Air Quality

Air Quality Skill

Air quality is a daily decision input — run outside or inside, windows open or closed, mask or not — and Open-Meteo serves it globally over plain HTTPS, no key, no signup. This skill fetches it, then does the part the raw number doesn't: translating PM2.5 and AQI into the standard health bands, matched to what the user was actually deciding.

What This Skill Produces

• The read — one sentence: the air right now and what it suggests for the stated activity
• The numbers — AQI plus the pollutants that matter (PM2.5, PM10, ozone, NO₂), with the timestamp
• The bands — where today sits on the standard scale, so the number has meaning
• The command — the exact curl, rerunnable

Required Inputs

Ask for these if not provided:

• Location — lat/lon or a place name (geocode first: https://geocoding-api.open-meteo.com/v1/search?name=Delhi&count=1)
• The decision behind the question — a run, a bike commute, a sensitive-lungs household, open windows — the read is calibrated to it
• Which index they think in — US AQI or European AQI (the API serves both; the numbers differ substantially for the same air)

Framework: The Fetch and the Read

1. The call: curl -s "https://air-quality-api.open-meteo.com/v1/air-quality?latitude=28.61&longitude=77.21&current=pm2_5,pm10,ozone,nitrogen_dioxide,us_aqi,european_aqi" — add &hourly=pm2_5,us_aqi&forecast_days=2 when the question is "when today will it be best."
2. The US AQI bands, stated every time: 0–50 good · 51–100 moderate · 101–150 unhealthy for sensitive groups · 151–200 unhealthy · 201–300 very unhealthy · 301+ hazardous. A bare "AQI 137" is not an answer; "137 — unhealthy for sensitive groups; fine for most, skip the long run if asthmatic" is.
3. PM2.5 is the headline pollutant for health questions (it reaches deep lung tissue); ozone matters for afternoon exercise; NO₂ tracks traffic. Match the pollutant discussed to the question asked.
4. Timing beats averages: pollution has a daily shape (traffic peaks, afternoon ozone) — for exercise questions, pull the hourly series and name the cleanest window rather than judging the day by one reading.
5. Model honesty: Open-Meteo's air quality is model-derived (CAMS), not a monitor on the user's street — excellent for bands and trends, not for litigation. Say "modeled" when precision is being leaned on, and point sensitive-health decisions to local official monitors.

Output Format

Air Quality: [location] — [timestamp]

[One sentence: the band, and the answer to their actual decision.]

[If timing asked: the hourly shape and the recommended window]

Source: Open-Meteo air-quality API (modeled/CAMS) · rerun: [exact curl] Advisory reading — for medical-grade decisions use official local monitoring.

Quality Checks

• The band appears with the number — never a bare AQI value
• US vs European AQI is disambiguated
• The read addresses the stated activity, not generic health advice
• Timing questions get the hourly series, not a single reading
• The modeled-data caveat appears when precision matters

Anti-Patterns

• Do not answer from memory — fetch or hand over the command
• Do not mix up the two AQI scales — a European 80 and a US 80 are different airs
• Do not medicalize — bands and general guidance, with sensitive cases routed to official sources
• Do not judge a whole day by one hour when the question is "when"
• Do not dump all pollutants undigested — lead with the one the question is about