +2287,33 @@ describe('setup script validation', () => {
     expect(claudeSection).toContain('link_claude_root_skill_alias "$SOURCE_GSTACK_DIR" "$INSTALL_SKILLS_DIR"');
   });
 
+  // FIX #1499: link function must also mirror supporting .md files and asset directories
+  // so SKILL.md Step 2 can read checklist.md, greptile-triage.md, specialists/, etc.
+  // via .claude/skills/<skill>/<file> without requiring gstack-prefixed paths.
+  test('link_claude_skill_dirs mirrors supporting .md files alongside SKILL.md', () => {
+    const fnStart = setupContent.indexOf('link_claude_skill_dirs()');
+    const fnEnd = setupContent.indexOf('}', setupContent.indexOf('linked[@]}', fnStart));
+    const fnBody = setupContent.slice(fnStart, fnEnd);
+    // Must iterate over sibling .md files in the skill source dir
+    expect(fnBody).toContain('for support_file in "$gstack_dir/$dir_name"/*.md');
+    // Must skip SKILL.md itself (already linked above)
+    expect(fnBody).toContain('[ "$fname" = "SKILL.md" ] && continue');
+    // Must use _link_or_copy (not raw ln -snf) for Windows compatibility
+    expect(fnBody).toContain('_link_or_copy "$support_file" "$target/$fname"');
+  });
+
+  test('link_claude_skill_dirs mirrors support asset directories (specialists/, bin/, etc.)', () => {
+    const fnStart = setupContent.indexOf('link_claude_skill_dirs()');
+    const fnEnd = setupContent.indexOf('}', setupContent.indexOf('linked[@]}', fnStart));
+    const fnBody = setupContent.slice(fnStart, fnEnd);
+    // Must iterate over subdirectories in the skill source dir
+    expect(fnBody).toContain('for support_dir in "$gstack_dir/$dir_name"/*/');
+    // Must exclude build and source dirs to avoid polluting the skill surface
+    expect(fnBody).toContain('dist|src|test|tests|scripts|node_modules');
+    // Must use _link_or_copy (not raw ln -snf) for Windows compatibility
+    expect(fnBody).toContain('_link_or_copy "$gstack_dir/$dir_name/$sname" "$target/$sname"');
+  });
+
   test('setup supports --host auto|claude|codex|kiro|opencode', () => {
     expect(setupContent).toContain('--host');
     expect(setupContent).toContain('claude|codex|kiro|factory|opencode|auto');