How do I install the Managing Traefik skill?

Run npx skillmds@latest add cloudthinker-ai/managing-traefik 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 Traefik skill do?

Use when working with Traefik — traefik reverse proxy and load balancer management. Covers entrypoint configuration, router rules, middleware chains, provider discovery, TLS management, dashboard access, and metrics monitoring. Use when managing Traefik routing, debugging middleware chains, configuring TLS, or monitoring proxy health via the dashboard API. It is listed under Product & Planning on SkillMD.

Is Managing Traefik 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 Traefik?

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 Traefik free to use?

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

Who published Managing Traefik?

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

Managing Traefik by cloudthinker-ai

Name: Managing Traefik
Rating: 4.5 (4 reviews)
Author: cloudthinker-ai

Traefik Management Skill

Manage Traefik entrypoints, routers, middlewares, providers, TLS, and dashboard.

Core Helper Functions

#!/bin/bash

# Traefik API helper
traefik_api() {
    local endpoint="$1"
    local api_url="${TRAEFIK_API_URL:-http://localhost:8080}"
    curl -s "${api_url}/api${endpoint}"
}

# Traefik Kubernetes CRDs
traefik_k8s() {
    local resource="$1"
    local ns="${2:---all-namespaces}"
    if [ "$ns" = "--all-namespaces" ]; then
        kubectl get "$resource" -A -o json 2>/dev/null
    else
        kubectl get "$resource" -n "$ns" -o json 2>/dev/null
    fi
}

MANDATORY: Discovery-First Pattern

Always check Traefik version, entrypoints, and providers before inspecting specific routes.

Phase 1: Discovery

#!/bin/bash
API_URL="${TRAEFIK_API_URL:-http://localhost:8080}"

echo "=== Traefik Version ==="
traefik_api "/version" | jq '.' 2>/dev/null

echo ""
echo "=== Entrypoints ==="
traefik_api "/entrypoints" | jq -r '
    .[] | "\(.name)\t\(.address)\t\(.transport.respondingTimeouts // "default")"
' 2>/dev/null | column -t

echo ""
echo "=== Overview ==="
traefik_api "/overview" | jq '{
    http: .http,
    tcp: .tcp,
    udp: .udp,
    features: .features,
    providers: .providers
}' 2>/dev/null

echo ""
echo "=== Kubernetes CRDs (if on K8s) ==="
echo "IngressRoutes:"
kubectl get ingressroutes -A --no-headers 2>/dev/null | wc -l | tr -d ' '
echo "Middlewares:"
kubectl get middlewares.traefik.io -A --no-headers 2>/dev/null | wc -l | tr -d ' '
echo "TLSOptions:"
kubectl get tlsoptions.traefik.io -A --no-headers 2>/dev/null | wc -l | tr -d ' '

Output Rules

TOKEN EFFICIENCY: Target <=50 lines per output
Use Traefik API with jq for structured output
Use kubectl for Kubernetes CRD-based Traefik configs

Common Operations

Router Configuration Dashboard

#!/bin/bash
echo "=== HTTP Routers ==="
traefik_api "/http/routers" | jq -r '
    .[] | "\(.name)\t\(.status)\t\(.entryPoints | join(","))\t\(.rule | .[0:60])\t\(.service)"
' 2>/dev/null | column -t | head -20

echo ""
echo "=== TCP Routers ==="
traefik_api "/tcp/routers" | jq -r '
    .[]? | "\(.name)\t\(.status)\t\(.entryPoints | join(","))\t\(.rule | .[0:40])"
' 2>/dev/null | column -t | head -10

echo ""
echo "=== Router Errors ==="
traefik_api "/http/routers" | jq -r '
    .[] | select(.status != "enabled") | "\(.name)\t\(.status)\t\(.rule | .[0:50])"
' 2>/dev/null | column -t | head -10

echo ""
echo "=== Kubernetes IngressRoutes ==="
kubectl get ingressroutes -A -o json 2>/dev/null | jq -r '
    .items[] | "\(.metadata.name)\t\(.metadata.namespace)\t\(.spec.entryPoints | join(","))\t\(.spec.routes | length) routes"
' | column -t | head -15

Middleware Analysis

#!/bin/bash
echo "=== HTTP Middlewares ==="
traefik_api "/http/middlewares" | jq -r '
    .[] | "\(.name)\t\(.status)\t\(.type)\t\(.provider)"
' 2>/dev/null | column -t | head -20

echo ""
echo "=== Middleware Details ==="
traefik_api "/http/middlewares" | jq '
    .[] | {
        name: .name,
        type: .type,
        config: (
            if .stripPrefix != null then .stripPrefix
            elif .headers != null then {custom_headers: (.headers.customRequestHeaders // {} | keys)}
            elif .rateLimit != null then .rateLimit
            elif .basicAuth != null then "configured"
            elif .chain != null then .chain
            elif .redirectScheme != null then .redirectScheme
            else "see full config"
            end
        )
    }' 2>/dev/null | head -30

echo ""
echo "=== Kubernetes Middlewares ==="
kubectl get middlewares.traefik.io -A -o json 2>/dev/null | jq -r '
    .items[] | "\(.metadata.name)\t\(.metadata.namespace)\t\(.spec | keys | join(","))"
' | column -t | head -15

