Runs full Trailmark structural analysis on Trailmark 0.2.x by building a graph, running `preanalysis()`, and reporting hotspots, taint, blast radius, privilege boundaries, and attack surface. Use when vivisect needs detailed structural data for a target. Triggers: structural analysis, blast radius, taint analysis, complexity hotspots.
Install with the open skills CLI (global, non-interactive — available in every Claude Code session):
npx skills add trailofbits/skills --skill "trailmark-structural" -g -a claude-code -yOr manually — clone and copy the skill directory (SKILL.md + companion files):
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/trailofbits/skills /tmp/skills && cp -r /tmp/skills/plugins/trailmark/skills/trailmark-structural ~/.claude/skills/trailmark-structuralThis skill is a directory: SKILL.md is the entry point; the files below ship with it.
---
name: trailmark-structural
description: "Runs full Trailmark structural analysis on Trailmark 0.2.x by building a graph, running `preanalysis()`, and reporting hotspots, taint, blast radius, privilege boundaries, and attack surface. Use when vivisect needs detailed structural data for a target. Triggers: structural analysis, blast radius, taint analysis, complexity hotspots."
allowed-tools: Bash Read Grep Glob
---
# Trailmark Structural Analysis
Builds a Trailmark graph and runs `engine.preanalysis()` to compute all
four pre-analysis passes.
## When to Use
- Vivisect Phase 1 needs full structural data (hotspots, taint, blast radius, privilege boundaries)
- Detailed pre-analysis passes for a specific target scope
- Generating complexity and taint data for audit prioritization
## When NOT to Use
- Quick overview only (use `trailmark-summary` instead)
- Ad-hoc code graph queries (use the main `trailmark` skill directly)
- Target is a single small file where structural analysis adds no value
## Rationalizations to Reject
| Rationalization | Why It's Wrong | Required Action |
|-----------------|----------------|-----------------|
| "Summary analysis is enough" | Summary skips taint, blast radius, and privilege boundary data | Run full structural analysis when detailed data is needed |
| "One pass is sufficient" | Passes cross-reference each other — taint without blast radius misses critical nodes | Run all four passes |
| "Tool isn't installed, I'll analyze manually" | Manual analysis misses what tooling catches | Report "trailmark is not installed" and return |
| "Empty pass output means the pass failed" | Some passes produce no data for some codebases (e.g., no privilege boundaries) | Return full output regardless |
## Usage
The target directory is passed via the `args` parameter.
## Execution
**Step 1: Check that trailmark is available.**
```bash
trailmark analyze --help 2>/dev/null || \
uv run trailmark analyze --help 2>/dev/null
```
If neither command works, report "trailmark is not installed"
and return. Do NOT run `pip install`, `uv pip install`,
`git clone`, or any install command. The user must install
trailmark themselves.
**Step 2: Detect languages with Trailmark's parse API.**
```bash
python3 - "{args}" <<'PY'
import json
import sys
from trailmark.parse import detect_languages
print(json.dumps(detect_languages(sys.argv[1])))
PY
```
If the import fails, rerun the same snippet with `uv run python - "{args}"`.
If the result is `[]`, report "Trailmark found no supported languages under
target" and return.
**Step 3: Run the full structural analysis via `QueryEngine`.**
Run this snippet with `python3`. If the import fails, rerun the same snippet
under `uv run python - "{args}"`.
```bash
python3 - "{args}" <<'PY'
import json
import sys
from trailmark.parse import detect_languages
from trailmark.query.api import QueryEngine
target = sys.argv[1]
languages = detect_languages(target)
engine = QueryEngine.from_directory(target, language="auto")
preanalysis = engine.preanalysis()
def summarize_subgraph(name: str, limit: int = 25) -> dict[str, object]:
nodes = engine.subgraph(name)
return {
"count": len(nodes),
"sample_ids": [node["id"] for node in nodes[:limit]],
}
payload = {
"languages": languages,
"summary": engine.summary(),
"preanalysis": preanalysis,
"attack_surface": engine.attack_surface()[:25],
"hotspots": engine.complexity_hotspots(10)[:25],
"subgraphs": {
name: summarize_subgraph(name)
for name in engine.subgraph_names()
},
}
print(json.dumps(payload, indent=2))
PY
```
**Step 4: Verify the output.**
The output should include:
- `languages`
- `summary`
- `preanalysis`
- `hotspots` (possibly empty)
- `subgraphs` with counts and sample IDs
Some subgraphs may have zero nodes for some codebases (this is
normal). Return the full JSON payload regardless.
Use when facing 2+ independent tasks that can be worked on without shared state or sequential dependencies
Use when encountering any bug, test failure, or unexpected behavior, before proposing fixes
Use when implementing any feature or bugfix, before writing implementation code