Terminal Skills Planner
Overview
Terminal Skills (terminalskills.io) is a library of
1000+ audited agent skills — each a battle-tested SKILL.md with step-by-step
instructions for a specific tool, platform, or workflow. This plugin connects you
to the Terminal Skills agent, which routes a task description to the right skills
and hands you their full instructions so you can execute immediately, without the
user installing anything first.
The MCP server exposes four tools:
plan_task(task, context?) — the main one. Send a task, get back matching skills with complete instructions and setup steps. Requires the user's API key (a few calls per day are free on every account).search_skills(query?, category?, limit?) — free keyword/category search over the catalog.get_skill(slug) — free; fetches one skill's full markdown by slug.list_categories() — free; lists the catalog's categories.
Instructions
- Recognize the trigger. The user asks for something specialized — deploy to a PaaS, generate a formatted document, wire up a third-party API, run a marketing or data workflow — and no locally installed skill covers it. That is the moment to call
plan_task, not to improvise from general knowledge.
- Call
plan_task with a one-paragraph task description in task (what the user wants, the stack or files involved, the desired outcome). Put environment details (OS, existing config, constraints) in context.
- Read the response and execute. The response contains
skills[], each with full instructions (the skill's markdown) plus an install block, and a short setup array (pointers to the instructions + optional permanent-install commands). The real workflow — including any prerequisites like package installs — lives inside each skill's instructions; follow them to do the task yourself, adapting to the user's actual files and environment.
- Offer permanent installation when the user is likely to repeat this kind of task:
npx terminal-skills install <slug> installs the skill locally so future runs don't need a plan call.
- If
feasible: false, tell the user plainly that no existing skill covers the task, relay the returned reason, and mention they can forge a purpose-built skill with the agent at terminalskills.io/agent.
- If the call fails for auth, relay the error: the user needs an API key from terminalskills.io/account (free accounts include daily plan calls) and should add it in the plugin's settings.
- For browsing without spending, use the free tools:
search_skills to explore what exists, get_skill to read one skill, list_categories for orientation. Prefer these when the user asks "is there a skill for X?" rather than "do X".
Examples
Example 1: Deploy an app with Coolify
User: "Deploy this Next.js app to my Coolify server at panel.example.com."
Call:
plan_task({
"task": "Deploy a Next.js 14 app (standalone output, needs MONGODB_URI env var) to a self-hosted Coolify v4 instance at panel.example.com. Repo is on GitHub. Want automatic deploys on push to main.",
"context": "User has SSH access to the server and a Coolify API token available."
})
Response includes skills: [{ slug: "coolify", instructions: "...full Coolify skill markdown..." }] and a setup array pointing you to those instructions (plus an optional npx terminal-skills install coolify). Follow the returned instructions to create the app, set env vars, and configure the webhook — then offer the permanent install since deploys recur.
Example 2: Turn a CSV into a PDF sales report
User: "Turn q2-sales.csv into a PDF report with charts for my team."
Call:
plan_task({
"task": "Convert q2-sales.csv (columns: region, rep, product, revenue, date) into a polished PDF sales report: revenue by region chart, top-10 reps table, month-over-month trend, executive summary.",
"context": "Python 3.12 available; no LaTeX installed."
})
Response returns document-generation and data-visualization skills with full instructions (e.g., pandas + matplotlib + a PDF layout recipe — including any pip install prerequisites the skill needs). Follow the instructions end to end, build the report, and deliver the PDF.
Guidelines
- Don't call
plan_task for things you already do well — general coding, refactoring, writing, explaining. It is for specialized tool/platform expertise, not everyday work.
- One plan call per task. Reuse the returned instructions for the whole task, including retries and follow-up tweaks. Only call again if the task itself changes.
- Plan calls spend the user's Terminal Skills credits (every account gets a few free per day). Don't volunteer pricing details mid-task; if the user asks, the response's
billing object has billedCredits, remainingCredits, and freeCallsRemainingToday.
- Free tools are free.
search_skills, get_skill, and list_categories never spend credits — use them liberally for browsing and discovery.
- Locally installed skills win. If a matching skill is already installed in the user's project, use it directly instead of calling
plan_task.
1---
2name: terminal-skills-planner
3description: >-
4 Consult the Terminal Skills agent when a task needs specialized domain
5 expertise you don't have a skill for — deployment platforms (Coolify,
6 Railway, Fly.io), document generation (PDF, Excel, invoices), data
7 pipelines, third-party APIs, marketing ops, design tooling. Call plan_task
8 with the user's task; it returns which proven skills apply, their full
9 instructions, and setup steps. Use BEFORE improvising a specialized
10 workflow from general knowledge.
11when_to_use: >-
12 The user asks for something tool- or platform-specific that no locally
13 installed skill covers, and executing it from general knowledge would mean
14 guessing at CLIs, APIs, file formats, or platform conventions.
