snowbank-slices-and-buffers SKILL.md skillA

snowbank-slices-and-buffers from snowbanksdk/foundationdb-dotnet-client is an agent skill: a SKILL.md folder an AI agent loads when a task calls for it.

Install it, pinned
mdr add snowbanksdk/foundationdb-dotnet-client/snowbank-slices-and-buffers@git:20260621.01f75a4

Pins git:20260621.01f75a4 in mdr.lock. Pin the fingerprint instead.

Audit grade
A, 17 of 17 checks passed
Kind
SKILL.md skill
Repository
snowbanksdk/foundationdb-dotnet-client
Path
plugins/foundationdb-skills/skills/snowbank-slices-and-buffers/SKILL.md
Versions recorded
2
Latest version
git:20260621.01f75a4, committed Jun 21, 2026
First version recorded
Jun 15, 2026
Size
11,132 bytes
Repository stars
158
License
BSD-3-Clause

How to correctly use the Slice type and its companions (SliceReader, SliceWriter, SliceOwner) for binary data in the FoundationDB .NET client / SnowBank.Core codebase. Slice is a readonly struct (namespace System) — the logical equivalent of a ReadOnlyMemory of bytes with many helpers. Use whenever code constructs or reads a Slice, converts between bytes and other types (Slice.FromBytes/FromStringUtf8/FromInt32/FromFixed64/ToInt64/ToStringUtf8/AsSlice/ToArray), builds or parses a binary buffer…

Collected from public GitHub. Every version is saved exactly as it was and never changes. Install it at an exact version with the mdr tool, and every file is checked before it reaches your agent. The main file is checked against the SHA-256 fingerprint recorded here, and the others against the fingerprints GitHub keeps for its source commit. The automatic checks below grade the latest version, and the same checks always give the same file the same grade.

What the file says

# Slice, SliceReader, SliceWriter & friends

`Slice` is the workhorse for binary data in this codebase. It is a **`readonly struct`** (in namespace `System`) that wraps a segment of a `byte[]` — its three fields are `Array` (the backing array, possibly null), `Offset`, and `Count`. It predates `Span<T>` and is the logical equivalent of **`ReadOnlyMemory<byte>`**, but with a large library of helpers for turning bytes into and out of real-world types. Keys and values in the FoundationDB binding are `Slice`s.

> **Two things to internalize first:** (1) a `Slice` is a **view**, not a copy — it shares the backing array. (2) `Slice.Nil` (no array) and `Slice.Empty` (zero-length array) are **different** and the distinction is load-bearing. Both are covered below.

For the Span-first equivalents (`SpanReader`/`SpanWriter`, `ISpanEncodable`) read [`references/span-readers-writers.md`](references/span-readers-writers.md); for pooled buffer-building (`ISliceBufferWriter`, `SlicePool`, `ValueBuffer<T>`, allocators) read [`references/buffers-and-pooling.md`](references/buffers-and-pooling.md).

## 1. Nil vs Empty — the #1 gotcha

| | `Slice.Nil` | `Slice.Empty` |
|---|---|---|
…

Read the whole file at its exact version.

How to install

The exact contents, by fingerprint
mdr add snowbanksdk/foundationdb-dotnet-client/snowbank-slices-and-buffers@sha256:771c9daf38aa8c9d

The line at the top of this page pins the label git:20260621.01f75a4, which is what most people want. This one pins the sha256 fingerprint of the contents instead, so it survives a label being moved. Either way the exact version is written to mdr.lock, and mdr install downloads and checks those contents again, so it installs them exactly or stops with an error.

Badge

mdr badge

[![mdr](https://markdownregistry.com/badge/art_fxgitcjbnlltwkrl.svg)](https://markdownregistry.com/a/art_fxgitcjbnlltwkrl)

3 badge image fetches in 30 days. What the badge shows.

Versions

The registry has recorded 2 versions of this file, between Jun 15, 2026 and Jun 21, 2026, about one every 6 days.

versioncommittedcommitsizeaudit
git:20260621.01f75a4 latest2026-06-21 01f75a4 11,132 BA view · diff
git:20260615.e8b7f992026-06-15 e8b7f99 11,118 BA view

Audit of the latest version

A  17 of 17 checks passed. Fixed automatic checks with no AI involved, so the same checks give the same answer every run.
  • pass: Frontmatter block present
  • pass: Frontmatter declares a name
  • pass: Frontmatter declares a description
  • pass: Size between 200 bytes and 200 KB (11132 bytes)
  • pass: No zero-width or bidi control characters
  • pass: No instruction hidden inside an HTML comment
  • pass: No link to an exfiltration or paste host
  • pass: No credential-shaped string
  • pass: No instruction to send local credentials anywhere
  • pass: No text hidden with inline styles
  • pass: No prompt-injection phrasing
  • pass: No curl or wget piped into a shell
  • pass: No recursive delete of root, home or parent
  • pass: No instruction to read or print local credentials
  • pass: No base64 blob over 200 characters
  • pass: No link to a raw IP address
  • pass: No script tag

Source

GitHub

snowbanksdk/foundationdb-dotnet-client · 158 stars · license BSD-3-Clause · pushed 2026-10-20 · branch master

API

GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_fxgitcjbnlltwkrl
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=snowbanksdk/foundationdb-dotnet-client/snowbank-slices-and-buffers
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/771c9daf38aa8c9d04258000b934bb99acd4516446cad5c2cfbdcd1fd41d2753

Your AI assistant does the legwork. You hear about the deals worth your word. Hand yours the standing instructions at modelranch.com and it joins the network that reads files like this one.

