X-Ways X-Tension Builder Skill

A Claude Code skill and knowledge base
for authoring X-Ways Forensics
X-Tensions — the xways-<name>.dll plugins that extend X-Ways (wrap external
forensic tools, parse artifacts natively, drive the Events Viewer / Directory
Browser).

It gives Claude the X-Ways-specific how: pick a template, scaffold + rename +
set identity, wire in the project conventions (helper-exe verification,
Ctrl-to-save, output directory, subprocess stdio), and
verify every XWF_* API call against distilled, citable reference notes so
generated code never invents API.

Unofficial / community project. Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or
supported by X-Ways Software Technology AG. Provided as-is under the MIT
License. "X-Ways", "X-Ways Forensics", and "WinHex" are trademarks of
X-Ways AG.

What's inside

The repository root is the skill root — SKILL.md sits at the top and every
path it references resolves beneath it. That makes the skill self-contained: it
works identically as a plugin, as a clone, as a junction into ~/.claude/skills/,
or zipped for upload.

Install (as a Claude Code plugin)

/plugin marketplace add kev365/xways-xtension-builder-skill
/plugin install xways-xtension-authoring@xways-xtension-builder

Then ask Claude to "scaffold a new X-Tension", "wrap <tool> in an X-Tension",
or run /xtension new <name>. The skill also auto-triggers on those phrases.

Three ways to use it — all read from one copy of this repo, so nothing can
drift out of sync:

• Installed as a plugin (above) — the skill and the /xtension command in
  any project. Claude Code copies marketplace plugins into
  ~/.claude/plugins/cache, so this is a snapshot: run /plugin update to pick
  up new releases. This is the path for using the skill.

• Junctioned into your personal skills directory — the skill is live in
  every project, and because the junction points at your clone, any edit you
  make while authoring an X-Tension is an edit to the repo working tree that you
  then commit. This is the path for improving the skill as you go. From an
  ordinary (non-elevated) Command Prompt:

  mklink /J "%USERPROFILE%\.claude\skills\xways-xtension-authoring" "C:\path\to\xways-xtension-builder-skill"
  

  A directory junction needs no special privileges. To also get the /xtension
  slash command, link the one command file — this needs Windows Developer Mode
  (Settings → System → For developers) or an elevated prompt, because file
  symlinks are privileged where junctions are not:

  New-Item -ItemType SymbolicLink `
    -Path   "$env:USERPROFILE\.claude\commands\xtension.md" `
    -Target "C:\path\to\xways-xtension-builder-skill\commands\xtension.md"
  

  If that is refused, skip it — the skill still auto-triggers, and you can invoke
  it directly as /xways-xtension-authoring. Prefer that over copying the file:
  a copy is the drift this layout exists to prevent.

  To undo either link, remove the link itself — never the target:

  rmdir "%USERPROFILE%\.claude\skills\xways-xtension-authoring"
  del   "%USERPROFILE%\.claude\commands\xtension.md"
  

• Cloned and opened in Claude Code — the skill auto-loads from the repo root,
  and the scaffold/build scripts run against the clone (they create
  x-tensions/<name>/ there). Also claude --plugin-dir . from the clone to
  exercise the plugin packaging itself for one session.

In every case the scripts write scaffold/build output under the current
directory (or -DestRoot <project>), never into the skill install — they
refuse to write into a plugin cache.

Quickstart

After installing, scaffold and build your first X-Tension — conversationally, or
drive the scripts directly:

• Conversationally: ask Claude "scaffold a new X-Tension that wraps <tool>",
  or run /xtension new myscanner.

• Scripts (when you've cloned the repo), from the repo root in PowerShell:

  # Scaffold from the CLI-wrapper template (dry-run first to preview the plan)
  scripts/new-xtension.ps1 -Name myscanner -Template wrapper -DryRun
  scripts/new-xtension.ps1 -Name myscanner -Template wrapper
  
  # Fill in your tool's command + result parsing (see the // TODO markers in
  # x-tensions/xways-myscanner/), then build + deploy into your X-Ways install:
  scripts/build-xtension.ps1 -Name xways-myscanner -DeployRoot "<your X-Ways install>"
  

See Prerequisites for the build toolchain and SDK.

Prerequisites

• X-Ways Forensics 21.x+ (Windows x64) to run the X-Tensions you build.
• MSVC (x64) — the "x64 Native Tools Command Prompt for VS 2022" (VS 2019
  Build Tools also work; build.bat auto-bootstraps either) — to compile.
• The X-Ways X-Tension SDK (the X-Tension.h header) to build C++
  X-Tensions. This repo does not ship the SDK — it is copyright X-Ways AG.
  See docs/getting-the-sdk.md to acquire your own copy.

Usage

# Scaffold (dry-run first to review the planned copies / renames / edits)
scripts/new-xtension.ps1 -Name <name> -Template wrapper -DryRun

# Build (close X-Ways first — the DLL is locked while it runs; no hot reload)
scripts/build-xtension.ps1 -Name xways-<name>

See the knowledge base, the
convention library, and the
API guardrail.

Contributing, sharing & feedback

This is a community project and feedback is genuinely wanted:

• Built an X-Tension with this skill? Share it. The canonical home for
  community X-Tensions is X-Ways' own
  third-party X-Tensions list —
  contact X-Ways to get yours listed (their
  X-Tension page has the
  submission details). You're also welcome to link your repo in an issue so it can
  join docs/exemplars.md and feed patterns back into the templates.
• Ideas to improve the skill, templates, or docs? Open an issue. Corrections
  to the API notes are especially valuable.

See CONTRIBUTING.md and SECURITY.md.

License & attribution

MIT — see LICENSE. The API reference notes are distilled, paraphrased,
or empirically derived; the X-Ways SDK, manuals, and user-forum content are
not redistributed here. Credits to X-Ways AG, xwf-api-rs, and community
X-Tension authors are in NOTICE.

A note on how this was made

This skill and knowledge base were generated with the help of an AI agent
(Claude), drawn from notes, experiments, and conventions collected while
building X-Tensions for X-Ways Forensics. The material has been reviewed, but
mistakes and out-of-date details are inevitable — corrections, clarifications,
and better information are very welcome. Please open an issue or PR.