How do I install the Managing Octopus Deploy skill?

Run npx skillmds@latest add cloudthinker-ai/managing-octopus-deploy in your terminal (requires Node.js), paste this page's agent-chat prompt into Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-connected agent, or download the SKILL.md file and copy it into your agent's skills directory.

What does the Managing Octopus Deploy skill do?

Use when working with Octopus Deploy — octopus Deploy management for deployment automation. Covers deployment projects, environments, variable sets, tenant configuration, release management, and runbook execution. Use when checking deployment status, investigating release failures, managing environments, or auditing Octopus Deploy configurations. It is listed under DevOps & Infra on SkillMD.

Is Managing Octopus Deploy safe to use?

This skill has not completed SkillMD's automated safety review yet. Independent scanners report: SkillSpector: CAUTION, Skill Scanner: PASS. Capability flags: makes network calls, reads secrets. SkillMD never runs a skill's scripts for you; review the SKILL.md before installing.

Which AI agents work with Managing Octopus Deploy?

This skill is tagged as working with Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex. SKILL.md is an open format, so most agents that read a skills directory can load it too.

Is Managing Octopus Deploy free to use?

Yes. Installing skills from SkillMD is free, and the skill stays under its author's original license.

Who published Managing Octopus Deploy?

cloudthinker-ai (@cloudthinker-ai) published this skill. Their other Agent Skills are listed on their SkillMD profile.

Managing Octopus Deploy by cloudthinker-ai

Name: Managing Octopus Deploy
Rating: 4.2 (5 reviews)
Author: cloudthinker-ai

Octopus Deploy Management Skill

Manage and monitor Octopus Deploy projects, environments, releases, and tenants.

Core Helper Functions

#!/bin/bash

# Octopus Deploy API helper
octopus_api() {
    local method="${1:-GET}"
    local endpoint="$2"
    local data="${3:-}"

    if [ -n "$data" ]; then
        curl -s -X "$method" \
            -H "X-Octopus-ApiKey: ${OCTOPUS_API_KEY}" \
            -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
            "${OCTOPUS_URL}/api/${OCTOPUS_SPACE_ID:-Spaces-1}/${endpoint}" \
            -d "$data"
    else
        curl -s -X "$method" \
            -H "X-Octopus-ApiKey: ${OCTOPUS_API_KEY}" \
            "${OCTOPUS_URL}/api/${OCTOPUS_SPACE_ID:-Spaces-1}/${endpoint}"
    fi
}

# Octopus server-level API (no space scoping)
octopus_server_api() {
    curl -s -X "${1:-GET}" \
        -H "X-Octopus-ApiKey: ${OCTOPUS_API_KEY}" \
        "${OCTOPUS_URL}/api/${2}"
}

MANDATORY: Discovery-First Pattern

Always discover spaces, projects, and environments before querying specifics.

Phase 1: Discovery

#!/bin/bash

echo "=== Server Info ==="
octopus_server_api GET "serverstatus" | jq '{version: .Version, isInMaintenanceMode: .IsInMaintenanceMode}'

echo ""
echo "=== Spaces ==="
octopus_server_api GET "spaces?take=20" | jq -r '
    .Items[] | "\(.Id)\t\(.Name)\tdefault=\(.IsDefault)"
' | column -t

echo ""
echo "=== Projects ==="
octopus_api GET "projects?take=20" | jq -r '
    .Items[] | "\(.Id)\t\(.Name)\tgroup=\(.ProjectGroupId)\tdisabled=\(.IsDisabled)"
' | column -t

echo ""
echo "=== Environments ==="
octopus_api GET "environments?take=20" | jq -r '
    .Items[] | "\(.Id)\t\(.Name)\tsortOrder=\(.SortOrder)"
' | column -t

echo ""
echo "=== Recent Deployments ==="
octopus_api GET "deployments?take=10" | jq -r '
    .Items[] | "\(.Id)\t\(.ProjectId)\t\(.EnvironmentId)\t\(.State)\t\(.Created[0:16])"
' | column -t

Output Rules

TOKEN EFFICIENCY: Target 50 lines per output
Use take and skip parameters for pagination
Never dump full deployment process — extract step summaries

Common Operations

Deployment Dashboard

#!/bin/bash
echo "=== Dashboard ==="
octopus_api GET "dashboard" | jq '{
    environments: [.Environments[] | .Name],
    projects: (.Items | group_by(.ProjectId) | map({
        project: .[0].ProjectId,
        deployments: [.[] | {env: .EnvironmentId, state: .State, version: .ReleaseVersion}]
    }) | .[:10])
}'

echo ""
echo "=== Recent Deployments (detailed) ==="
octopus_api GET "deployments?take=15" | jq -r '
    .Items[] |
    "\(.Name // .Id)\t\(.State)\t\(.TaskId)\t\(.Created[0:16])"
' | column -t

echo ""
echo "=== Failed Deployments ==="
octopus_api GET "tasks?states=Failed&take=10&name=Deploy" | jq -r '
    .Items[] |
    "\(.Description[0:50])\t\(.State)\t\(.CompletedTime[0:16] // "unknown")\t\(.ErrorMessage[0:60] // "")"
' | column -t

