Claude refuses the skill file: "Zip file contains path with invalid characters"

Last updated September 6, 2026

You downloaded the Skill edition, tried to upload Booked Solid OS (upload this to Claude).zip to Claude, and Claude answered Zip file contains path with invalid characters. That error was ours, not anything you did. Here is what happened and how to get the working file.

What went wrong

Inside that archive, 187 of the 190 files were stored with Windows backslashes in their folder paths instead of forward slashes. A zip file is only allowed to use forward slashes, so Claude read the backslash as an invalid character in the path and refused the whole upload. It was right to refuse it.

The same flaw also broke the other route in: unzipping the file by hand gave you files with backslashes in their names rather than real folders. So both doors were shut, and there was nothing you could have changed on your end to get past it.

Get the repaired file

Sign in at booked.kivimedia.co/green-room.
Download the Skill edition again. The file on the Green Room is the rebuilt one.
Open the outer zip you just downloaded. Inside it you will find Booked Solid OS (upload this to Claude).zip plus START-HERE.md, TERMINAL-CHEAT-SHEET.md and catalog.json.
Upload that inner Booked Solid OS (upload this to Claude).zip to Claude. Do not unzip the inner file first: Claude wants the zip itself.

Every file inside is byte for byte what you already had. Only the folder paths changed, so nothing you were promised is missing and nothing new was added.

If it still does not go in

The second route works on its own. Unzip the inner Booked Solid OS (upload this to Claude).zip on your computer and you now get a proper folder tree instead of files with backslashes in their names, which is what the Skill edition needs on disk.

Check you are uploading the inner zip and not the outer one. The outer download is a bundle that also carries the cheat sheets, and Claude has no use for those.

Good to know

This only ever affected the Skill edition download. The desktop app installer was never built this way, so if you also run the app, nothing on that side needs redoing.

Prefer a fully managed experience? Booked Solid OS runs on your computer and you stay hands-on. If you would rather have this handled for you on a hosted platform (lead finding, follow-ups, email sending, invoicing, all managed in one place), take a look at KM Hub from the same team.

Still stuck? Email bookedsolid@kivimedia.freshdesk.com and a person will help.

Did this answer it? If not, reply to any Booked Solid email and a human will help.