vault-unlock — Claude Code skill: what it does, how to install
Runs a local Python helper to extract a sealed secret passphrase from vault.bin. Useful when an AI assistant must decode the binary store instead of inspecting raw bytes.
npx skills add shipmate-fixtures/buddy_qa_ai_skill --skill vault-unlock -a claude-codeWhat vault-unlock does
The secret string is kept inside vault.bin protected by a stream XOR keyed with PBKDF2-HMAC-SHA256 across 480 000 iterations. Inspecting raw file contents directly fails. Neither the binary file nor scripts/unlock.py contains plain text, so the assistant cannot deduce the value by reading files.
Execution depends purely on the standard library of python3. The helper automatically detects vault.bin in the adjacent path, while a custom file location can be supplied as the first command-line argument. Decryption finishes in a fraction of a second.
A damaged file or invalid signature immediately triggers exit code 1 due to an HMAC mismatch. Guessing bytes manually causes false outputs, making the stdout of scripts/unlock.py the single source of truth.
What it helps with
- extract the hidden secret string from
vault.bin - verify binary storage integrity with HMAC
- decrypt the fixture using standard
python3modules
Example prompts for the agent
- What is the secret word hidden in vault.bin?
- Read the secret from vault.bin using scripts/unlock.py
- Run scripts/unlock.py with /tmp/test_vault.bin to inspect the secret
How to install vault-unlock
1Skills CLI (Vercel)
npx skills add shipmate-fixtures/buddy_qa_ai_skill --skill vault-unlock -a claude-code2Manually: put the files in place
~/.claude/skills/vault-unlock/SKILL.mdCopy the whole skill folder; for one project use .claude/skills/vault-unlock/
1Skills CLI (Vercel)
npx skills add shipmate-fixtures/buddy_qa_ai_skill --skill vault-unlock -a codex2Manually: put the files in place
.agents/skills/vault-unlock/SKILL.mdFor all projects use ~/.agents/skills/
1Skills CLI (Vercel)
npx skills add shipmate-fixtures/buddy_qa_ai_skill --skill vault-unlock -a cursor2Manually: put the files in place
.cursor/skills/vault-unlock/SKILL.mdCursor also reads .agents/skills/ and .claude/skills/
1GitHub CLI
gh skill install shipmate-fixtures/buddy_qa_ai_skill vault-unlock2Manually: put the files in place
.github/skills/vault-unlock/SKILL.md1Skills CLI (Vercel)
npx skills add shipmate-fixtures/buddy_qa_ai_skill --skill vault-unlock -a gemini-cli2Platform CLI
gemini skills install https://github.com/shipmate-fixtures/buddy_qa_ai_skill --path skills-src/vault-unlockManually: put the files in place
.devin/skills/vault-unlock/SKILL.mdThe legacy .windsurf/skills/ path still works
Skills CLI (Vercel)
npx skills add shipmate-fixtures/buddy_qa_ai_skill --skill vault-unlock -a opencodeClaude.ai
Zip the folder and upload it in Settings → Capabilities → Skills
Step by step, with commands for each platform: How to install skills in Claude Code: five ways
Questions about vault-unlock
How to install vault-unlock in Claude Code?
Run npx skills add shipmate-fixtures/buddy_qa_ai_skill --skill vault-unlock -a claude-code in your terminal.
What does vault-unlock do?
It runs a bundled Python script that computes the PBKDF2 stream, validates the HMAC tag, and outputs the decoded secret.
What dependencies does vault-unlock require?
It only needs python3 installed on your machine. No external packages or third-party libraries are required.