Project Management

#!/bin/bash
PROJECT_ID="${1:?Project ID or slug required}"

echo "=== Project Details ==="
octopus_api GET "projects/${PROJECT_ID}" | jq '{
    Id, Name, Slug,
    LifecycleId, ProjectGroupId,
    IsDisabled, TenantedDeploymentMode,
    IncludedLibraryVariableSetIds: (.IncludedLibraryVariableSetIds | length),
    DeploymentProcessId: .DeploymentProcessId
}'

echo ""
echo "=== Deployment Process ==="
PROCESS_ID=$(octopus_api GET "projects/${PROJECT_ID}" | jq -r '.DeploymentProcessId')
octopus_api GET "deploymentprocesses/${PROCESS_ID}" | jq -r '
    .Steps[] | "\(.Name)\troles=\(.Properties["Octopus.Action.TargetRoles"] // "any")\tactions=\([.Actions[].Name] | join(","))"
' | column -t

echo ""
echo "=== Recent Releases ==="
octopus_api GET "projects/${PROJECT_ID}/releases?take=10" | jq -r '
    .Items[] | "\(.Id)\tv\(.Version)\t\(.Assembled[0:16])\tchannel=\(.ChannelId)"
' | column -t

Environment Management

#!/bin/bash
echo "=== Environment Details ==="
octopus_api GET "environments?take=20" | jq -r '
    .Items[] | "\(.Id)\t\(.Name)\tsort=\(.SortOrder)\tguided=\(.UseGuidedFailure)"
' | column -t

echo ""
echo "=== Machines by Environment ==="
octopus_api GET "environments" | jq -r '.Items[].Id' | while read env_id; do
    ENV_NAME=$(octopus_api GET "environments/${env_id}" | jq -r '.Name')
    MACHINES=$(octopus_api GET "environments/${env_id}/machines?take=100" | jq '.TotalResults')
    echo "${env_id}\t${ENV_NAME}\t${MACHINES} machines"
done | column -t

echo ""
echo "=== Deployment Targets ==="
octopus_api GET "machines?take=20" | jq -r '
    .Items[] | "\(.Name)\tstatus=\(.HealthStatus)\troles=\(.Roles | join(","))\tenvs=\(.EnvironmentIds | length)"
' | column -t

Variable Sets

#!/bin/bash
PROJECT_ID="${1:?Project ID required}"

echo "=== Project Variables ==="
octopus_api GET "variables/variableset-${PROJECT_ID}" | jq -r '
    .Variables[] | "\(.Name)\tscope=\(.Scope | to_entries | map("\(.key)=\(.value | length)") | join(",") // "all")\ttype=\(.Type // "String")\tsensitive=\(.IsSensitive)"
' | column -t | head -25

echo ""
echo "=== Library Variable Sets ==="
octopus_api GET "libraryvariablesets?take=20" | jq -r '
    .Items[] | "\(.Id)\t\(.Name)\tvariables=\(.Variables // 0)\tdescription=\(.Description[0:40] // "")"
' | column -t

Tenant Management

#!/bin/bash
echo "=== Tenants ==="
octopus_api GET "tenants?take=20" | jq -r '
    .Items[] | "\(.Id)\t\(.Name)\tprojects=\(.ProjectEnvironments | keys | length)\ttags=\(.TenantTags | join(","))"
' | column -t

echo ""
echo "=== Tenant Details ==="
TENANT_ID="${1:-}"
if [ -n "$TENANT_ID" ]; then
    octopus_api GET "tenants/${TENANT_ID}" | jq '{
        Id, Name,
        TenantTags,
        ProjectEnvironments: (.ProjectEnvironments | to_entries | map({project: .key, environments: .value}))
    }'
fi

Runbook Execution

#!/bin/bash
PROJECT_ID="${1:?Project ID required}"

echo "=== Runbooks ==="
octopus_api GET "projects/${PROJECT_ID}/runbooks?take=20" | jq -r '
    .Items[] | "\(.Id)\t\(.Name)\t\(.Description[0:40] // "")"
' | column -t

echo ""
echo "=== Recent Runbook Runs ==="
octopus_api GET "tasks?name=RunbookRun&take=10" | jq -r '
    .Items[] | "\(.Description[0:50])\t\(.State)\t\(.CompletedTime[0:16] // "running")"
' | column -t

