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BytesAgain β€Ί Skills β€Ί p4u
πŸ¦€ ClawHub

p4u

by @m9rco

Perforce / Helix Core (p4) power-user CLI. Use for any p4 task: show or inspect changelists (CLs), shelve/unshelve/reshelve, switch between CLs, delete CLs o...

Versionv0.0.0-nightly.e055304
Downloads782
Stars⭐ 1
#legal#productivity
TERMINAL
clawhub install p4u

πŸ“– About This Skill

name: p4u description: > Perforce / Helix Core (p4) power-user CLI. Use for any p4 task: show or inspect changelists (CLs), shelve/unshelve/reshelve, switch between CLs, delete CLs or clients/workspaces, revert files, find untracked files, blame a line (annotate), sync, or manage depots. Prefer over raw p4 commands. allowed-tools: - Bash(p4u *) - Bash(which *) - Bash(uname *)

p4u

Single Go binary, zero external dependencies. Wraps common p4 workflows with colour output, JSON mode, and --non-interactive for automation.

Repo: https://github.com/m9rco/p4u-skill

Binary status

!which p4u 2>/dev/null && echo "βœ“ $(p4u --version 2>/dev/null || which p4u)" || echo "βœ— p4u not found β€” install required (see Prerequisites below)"

Prerequisites

p4u and p4 must be installed before using this skill.

Install p4u

Download the pre-built binary for your platform from the releases page:

macOS / Linux: 

OS=$(uname -s | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]') && ARCH=$(uname -m)
[[ "$ARCH" == "x86_64" ]] && ARCH=amd64 || ARCH=arm64
BASE="https://github.com/m9rco/p4u-skill/releases/download/nightly"
curl -fsSL "${BASE}/p4u-${OS}-${ARCH}" -o /tmp/p4u
curl -fsSL "${BASE}/checksums.txt" -o /tmp/p4u-checksums.txt

Verify integrity before installing (works on both macOS and Linux)

EXPECTED=$(grep "p4u-${OS}-${ARCH}" /tmp/p4u-checksums.txt | awk '{print $1}')
ACTUAL=$(command -v sha256sum >/dev/null 2>&1 && sha256sum /tmp/p4u | awk '{print $1}' || shasum -a 256 /tmp/p4u | awk '{print $1}')
[ "$EXPECTED" = "$ACTUAL" ] || { echo "Checksum mismatch β€” aborting"; rm -f /tmp/p4u; exit 1; }
chmod +x /tmp/p4u && sudo mv /tmp/p4u /usr/local/bin/p4u

Windows (PowerShell): 

Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "https://github.com/m9rco/p4u-skill/releases/download/nightly/p4u-windows-amd64.exe" 
  -OutFile "$env:USERPROFILE\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps\p4u.exe"

Install p4 CLI

macOS (Homebrew): 

brew install p4

Linux: 

curl -fsSL "https://cdist2.perforce.com/perforce/r24.2/bin.linux26x86_64/p4" \
  -o /tmp/p4 && chmod +x /tmp/p4 && sudo mv /tmp/p4 /usr/local/bin/p4

Windows: 

Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "https://cdist2.perforce.com/perforce/r24.2/bin.ntx64/p4.exe" 
  -OutFile "$env:USERPROFILE\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps\p4.exe"

Or use the official instructions at: https://www.perforce.com/downloads/helix-command-line-client-p4

Then log in: p4 login

Rules

0. Check first: run which p4u to verify the binary is installed. If missing, inform the user and show the install command above β€” do not execute install commands autonomously. 1. Always pass --non-interactive β€” prevents hanging on prompts. 2. Destructive operations (delete-client, delete-cl, revert-all, any -f/--force flag) require explicit user confirmation before running. Show the command and ask the user to confirm β€” never execute destructive commands autonomously. 3. Pass --json when output needs to be parsed programmatically; omit it for human-readable display. 4. Changelist numbers are plain integers, e.g. 12345. 5. p4u auto-reads current user and client from p4 info. 6. Error handling: on non-zero exit show the raw output as-is; do not silently retry with different flags.

Workflow Decision Tree

Match the user's intent to the right command β€” act immediately, no clarifying questions needed for these standard cases:

| User says… | Run this | |-------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------| | "show my work", "what CLs do I have" | p4u show --non-interactive | | "switch to CL 12345", "load changelist 12345" | p4u switch 12345 --non-interactive | | "who changed line N of //depot/…" | p4u annotate //depot/… N --non-interactive | | "inspect CL 12345", "what's in changelist …" | p4u show-cl 12345 --non-interactive | | "delete this client", "remove my workspace" | confirm first, then p4u delete-client --non-interactive | | "find untracked files", "what's not in p4" | p4u untracked --non-interactive | | "revert everything", "undo all changes" | confirm first, then p4u revert-all --non-interactive | | "reshelve CL 12345" | p4u reshelve 12345 --non-interactive | | "unshelve CL 12345" | p4u unshelve 12345 --non-interactive | | "delete CL 12345" | confirm first, then p4u delete-cl 12345 --non-interactive |

