diff --git a/skills/alpha-vantage/SKILL.md b/skills/alpha-vantage/SKILL.md
index ed733938..cdd3702d 100644
--- a/skills/alpha-vantage/SKILL.md
+++ b/skills/alpha-vantage/SKILL.md
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@ name: alpha-vantage
 description: Access real-time and historical stock market data, forex rates, cryptocurrency prices, commodities, economic indicators, and 50+ technical indicators via the Alpha Vantage API. Use when fetching stock prices (OHLCV), company fundamentals (income statement, balance sheet, cash...
 risk: unknown
 source: community
---- Unknown
 metadata:
     skill-author: K-Dense Inc.
 ---
diff --git a/skills/cc-skill-strategic-compact/suggest-compact.sh b/skills/cc-skill-strategic-compact/suggest-compact.sh
index ea14920e..d3a7d291 100755
--- a/skills/cc-skill-strategic-compact/suggest-compact.sh
+++ b/skills/cc-skill-strategic-compact/suggest-compact.sh
@@ -27,8 +27,10 @@
 # - Transitioning from research/exploration to implementation
 # - Plan has been finalized
 
-# Track tool call count (increment in a temp file)
-COUNTER_FILE="/tmp/claude-tool-count-$$"
+# Track tool call count in a user-owned state directory
+COUNTER_DIR="${XDG_STATE_HOME:-$HOME/.local/state}/strategic-compact"
+mkdir -p "$COUNTER_DIR"
+COUNTER_FILE="$COUNTER_DIR/tool-count"
 THRESHOLD=${COMPACT_THRESHOLD:-50}
 
 # Initialize or increment counter
diff --git a/skills/ui-ux-pro-max/scripts/__pycache__/core.cpython-314.pyc b/skills/ui-ux-pro-max/scripts/__pycache__/core.cpython-314.pyc
deleted file mode 100644
index 22094ffb..00000000
Binary files a/skills/ui-ux-pro-max/scripts/__pycache__/core.cpython-314.pyc and /dev/null differ
diff --git a/skills/ui-ux-pro-max/scripts/__pycache__/design_system.cpython-314.pyc b/skills/ui-ux-pro-max/scripts/__pycache__/design_system.cpython-314.pyc
deleted file mode 100644
index 3401d980..00000000
Binary files a/skills/ui-ux-pro-max/scripts/__pycache__/design_system.cpython-314.pyc and /dev/null differ
diff --git a/skills/videodb/scripts/ws_listener.py b/skills/videodb/scripts/ws_listener.py
index e62fb72b..aac8821c 100644
--- a/skills/videodb/scripts/ws_listener.py
+++ b/skills/videodb/scripts/ws_listener.py
@@ -56,7 +56,10 @@ def parse_args():
             output_dir = arg
     
     if output_dir is None:
-        output_dir = os.environ.get("VIDEODB_EVENTS_DIR", "/tmp")
+        output_dir = os.environ.get("VIDEODB_EVENTS_DIR")
+    if output_dir is None:
+        state_root = Path(os.environ.get("XDG_STATE_HOME", Path.home() / ".local" / "state"))
+        output_dir = str(state_root / "videodb-events")
     
     return clear, Path(output_dir)
 