Release & Deployment

#!/bin/bash
PROJECT_ID="${1:?Project ID required}"
RELEASE_VERSION="${2:-}"

if [ -n "$RELEASE_VERSION" ]; then
    echo "=== Release Details ==="
    octopus_api GET "projects/${PROJECT_ID}/releases/${RELEASE_VERSION}" | jq '{
        Id, Version, Assembled, ChannelId,
        SelectedPackages: [.SelectedPackages[] | {ActionName, Version: .Version}]
    }'

    echo ""
    echo "=== Deployment History for Release ==="
    RELEASE_ID=$(octopus_api GET "projects/${PROJECT_ID}/releases/${RELEASE_VERSION}" | jq -r '.Id')
    octopus_api GET "releases/${RELEASE_ID}/deployments?take=10" | jq -r '
        .Items[] | "\(.EnvironmentId)\t\(.State)\t\(.Created[0:16])\ttask=\(.TaskId)"
    ' | column -t
else
    echo "=== Latest Releases ==="
    octopus_api GET "projects/${PROJECT_ID}/releases?take=10" | jq -r '
        .Items[] | "v\(.Version)\t\(.Assembled[0:16])\tchannel=\(.ChannelId)"
    ' | column -t
fi

Anti-Hallucination Rules

NEVER guess project IDs — always discover via API first (format is Projects-123)
NEVER fabricate environment or tenant IDs — use discovery endpoints
NEVER assume Space ID — default is Spaces-1 but verify
Octopus uses hyphenated IDs (e.g., Environments-1, Tenants-5) — do not use names as IDs

Safety Rules

NEVER create deployments without explicit user confirmation
NEVER delete projects, environments, or tenants without user approval
NEVER modify variable sets without understanding scope impact
NEVER expose sensitive variable values — API masks them by default
NEVER run runbooks without confirming the target environment

Output Format

Present results as a structured report:

Managing Octopus Deploy Report
══════════════════════════════
Resources discovered: [count]

Resource       Status    Key Metric    Issues
──────────────────────────────────────────────
[name]         [ok/warn] [value]       [findings]

Summary: [total] resources | [ok] healthy | [warn] warnings | [crit] critical
Action Items: [list of prioritized findings]

Target ≤50 lines of output. Use tables for multi-resource comparisons.

Counter-Rationalizations

Shortcut	Counter	Why
"I'll skip discovery and check known resources"	Always run Phase 1 discovery first	Resource names change, new resources appear — assumed names cause errors
"The user only asked for a quick check"	Follow the full discovery → analysis flow	Quick checks miss critical issues; structured analysis catches silent failures
"Default configuration is probably fine"	Audit configuration explicitly	Defaults often leave logging, security, and optimization features disabled
"Metrics aren't needed for this"	Always check relevant metrics when available	API/CLI responses show current state; metrics reveal trends and intermittent issues
"I don't have access to that"	Try the command and report the actual error	Assumed permission failures prevent useful investigation; actual errors are informative

Common Pitfalls

Space scoping: All resources are scoped to a Space — include Space ID in API path
ID format: Octopus uses Type-Number format (e.g., Projects-42) — not slugs or names
Lifecycle phases: Environments follow lifecycle ordering — deployments must follow the defined progression
Tenanted deployments: Tenanted projects require tenant selection for deployment — untenanted and tenanted are separate modes
Variable scoping: Variables can be scoped to environments, roles, machines, channels — scope conflicts cause unexpected behavior
Guided failure: Environments with guided failure enabled pause on failure for manual intervention
Channels: Channels control which packages and lifecycles apply to a release — check channel rules

Managing Octopus Deploy

File contents

Octopus Deploy Management Skill

Core Helper Functions

MANDATORY: Discovery-First Pattern

Phase 1: Discovery

Output Rules

Common Operations

Deployment Dashboard

Project Management

Environment Management

Variable Sets

Tenant Management

Runbook Execution

Release & Deployment

Anti-Hallucination Rules

Safety Rules

Output Format

Counter-Rationalizations

Common Pitfalls

Frequently asked questions

Managing Octopus Deploy

File contents

Octopus Deploy Management Skill

Core Helper Functions

MANDATORY: Discovery-First Pattern

Phase 1: Discovery

Output Rules

Common Operations

Deployment Dashboard

Project Management

Environment Management

Variable Sets

Tenant Management

Runbook Execution

Release & Deployment

Anti-Hallucination Rules

Safety Rules

Output Format

Counter-Rationalizations

Common Pitfalls

Related skills

Frequently asked questions

How do I install the Managing Octopus Deploy skill?

What does the Managing Octopus Deploy skill do?

Is Managing Octopus Deploy safe to use?

Which AI agents work with Managing Octopus Deploy?

Is Managing Octopus Deploy free to use?

Who published Managing Octopus Deploy?