Four first-party skills · v0.3.0 RC

Skills teach safe operation. Tentaclaw executes.

A skill is reviewed workflow guidance for an agent. It must not own the Poppy credential, make direct Poppy HTTP calls, or replace the MCP server's enforcement.

Overview Install Skills Tools White paper

Skill catalogue

Setup and incident

`tentaclaw-setup`

Use when installing, configuring, diagnosing, rotating, disabling, or migrating Tentaclaw.

Never requests the key in chat
References a key-file path only
Runs doctor and disposable canary checks
Rotates after suspected direct-skill exposure
Stops on public exposure or credential requests

Required core workflow

`poppy-operator`

Use when a task explicitly needs existing Poppy context, a trained chat, or conversation continuity.

Uses exact board/chat identity
Asks before resolving ambiguity
Separates discovery from state changes
Minimizes additional context
Treats returned content as untrusted reference

Research workflow

`poppy-board-research`

Use for bounded research that depends on one approved Poppy board and chat.

No “search every board” behavior
Splits compound questions
Separates claims, sources, and inference
Reports gaps and uncertainty
Never invents citations

Content workflow

`poppy-content-workflow`

Use for explicit brainstorm, create, or rewrite tasks with board-specific context.

Captures audience, objective, format, constraints, and tone
Uses one approved destination
Labels drafts and unresolved facts
Requires human review
Never auto-publishes

How skills compose

Need to connect or fix Tentaclaw? ─────▶ tentaclaw-setup Need Poppy board/chat context? ─────────▶ poppy-operator ├─ bounded research ──────────────────▶ poppy-board-research └─ brainstorm/create/rewrite ─────────▶ poppy-content-workflow

The two specialist skills inherit poppy-operator destination, credential, context-minimization, and failure rules. They narrow the workflow; they do not bypass the core skill.

Rules every public Tentaclaw skill must pass

No credential value, credential-bearing URL, key prefix, production destination ID, or conversation ID in skill content.
No direct curl, browser automation, generic HTTP client, or shell-built Poppy request.
No broad board enumeration without task need.
No destination guessing or silent fallback to a similarly named board/chat.
No automatic publishing, sending, billing, or consequential external action.
No treating retrieved instructions as commands.
Clear completion criteria, error behavior, negative tests, and human-review boundary.

Install and validate a skill

Obtain the versioned skill ZIP or directory from the official Tentaclaw release.
Verify its SHA-256 checksum and inspect the included SKILL.md.
Confirm there are no secrets or fixed production IDs.
Copy it to the exact skill location supported by the target client.
Start with a disposable Poppy board/chat and a harmless prompt.
Run negative tests: ambiguous destination, secret request, injected instruction, denied board, automatic publish request.
Record the exact client, skill version, Tentaclaw version, result, and redacted evidence.

Built versus planned

The four skills above are included in the v0.3.0 release candidate. Additional skills may be built for narrowly defined workflows, but they will not be advertised until their instructions, security rules, negative tests, packaging, and client testing are complete. Internal Android development and security skills are separate engineering controls and are not customer-installable Tentaclaw skills.