How do I install the Test On Staging skill?

Run npx skillmds@latest add owid/test-on-staging 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.

Is Test On Staging safe to use?

This skill has not completed SkillMD's automated safety review yet. SkillMD never runs a skill's scripts for you; review the SKILL.md before installing.

Which AI agents work with Test On Staging?

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 Test On Staging free to use?

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

Who published Test On Staging?

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

Test On Staging by owid — Agent Skill

Name: Test On Staging
Author: owid

Test On Staging

Test a change on a branch's staging server without a browser — inspect or patch a chart's config remotely, pick the right preview link to share, and know why /search 404s there. Use when testing on staging-site-<branch>, reading or changing a chart config on a remote server, or pointing someone at a chart on staging.

owid 8a000ef 1.8 KB Updated Sep 17, 2026

File contents

Testing on staging

yarn tsx devTools/callAdminApi.ts get <chartId> --branch <branch> / set <chartId> '<jsonPatch>' --branch <branch> / unset <chartId> <field> --branch <branch>: inspect or change a chart's config on any staging-site-<branch> (or --host for local/prod) without the browser.
Auth is ADMIN_API_KEY in .env — one shared key works against every staging server (not per-branch), since admin_api_keys ships in the private data dump every staging build restores from (see db/exportMetadataTables.ts). It's the same key etl already uses; no need to mint a new one.
Don't wait for the static-site rebake (~10-13 min) to check or share a chart — http://staging-site-<branch>/admin/charts/<id>/preview reflects both chart-config edits and pushed code changes within ~1-3 min. Default to this link (not the public /grapher/<slug> page) whenever pointing someone at a chart on staging.
A branch's /search and /api/search 404/500 with "index does not exist" unless the PR carries the staging-algolia label (like staging-typesense/staging-bake) — that label is what triggers the per-branch Algolia reindex during bake, and it isn't applied by default. Staging and production Algolia data also live in separate Algolia applications, so don't probe a staging index with production's appId/key to check whether it exists; test through the deployed /search or /api/search, which uses whatever env that deployment is configured with.

Frequently asked questions