Service & Load Balancer Status

#!/bin/bash
echo "=== HTTP Services ==="
traefik_api "/http/services" | jq -r '
    .[] | "\(.name)\t\(.status)\t\(.type)\t\(.provider)"
' 2>/dev/null | column -t | head -20

echo ""
echo "=== Service Health ==="
traefik_api "/http/services" | jq '
    .[] | select(.loadBalancer != null) | {
        name: .name,
        status: .status,
        servers: [.loadBalancer.servers[]? | {url: .url, status: "active"}],
        health_check: .loadBalancer.healthCheck
    }' 2>/dev/null | head -30

echo ""
echo "=== Weighted Services ==="
traefik_api "/http/services" | jq '
    .[] | select(.weighted != null) | {
        name: .name,
        services: [.weighted.services[]? | {name: .name, weight: .weight}]
    }' 2>/dev/null | head -15

echo ""
echo "=== Mirroring Services ==="
traefik_api "/http/services" | jq '
    .[] | select(.mirroring != null) | {
        name: .name,
        main: .mirroring.service,
        mirrors: .mirroring.mirrors
    }' 2>/dev/null | head -10

TLS Configuration

#!/bin/bash
echo "=== TLS Overview ==="
traefik_api "/tls/certificates" 2>/dev/null | jq -r '
    .[]? | "\(.certificate.sans // .certificate.commonName | join(","))\t\(.certificate.notAfter)"
' | column -t | head -15

echo ""
echo "=== TLS Options ==="
kubectl get tlsoptions.traefik.io -A -o json 2>/dev/null | jq -r '
    .items[] | "\(.metadata.name)\t\(.metadata.namespace)\t\(.spec.minVersion // "default")\t\(.spec.cipherSuites // [] | length) ciphers"
' | column -t | head -10

echo ""
echo "=== TLS Stores ==="
kubectl get tlsstores.traefik.io -A -o json 2>/dev/null | jq -r '
    .items[] | "\(.metadata.name)\t\(.metadata.namespace)\t\(.spec.defaultCertificate.secretName // "none")"
' | column -t

echo ""
echo "=== Certificate Resolvers (ACME) ==="
traefik_api "/overview" | jq '.features.traefikCertificates // "not configured"' 2>/dev/null

Provider Discovery & Health

#!/bin/bash
echo "=== Active Providers ==="
traefik_api "/overview" | jq '.providers' 2>/dev/null

echo ""
echo "=== Provider Raw Config ==="
traefik_api "/rawdata" | jq '{
    http_routers: (.routers | length),
    http_services: (.services | length),
    http_middlewares: (.middlewares | length),
    tcp_routers: (.tcpRouters | length),
    tcp_services: (.tcpServices | length)
}' 2>/dev/null

echo ""
echo "=== Dashboard Status ==="
traefik_api "/overview" | jq '{
    http: {routers: .http.routers, services: .http.services, middlewares: .http.middlewares},
    tcp: {routers: .tcp.routers, services: .tcp.services},
    features: .features
}' 2>/dev/null

echo ""
echo "=== Health Check ==="
curl -s "${TRAEFIK_API_URL:-http://localhost:8080}/ping" 2>/dev/null && echo " OK" || echo " FAILED"

echo ""
echo "=== Traefik Pod Status (K8s) ==="
kubectl get pods -A -l app.kubernetes.io/name=traefik -o json 2>/dev/null | jq -r '
    .items[] | "\(.metadata.name)\t\(.metadata.namespace)\t\(.status.phase)\t\(.status.containerStatuses[0].restartCount) restarts"
' | column -t | head -10

Safety Rules

Read-only by default: Use API GET endpoints and kubectl get for inspection
Never modify routers or middlewares without explicit confirmation -- affects live traffic
Dashboard security: Dashboard/API should not be exposed without authentication
TLS changes: Certificate or TLS option changes can break HTTPS connections

Output Format

Present results as a structured report:

Managing Traefik 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.

Anti-Hallucination Rules

NEVER assume resource names — always discover via CLI/API in Phase 1 before referencing in Phase 2.
NEVER fabricate metric names or dimensions — verify against the service documentation or --help output.
NEVER mix CLI commands between service versions — confirm which version/API you are targeting.
ALWAYS use the discovery → verify → analyze chain — every resource referenced must have been discovered first.
ALWAYS handle empty results gracefully — an empty response is valid data, not an error to retry.

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

Router priority: When multiple routers match, priority determines which wins -- longer rules get higher default priority
Middleware ordering: Middlewares in a chain execute in order -- authentication should come before rate limiting
Provider conflicts: Multiple providers can define conflicting routers -- use provider prefixes to disambiguate
Entrypoint binding: Routers without explicit entrypoints bind to all entrypoints -- may expose internal routes
Certificate renewal: ACME certificate renewal requires port 80 or DNS challenge access -- check resolver configuration

Managing Traefik

File contents

Traefik Management Skill

Core Helper Functions

MANDATORY: Discovery-First Pattern

Phase 1: Discovery

Output Rules

Common Operations

Router Configuration Dashboard

Middleware Analysis

Service & Load Balancer Status

TLS Configuration

Provider Discovery & Health

Safety Rules

Output Format

Anti-Hallucination Rules

Counter-Rationalizations

Common Pitfalls

Frequently asked questions

Managing Traefik

File contents

Traefik Management Skill

Core Helper Functions

MANDATORY: Discovery-First Pattern

Phase 1: Discovery

Output Rules

Common Operations

Router Configuration Dashboard

Middleware Analysis

Service & Load Balancer Status

TLS Configuration

Provider Discovery & Health

Safety Rules

Output Format

Anti-Hallucination Rules

Counter-Rationalizations

Common Pitfalls

Related skills

Frequently asked questions

How do I install the Managing Traefik skill?

What does the Managing Traefik skill do?

Is Managing Traefik safe to use?

Which AI agents work with Managing Traefik?

Is Managing Traefik free to use?

Who published Managing Traefik?