How do I install the Test Edirect skill?

Run npx skillmds add vimalinx/test-edirect 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 Edirect safe to use?

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

Which AI agents work with Test Edirect?

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 Edirect free to use?

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

Who published Test Edirect?

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

Test Edirect by vimalinx — Agent Skill

Name: Test Edirect
Rating: 4.2 (5 reviews)
Author: vimalinx

File contents

test-edirect

Large shell-based demonstration and smoke-test script for Entrez Direct. With no arguments it runs a long sequence of real EDirect examples and prints titled sections such as INFO HELP, FIELD EXAMPLE, and LINK EXAMPLE. It also has a special -test mode that enables tracing around one targeted pipeline.

Quick Start

Command: test-edirect
Local executable: /home/vimalinx/miniforge3/envs/bio/bin/test-edirect
Special modes: -timer, -timed, -test

When To Use This Tool

Verifying that a local EDirect installation can execute a broad set of canonical example workflows
Running a human-readable smoke suite instead of a one-endpoint connectivity probe
Spot-checking whether esearch, efetch, elink, xtract, and related helpers all cooperate correctly
Using the focused -test path when you want tracing around one smaller pipeline

Common Patterns

# Run the full demonstration / smoke suite
test-edirect

# Add elapsed times between sections
test-edirect -timer

# Run the focused trace-enabled test path
test-edirect -test

Recommended Workflow

Start with a plain test-edirect run when you want a broad installation smoke test.
Use -timer if you care about rough section timings.
Use -test when you want a much narrower traced pipeline instead of the whole suite.
Treat this tool as a diagnostic/demo harness, not as a stable machine-readable checker.

Guardrails

-h and --version are not help/version modes; locally both failed with Unrecognized option.
The default no-arg path is long-running and network-dependent. In a bounded local run it began by printing EDirect 24.0, Linux - x86_64, then section headers like INFO HELP, FIELD EXAMPLE, and LINK EXAMPLE.
Source inspection shows -test exports EDIRECT_TRACE=true and runs a specific esearch | efilter | elink | xtract pipeline before exiting.
Because the script exercises many live EDirect examples, failures may reflect network issues, remote content drift, or one broken helper anywhere in the chain.

---name: test-edirectdescription: Use when smoke-testing an Entrez Direct installation with the bundled long-form example suite or the focused `-test` trace mode.--- # test-edirect Large shell-based demonstration and smoke-test script for Entrez Direct. With no arguments it runs a long sequence of real EDirect examples and prints titled sections such as `INFO HELP`, `FIELD EXAMPLE`, and `LINK EXAMPLE`. It also has a special `-test` mode that enables tracing around one targeted pipeline. ## Quick Start - **Command:** `test-edirect` - **Local executable:** `/home/vimalinx/miniforge3/envs/bio/bin/test-edirect` - **Special modes:** `-timer`, `-timed`, `-test` ## When To Use This Tool - Verifying that a local EDirect installation can execute a broad set of canonical example workflows - Running a human-readable smoke suite instead of a one-endpoint connectivity probe - Spot-checking whether `esearch`, `efetch`, `elink`, `xtract`, and related helpers all cooperate correctly - Using the focused `-test` path when you want tracing around one smaller pipeline ## Common Patterns ```bash # Run the full demonstration / smoke suite test-edirect ``` ```bash # Add elapsed times between sections test-edirect -timer ``` ```bash # Run the focused trace-enabled test path test-edirect -test ``` ## Recommended Workflow 1. Start with a plain `test-edirect` run when you want a broad installation smoke test. 2. Use `-timer` if you care about rough section timings. 3. Use `-test` when you want a much narrower traced pipeline instead of the whole suite. 4. Treat this tool as a diagnostic/demo harness, not as a stable machine-readable checker. ## Guardrails - `-h` and `--version` are not help/version modes; locally both failed with `Unrecognized option`. - The default no-arg path is long-running and network-dependent. In a bounded local run it began by printing `EDirect 24.0`, `Linux - x86_64`, then section headers like `INFO HELP`, `FIELD EXAMPLE`, and `LINK EXAMPLE`. - Source inspection shows `-test` exports `EDIRECT_TRACE=true` and runs a specific `esearch | efilter | elink | xtract` pipeline before exiting. - Because the script exercises many live EDirect examples, failures may reflect network issues, remote content drift, or one broken helper anywhere in the chain.

Frequently asked questions