Workflow Examples

Show my open work

p4u show --non-interactive          # pending + shelved
p4u show -p --non-interactive       # pending only
p4u show -s --non-interactive       # shelved only
p4u show --json --non-interactive   # for further processing

Switch to a different changelist

Shelves current work first, then unshelves the target:

p4u switch 12345 --non-interactive
p4u switch 12345 -s -m --non-interactive   # also sync + auto-resolve
p4u switch 12345 -k --non-interactive      # keep existing shelve

Who changed this line?

p4u annotate //depot/main/src/foo.cpp 42 --non-interactive
p4u annotate -v //depot/main/src/foo.cpp 42 --non-interactive  # verbose
p4u annotate --json //depot/main/src/foo.cpp 42 --non-interactive

Inspect a changelist

p4u show-cl 12345 --non-interactive
p4u show-cl 12345 -b --non-interactive     # brief: no file list
p4u show-cl 12345 --json --non-interactive

Clean up a stale client

p4u delete-client --non-interactive        # uses current client
p4u delete-client -c myclient --non-interactive
p4u delete-client -f --non-interactive     # skip confirmation
p4u delete-client -n --non-interactive     # keep local files

Find untracked files

p4u untracked --non-interactive
p4u untracked ./src ./assets --non-interactive
p4u untracked -d 3 --non-interactive       # max depth 3
p4u untracked --json --non-interactive

Full Command Reference

Show client status

p4u show --non-interactive              # pending + shelved changelists
p4u show -s --non-interactive           # shelved only
p4u show -p --non-interactive           # pending only
p4u show --json --non-interactive       # JSON output
p4u show -u  --non-interactive    # filter by user
p4u show -c  --non-interactive  # filter by client
p4u show -m 10 --non-interactive        # limit to 10 results

Reshelve / unshelve

p4u reshelve  --non-interactive
p4u unshelve  --non-interactive

Revert all opened files

p4u revert-all --non-interactive

Delete a changelist

p4u delete-cl  --non-interactive
p4u delete-cl -f  --non-interactive   # force, no confirmation
p4u delete-cl   --non-interactive

Global flags

| Flag | Short | Description | |---------------------|-------|---------------------------------| | --non-interactive | | Disable all interactive prompts | | --json | | JSON output | | --no-color | | Disable colour | | --force-color | | Force colour when piping |

βš™οΈ Configuration

p4u and p4 must be installed before using this skill.

Install p4u

Download the pre-built binary for your platform from the releases page:

macOS / Linux: 

OS=$(uname -s | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]') && ARCH=$(uname -m)
[[ "$ARCH" == "x86_64" ]] && ARCH=amd64 || ARCH=arm64
BASE="https://github.com/m9rco/p4u-skill/releases/download/nightly"
curl -fsSL "${BASE}/p4u-${OS}-${ARCH}" -o /tmp/p4u
curl -fsSL "${BASE}/checksums.txt" -o /tmp/p4u-checksums.txt

Verify integrity before installing (works on both macOS and Linux)

EXPECTED=$(grep "p4u-${OS}-${ARCH}" /tmp/p4u-checksums.txt | awk '{print $1}')
ACTUAL=$(command -v sha256sum >/dev/null 2>&1 && sha256sum /tmp/p4u | awk '{print $1}' || shasum -a 256 /tmp/p4u | awk '{print $1}')
[ "$EXPECTED" = "$ACTUAL" ] || { echo "Checksum mismatch β€” aborting"; rm -f /tmp/p4u; exit 1; }
chmod +x /tmp/p4u && sudo mv /tmp/p4u /usr/local/bin/p4u

Windows (PowerShell): 

Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "https://github.com/m9rco/p4u-skill/releases/download/nightly/p4u-windows-amd64.exe" 
  -OutFile "$env:USERPROFILE\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps\p4u.exe"

Install p4 CLI

macOS (Homebrew): 

brew install p4

Linux: 

curl -fsSL "https://cdist2.perforce.com/perforce/r24.2/bin.linux26x86_64/p4" \
  -o /tmp/p4 && chmod +x /tmp/p4 && sudo mv /tmp/p4 /usr/local/bin/p4

Windows: 

Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "https://cdist2.perforce.com/perforce/r24.2/bin.ntx64/p4.exe" 
  -OutFile "$env:USERPROFILE\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps\p4.exe"

Or use the official instructions at: https://www.perforce.com/downloads/helix-command-line-client-p4

Then log in: p4 login

πŸ”’ Constraints

0. Check first: run which p4u to verify the binary is installed. If missing, inform the user and show the install command above β€” do not execute install commands autonomously. 1. Always pass --non-interactive β€” prevents hanging on prompts. 2. Destructive operations (delete-client, delete-cl, revert-all, any -f/--force flag) require explicit user confirmation before running. Show the command and ask the user to confirm β€” never execute destructive commands autonomously. 3. Pass --json when output needs to be parsed programmatically; omit it for human-readable display. 4. Changelist numbers are plain integers, e.g. 12345. 5. p4u auto-reads current user and client from p4 info. 6. Error handling: on non-zero exit show the raw output as-is; do not silently retry with different flags.