Guides: the SKILL.md format and its required fields · what to check before you install a skill · how to pin a skill to an exact version · where to find agent skills · keeping a team on the same skills · which agent file does what.

More from snowbanksdk/foundationdb-dotnet-client

crystaljson SKILL.md skill
snowbanksdk/foundationdb-dotnet-client · .claude/skills/crystaljson/SKILL.md · How to use CrystalJson, the custom JSON library in SnowBank.Core (namespace SnowBank.Data.Json). Covers the JsonValue…
git:20261014.a2bb41b · audit A · 158 stars
foundationdb-advanced-layers SKILL.md skill
snowbanksdk/foundationdb-dotnet-client · .claude/skills/foundationdb-advanced-layers/SKILL.md · Advanced engineering for sophisticated FoundationDB layers with the .NET client (FoundationDB.Client / SnowBank) — the…
git:20260809.f7377d4 · audit A · 158 stars
foundationdb-aspire SKILL.md skill
snowbanksdk/foundationdb-dotnet-client · .claude/skills/foundationdb-aspire/SKILL.md · How to run a FoundationDB cluster and connect to it from .NET — getting the IFdbDatabaseProvider that the…
git:20261001.d94e830 · audit A · 158 stars
foundationdb-keys-and-layers SKILL.md skill
snowbanksdk/foundationdb-dotnet-client · .claude/skills/foundationdb-keys-and-layers/SKILL.md · How to correctly encode keys and values, use subspaces and the Directory layer, and write custom "Layers" with the…
git:20261014.c200335 · audit A · 158 stars
foundationdb-transactions SKILL.md skill
snowbanksdk/foundationdb-dotnet-client · .claude/skills/foundationdb-transactions/SKILL.md · How to correctly run transactions with the FoundationDB .NET client (FoundationDB.Client / SnowBank): the db.ReadAsync…
git:20261014.c200335 · audit A · 158 stars
snowbank-betterhttp SKILL.md skill
snowbanksdk/foundationdb-dotnet-client · .claude/skills/snowbank-betterhttp/SKILL.md · How to make outbound HTTP calls with BetterHttpClient (SnowBank.Networking.Http) in an ASP.NET Core or generic-host…
git:20260823.0303e81 · audit A · 158 stars
snowbank-contracts SKILL.md skill
snowbanksdk/foundationdb-dotnet-client · .claude/skills/snowbank-contracts/SKILL.md · How to guard arguments and assert invariants with the Contract family in SnowBank.Core (namespace…
git:20260810.0d8b568 · audit A · 158 stars
snowbank-distributed-testing SKILL.md skill
snowbanksdk/foundationdb-dotnet-client · .claude/skills/snowbank-distributed-testing/SKILL.md · How to write, run, and especially DIAGNOSE multi-node integration tests built on the SnowBank distributed-test…
git:20260814.b952de4 · audit A · 158 stars
snowbank-slices-and-buffers SKILL.md skill
snowbanksdk/foundationdb-dotnet-client · .claude/skills/snowbank-slices-and-buffers/SKILL.md · How to correctly use the Slice type and its companions (SliceReader, SliceWriter, SliceOwner) for binary data in the…
git:20260621.01f75a4 · audit A · 158 stars
CLAUDE.md CLAUDE.md file
snowbanksdk/foundationdb-dotnet-client · CLAUDE.md
git:20261014.bb4e2df · audit A · 158 stars
crystaljson SKILL.md skill
snowbanksdk/foundationdb-dotnet-client · plugins/foundationdb-skills/skills/crystaljson/SKILL.md · How to use CrystalJson, the custom JSON library in SnowBank.Core (namespace SnowBank.Data.Json). Covers the JsonValue…
git:20261014.a2bb41b · audit A · 158 stars
foundationdb-advanced-layers SKILL.md skill
snowbanksdk/foundationdb-dotnet-client · plugins/foundationdb-skills/skills/foundationdb-advanced-layers/SKILL.md · Advanced engineering for sophisticated FoundationDB layers with the .NET client (FoundationDB.Client / SnowBank) — the…
git:20260809.f7377d4 · audit A · 158 stars

Every file in snowbanksdk/foundationdb-dotnet-client

Other files named snowbank-slices-and-buffers

snowbank-slices-and-buffers SKILL.md skill
snowbanksdk/foundationdb-dotnet-client · .claude/skills/snowbank-slices-and-buffers/SKILL.md · How to correctly use the Slice type and its companions (SliceReader, SliceWriter, SliceOwner) for binary data in the…
git:20260621.01f75a4 · audit A · 158 stars

Browse by kind, by grade A, or by owner.