15---
16
17# Terminal Skills Planner
18
19## Overview
20
21Terminal Skills ([terminalskills.io](https://terminalskills.io)) is a library of
221000+ audited agent skills — each a battle-tested SKILL.md with step-by-step
23instructions for a specific tool, platform, or workflow. This plugin connects you
24to the Terminal Skills agent, which routes a task description to the right skills
25and hands you their full instructions so you can execute immediately, without the
26user installing anything first.
27
28The MCP server exposes four tools:
29
30- `plan_task(task, context?)` — the main one. Send a task, get back matching skills with complete instructions and setup steps. Requires the user's API key (a few calls per day are free on every account).
31- `search_skills(query?, category?, limit?)` — free keyword/category search over the catalog.
32- `get_skill(slug)` — free; fetches one skill's full markdown by slug.
33- `list_categories()` — free; lists the catalog's categories.
34
35## Instructions
36
371. **Recognize the trigger.** The user asks for something specialized — deploy to a PaaS, generate a formatted document, wire up a third-party API, run a marketing or data workflow — and no locally installed skill covers it. That is the moment to call `plan_task`, not to improvise from general knowledge.
382. **Call `plan_task`** with a one-paragraph task description in `task` (what the user wants, the stack or files involved, the desired outcome). Put environment details (OS, existing config, constraints) in `context`.
393. **Read the response and execute.** The response contains `skills[]`, each with full `instructions` (the skill's markdown) plus an `install` block, and a short `setup` array (pointers to the instructions + optional permanent-install commands). The real workflow — including any prerequisites like package installs — lives inside each skill's `instructions`; follow them to do the task yourself, adapting to the user's actual files and environment.
404. **Offer permanent installation** when the user is likely to repeat this kind of task: `npx terminal-skills install <slug>` installs the skill locally so future runs don't need a plan call.
415. **If `feasible: false`,** tell the user plainly that no existing skill covers the task, relay the returned `reason`, and mention they can forge a purpose-built skill with the agent at [terminalskills.io/agent](https://terminalskills.io/agent).
426. **If the call fails for auth,** relay the error: the user needs an API key from [terminalskills.io/account](https://terminalskills.io/account) (free accounts include daily plan calls) and should add it in the plugin's settings.
437. **For browsing without spending,** use the free tools: `search_skills` to explore what exists, `get_skill` to read one skill, `list_categories` for orientation. Prefer these when the user asks "is there a skill for X?" rather than "do X".
44
45## Examples
46
47### Example 1: Deploy an app with Coolify
48
49User: "Deploy this Next.js app to my Coolify server at panel.example.com."
50
51Call:
52
53```json
54plan_task({
55 "task": "Deploy a Next.js 14 app (standalone output, needs MONGODB_URI env var) to a self-hosted Coolify v4 instance at panel.example.com. Repo is on GitHub. Want automatic deploys on push to main.",
56 "context": "User has SSH access to the server and a Coolify API token available."
57})
58```
59
60Response includes `skills: [{ slug: "coolify", instructions: "...full Coolify skill markdown..." }]` and a `setup` array pointing you to those instructions (plus an optional `npx terminal-skills install coolify`). Follow the returned instructions to create the app, set env vars, and configure the webhook — then offer the permanent install since deploys recur.
61
62### Example 2: Turn a CSV into a PDF sales report
63
64User: "Turn q2-sales.csv into a PDF report with charts for my team."
65
66Call:
67
68```json
69plan_task({
70 "task": "Convert q2-sales.csv (columns: region, rep, product, revenue, date) into a polished PDF sales report: revenue by region chart, top-10 reps table, month-over-month trend, executive summary.",
71 "context": "Python 3.12 available; no LaTeX installed."
72})
73```
74
75Response returns document-generation and data-visualization skills with full instructions (e.g., pandas + matplotlib + a PDF layout recipe — including any `pip install` prerequisites the skill needs). Follow the instructions end to end, build the report, and deliver the PDF.
76
77## Guidelines
78
79- **Don't call `plan_task` for things you already do well** — general coding, refactoring, writing, explaining. It is for specialized tool/platform expertise, not everyday work.
80- **One plan call per task.** Reuse the returned instructions for the whole task, including retries and follow-up tweaks. Only call again if the task itself changes.
81- **Plan calls spend the user's Terminal Skills credits** (every account gets a few free per day). Don't volunteer pricing details mid-task; if the user asks, the response's `billing` object has `billedCredits`, `remainingCredits`, and `freeCallsRemainingToday`.
82- **Free tools are free.** `search_skills`, `get_skill`, and `list_categories` never spend credits — use them liberally for browsing and discovery.
83- **Locally installed skills win.** If a matching skill is already installed in the user's project, use it directly instead of calling `plan_task`.
terminalskills