diff --git a/tools/scripts/tests/local_temp_safety.test.js b/tools/scripts/tests/local_temp_safety.test.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..500f955d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/scripts/tests/local_temp_safety.test.js
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+const assert = require("assert");
+const fs = require("fs");
+const path = require("path");
+
+const repoRoot = path.resolve(__dirname, "../..", "..");
+
+const compactScript = fs.readFileSync(
+  path.join(repoRoot, "skills", "cc-skill-strategic-compact", "suggest-compact.sh"),
+  "utf8",
+);
+const wsListener = fs.readFileSync(
+  path.join(repoRoot, "skills", "videodb", "scripts", "ws_listener.py"),
+  "utf8",
+);
+
+assert.match(compactScript, /XDG_STATE_HOME/, "strategic compact counter should use a user-owned state directory");
+assert.doesNotMatch(compactScript, /\/tmp\/claude-tool-count/, "strategic compact counter must not use predictable /tmp files");
+assert.match(wsListener, /XDG_STATE_HOME/, "videodb listener should default to a user-owned state directory");
+assert.doesNotMatch(wsListener, /VIDEODB_EVENTS_DIR", "\/tmp"/, "videodb listener must not default to /tmp");
diff --git a/tools/scripts/tests/repo_hygiene_security.test.js b/tools/scripts/tests/repo_hygiene_security.test.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..8398ba01
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/scripts/tests/repo_hygiene_security.test.js
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+const assert = require("assert");
+const fs = require("fs");
+const path = require("path");
+
+const repoRoot = path.resolve(__dirname, "../..", "..");
+const pycacheDir = path.join(repoRoot, "skills", "ui-ux-pro-max", "scripts", "__pycache__");
+const syncRecommended = fs.readFileSync(
+  path.join(repoRoot, "tools", "scripts", "sync_recommended_skills.sh"),
+  "utf8",
+);
+const alphaVantage = fs.readFileSync(
+  path.join(repoRoot, "skills", "alpha-vantage", "SKILL.md"),
+  "utf8",
+);
+
+assert.strictEqual(
+  fs.existsSync(pycacheDir),
+  false,
+  "tracked Python bytecode should not ship in skill directories",
+);
+assert.match(syncRecommended, /cp -RP/, "recommended skills sync should preserve symlinks instead of dereferencing them");
+assert.doesNotMatch(alphaVantage, /--- Unknown/, "alpha-vantage frontmatter should not contain malformed delimiters");
diff --git a/tools/scripts/tests/test_frontmatter_parsing_security.py b/tools/scripts/tests/test_frontmatter_parsing_security.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..29b7f472
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/scripts/tests/test_frontmatter_parsing_security.py
@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+import importlib.util
+import sys
+import tempfile
+import unittest
+from pathlib import Path
+
+
+REPO_ROOT = Path(__file__).resolve().parents[3]
+TOOLS_SCRIPTS_DIR = REPO_ROOT / "tools" / "scripts"
+if str(TOOLS_SCRIPTS_DIR) not in sys.path:
+    sys.path.insert(0, str(TOOLS_SCRIPTS_DIR))
+
+
+def load_module(relative_path: str, module_name: str):
+    module_path = REPO_ROOT / relative_path
+    spec = importlib.util.spec_from_file_location(module_name, module_path)
+    module = importlib.util.module_from_spec(spec)
+    assert spec.loader is not None
+    spec.loader.exec_module(module)
+    return module
+
+
+generate_index = load_module("tools/scripts/generate_index.py", "generate_index")
+validate_skills = load_module("tools/scripts/validate_skills.py", "validate_skills")
+
+
+class FrontmatterParsingSecurityTests(unittest.TestCase):
+    def test_generate_index_frontmatter_rejects_non_mapping(self):
+        content = "---\njust-a-string\n---\nbody\n"
+        metadata = generate_index.parse_frontmatter(content)
+
+        self.assertEqual(metadata, {})
+
+    def test_validate_skills_frontmatter_rejects_non_mapping(self):
+        content = "---\njust-a-string\n---\nbody\n"
+        metadata, errors = validate_skills.parse_frontmatter(content)
+
+        self.assertIsNone(metadata)
+        self.assertTrue(any("mapping" in error.lower() for error in errors))
+
+    def test_generate_index_ignores_symlinked_skill_markdown(self):
+        with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as temp_dir:
+            root = Path(temp_dir)
+            skills_dir = root / "skills"
+            safe_skill = skills_dir / "safe-skill"
+            linked_skill = skills_dir / "linked-skill"
+            outside_dir = root / "outside"
+            output_file = root / "skills_index.json"
+
+            safe_skill.mkdir(parents=True)
+            linked_skill.mkdir(parents=True)
+            outside_dir.mkdir()
+
+            (safe_skill / "SKILL.md").write_text("---\nname: safe-skill\ndescription: safe\n---\n", encoding="utf-8")
+            target = outside_dir / "SKILL.md"
+            target.write_text("---\nname: outside\ndescription: outside\n---\n", encoding="utf-8")
+            (linked_skill / "SKILL.md").symlink_to(target)
+
+            skills = generate_index.generate_index(str(skills_dir), str(output_file))
+
+            self.assertEqual([skill["id"] for skill in skills], ["safe-skill"])
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    unittest.main()
diff --git a/tools/scripts/validate_skills.py b/tools/scripts/validate_skills.py
index 01643235..57edc0b8 100644
--- a/tools/scripts/validate_skills.py
+++ b/tools/scripts/validate_skills.py
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import argparse
 import sys
 import io
 import yaml
+from collections.abc import Mapping
 from _project_paths import find_repo_root
 
 
@@ -50,6 +51,8 @@ def parse_frontmatter(content, rel_path=None):
     fm_errors = []
     try:
         metadata = yaml.safe_load(fm_text) or {}
+        if not isinstance(metadata, Mapping):
+            return None, ["Frontmatter must be a YAML mapping/object."]
         
         # Identification of the specific regression issue for better reporting
         if "description" in metadata:
@@ -59,7 +62,7 @@ def parse_frontmatter(content, rel_path=None):
             elif desc == "|":
                 fm_errors.append("description contains only the YAML block indicator '|', likely due to a parsing regression.")
         
-        return metadata, fm_errors
+        return dict(metadata), fm_errors
     except yaml.YAMLError as e:
         return None, [f"YAML Syntax Error: {e}"]
 
@@ -86,6 +89,9 @@ def validate_skills(skills_dir, strict_mode=False):
         if "SKILL.md" in files:
             skill_count += 1
             skill_path = os.path.join(root, "SKILL.md")
+            if os.path.islink(skill_path):
+                warnings.append(f"⚠️  {os.path.relpath(skill_path, skills_dir)}: Skipping symlinked SKILL.md")
+                continue
             rel_path = os.path.relpath(skill_path, skills_dir)
             
             try: