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Version: 2026.08

Advanced agentic use and custom skills

Start with Claude Code is the agent bootstrap. The Python Client 201 put a documented CAD model on the platform from a bare shell. This page is for what that script does not do — change requests, sharing, workflow logs, folder moves, reading Systems you did not build — and for teaching your agent your team's way of working.

For AI assistants
  1. Install the skill set (section 1), then start a new session — agents load skills at start-up.
  2. In the new session, read the skill that matches the job before touching the platform. Do not guess method names — istari-connect says how to look one up.
  3. For platform questions the skills do not cover, fetch /skills/istari/istari-docs/SKILL.md and /llms.txt. Prefer /markdown-source/ over HTML. Do not invent UI labels or API methods.

1. Install the Python-client skill set​

These skills are verified recipes for istari-digital-client 13.x (the Istari facade plus the Client calls still needed for folders). Each file's frontmatter records the SDK generation it was checked against.

From the directory that already has istari_quickstart.py (after the Python Client 201):

python istari_quickstart.py --install-skills --agent claude
# or: --agent codex | --agent cursor | --agent /path/to/skills
# optional layout + HTML README skills: add --all-skills

That fetches the set from this site (checksums verified), writes it into the agent's skills folder, and prints what it installed. Start a new agent session afterwards.

On a local or on-prem docs site, pass --skills-base https://<your-docs-origin>/skills/istari.

SkillForSDKInstall
istari-docsDocs Q&A: /llms.txt, markdown-source, terminology, how to answeranydefault
istari-connectCredentials, the three facade clients, pages and errors13.xdefault
istari-inspectRead-only reconnaissance: Systems, branches, trees, Resources, revisions13.xdefault
istari-modelsUpload, revise, read back, ids, running functions13.xdefault
istari-systemsCreate Systems, commit to branches, change requests, when to use Client for folders13.xdefault
istari-foldersFolder encoding, moving Resources, layouts13.xdefault
istari-linksWeb-app URL forms and the host ruleanydefault
istari-structureHow to shape a System: Subsystems, layouts, naminganyoptional (--all-skills)
istari-html-craftSelf-contained HTML the web app can render (README, reports)anyoptional (--all-skills)

The catalog with a SHA-256 per file is /skills/istari/index.json. --install-skills refuses a file whose checksum does not match.

The Istari facade in istari-digital-client 13.x is a compact surface for agents. The package still ships the stable Client / V3Client APIs documented under Python Client — use those when you are writing production code that must track the reference. Folder commits on 13.x still use Client (istari-folders).

2. Work conversationally​

After the Python Client 201, a useful follow-up (in a new session, if you installed skills):

Look at the System the quickstart just created. Explain what is on its baseline branch, why the Resources are in a folder, and how a new revision of the part would reach the branch. Cite the docs pages you used.

Docs-only Q&A still starts with the docs skill. Live metadata and Jobs after files exist can use the MCP service (OIDC, no pasted token). MCP cannot upload a file from disk — that stays with the Python client.

3. Write your own skill​

A skill is one markdown file. Anything you have had to explain to an agent twice — folder layout, naming for released parts, a function you always run — belongs in one. Start from the template:

curl -fsSL https://docs.istaridigital.com/skills/istari/TEMPLATE.SKILL.md \
  -o ~/.claude/skills/my-team-istari/SKILL.md
  1. Name and description are the trigger. The description says when to use it, in the words a person would type.
  2. Stamp the generation. Fill in sdk-major, sdk-range, skill-version, verified-sdk, verified-registry, verified-on.
  3. Run every recipe before you write it. Paste code you executed, with the object names and fields that came back. Include the errors you hit and what they meant.
  4. One page. Point at markdown-source pages rather than inlining them.
  5. Say what it does not cover, and which skill or doc does.

Install it beside the set (~/.claude/skills/<name>/SKILL.md, ~/.codex/skills/<name>/SKILL.md, or ~/.cursor/skills/<name>/SKILL.md) and start a new session. To share with a team, publish a folder with an index.json in the same shape as Istari Digital's and install both:

python istari_quickstart.py --install-skills --agent claude \
  --skills-base https://docs.istaridigital.com/skills/istari,https://your-team.example/skills

Where next​