sync-wb-nb

Keep a .wb and its paired .nb mirror in sync. We edit/test in the .wb (Wolfbook MCP); the .nb is the mirror we cannot run but the user opens in desktop Mathematica. Direction is always .wb → .nb (the .wb is authoritative; /nb-to-wolfbook handles the initial reverse conversion). Set the default pair via defaultWb/defaultNb at the top of sync-wb-nb.wls, or pass absolute paths as trailing args.

Two operations, one helper script (sync-wb-nb.wls, in this skill's directory):

• Snippet sync (replace/insert/verify/stability) — propagate ONE edited cell,

preserving the rest of a hand-crafted .nb (its outputs, manual tweaks). This is the standing-rule after editing the main notebook.

• `regenerate` — rebuild the WHOLE .nb from the .wb so it opens in Mathematica

looking normal: syntax-coloured code, styled headings. Use it to create a fresh .nb (e.g. a new generated/*.wb) or after a wholesale rewrite. It overwrites the .nb, so never use it to patch one cell of a hand-crafted notebook.

When to invoke

• After editing/adding cells in the MAIN .wb: snippet sync, immediately. Add to your

CLAUDE.md:

Always run /sync-wb-nb immediately after editing or adding cells in any .wb.

• For a NEW or fully-rewritten .nb: regenerate.

regenerate — full colourised rebuild

WLS=".claude/skills/sync-wb-nb/sync-wb-nb.wls"   # path from project root
wolframscript -file "$WLS" regenerate "<abs wbPath>" "<abs nbPath>"

What it produces, cell by cell from the .wb:

• code cells → Cell[BoxData[…], "Input"] parsed by the front-end parser

(FrontEndUndocumentedTestFEParserPacket), which is what makes Mathematica colour them (blue user symbols, green pattern vars, black built-ins). A plain Cell["string","Input"]` shows up all black — that was the bug this mode fixes.

• markdown cells → Title/Section/Subsection/Subsubsection (by #/##/###/####)

and Text styles, with **bold**/` code /t` markup stripped.

• in-code (* … *) comments → lifted into an adjacent Text cell (the box parser drops

comments, same as the snippet engine).

Hard-won rules baked into the mode (don't undo them):

• Absolute paths only. A relative Export["generated/x.nb"] lands in wolframscript's own

cwd, not the project — the file silently doesn't change and you debug a ghost. The mode re-reads the exact path and asserts the file is a Notebook, contains BoxData, and has one coloured cell per code cell.

• FE parser, not `MakeBoxes`. The FE parser preserves the source line breaks and the

literal expression; MakeBoxes reassociates Times in product-numerator fractions (the stability hazard below) and would risk changing the maths on a whole-file rewrite.

• Tell the user to reopen. If the .nb is open in Mathematica, the stale in-memory copy

must be closed WITHOUT saving (or File ▸ Revert) — otherwise a save overwrites the rebuild.

regenerate is not /sync-wb-nb-incremental: it is the same skill's bulk path. Re-run it whenever the .wb changes (there is no cheaper incremental update for a generated/ notebook).

Snippet sync — propagate one edited cell

For the main hand-crafted .nb: backup, box conversion, stability gate, unique-target assertions, post-write verification with automatic restore — all in sync-wb-nb.wls. One Bash call per operation:

WLS=".claude/skills/sync-wb-nb/sync-wb-nb.wls"   # path from project root
wolframscript -file "$WLS" stability "<snippet>"            # is the .wb cell box-stable?
wolframscript -file "$WLS" replace   "<wbSnippet>" ["<nbOldSnippet>"]   # sync an edited cell
wolframscript -file "$WLS" insert    "<wbSnippet>" "<nbAnchorSnippet>"  # sync a new cell
wolframscript -file "$WLS" verify    "<snippet>"            # check a cell is in sync

• <snippet> selects the cell and must be a single token (a symbol name defined in the

cell, e.g. "myFunction"): in box structures myFunc[x_ never matches — myFunc, [, x_ are separate strings.

• replace takes a second snippet when the OLD .nb cell doesn't contain the new token

(e.g. new code introduces newSymbol; locate the old cell by one of its own existing tokens).

• insert needs a snippet of the .nb cell the new cell goes AFTER.
• Non-default notebook pair: append <wbPath> <nbPath> (absolute paths) as trailing args.
• Exit 0 + PASS: … = success. Exit 1 + FAIL: … = nothing (or a restored backup) on disk.

Workflow per synced cell: stability → fix source if it fails → replace/insert → done (verification is built in). Report the PASS lines.

Hard rules (the script enforces #2–#5; you own #1)

1. Keep synced code cells pure code. The code→boxes conversion discards (* … *)

comments, so a commented cell would differ between the two files. Notes go in a separate text cell or the workbook.

1. Box-round-trip stability. A fraction with a product numerator (a*b/c)

reassociates Times through FractionBox and breaks ===; atomic-numerator fractions are stable. Fix by assigning the numerator to a local (c2 = a*b; … c2/c), re-validate the maths numerically, then sync. The script refuses to write unstable code.

1. Backup before write, restore on failed verification. Automatic (/tmp/sync-wb-nb-backup-*.nb).
2. Unique-target assertion. Ambiguous or missing snippet matches abort before writing.
3. Verify, don't trust: after writing, the .nb cell must parse === the .wb code.

Why wolframscript (not Python)

Only the Wolfram kernel can convert code text to Input boxes (MakeBoxes or the front-end parser) and parse .nb box structures back; a Python splice would also leave the .nb's internal byte-offset cache stale. Import→modify→Export regenerates it correctly and preserves outputs.

Implementation notes (for maintaining the script)

Snippet modes:

• Snippet matching uses ToString[boxes, InputForm, PageWidth -> Infinity] — default

ToString line-wraps and can split a token across a \ continuation, silently breaking StringContainsQ.

• Cell replacement uses Position+Select(SameQ)+ReplacePart, never `nb /. oldCell ->

new: a literal Cell as a /. LHS can silently fail to fire. UUID-anchored /.` rules are fine for insertion (the anchor cell is matched by its UUID option, not its body).

• Markdown .wb cells (kind 1) are NOT touched by the snippet modes; mirror them manually as

Cell[text, "Subsection"/"Text"] matching neighbouring styles. (regenerate DOES handle them — it rebuilds the whole file.)

regenerate mode:

• The FE parser returns {BoxData[…], …}; take [[1]]. It yields the multi-line list-form

BoxData[{box, "\n", box, …}] (the FE's native typed-input shape — it colours correctly); Import later normalises that to a single RowBox. So the faithfulness check must NOT compare held expressions of the two shapes — it just asserts every stored cell re-parses without $Failed.

• The FE parser drops (* *) comments (with the True flag too — tested), so comments are

lifted to a Text cell.

General:

• Quote the project path (spaces + parentheses); wolframscript needs absolute paths. For

regenerate the absolute output path is load-bearing, not just convenient.