AI agent skills

An AI agent, such as Claude Code or Codex, can help you with Chatter. Chatter gives agents skills: instructions for one task that the agent reads when it needs them.

Skill	What the agent does
set-up-chatter	Helps you install Chatter on a computer or a Raspberry Pi, then add the first Admin, the machines and the users
debug-machine-connection	Finds why a machine shows Offline, and tells you how to fix it
alert-query	Writes an alert rule from your words, for example "tell me when the spindle load stays above 80% for 10 minutes"
machine-report	Answers questions about the history, for example "how many parts did each machine make this week?"

Install the skills

Claude Code: in a Claude Code session, type:

/plugin marketplace add toolpath/chatter
/plugin install chatter@toolpath-chatter

If your computer has no SSH key for GitHub, first set CLAUDE_CODE_PLUGIN_PREFER_HTTPS=1 in the terminal, then start Claude Code. To get new versions of the skills, type /plugin marketplace update toolpath-chatter.

Codex and other agents: copy the skill folders into the skills folder of your agent. Codex and many other agents use ~/.agents/skills:

git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/toolpath/chatter.git
mkdir -p ~/.agents/skills
cp -R chatter/plugins/chatter/skills/* ~/.agents/skills/

For another agent, see its docs for the name of its skills folder.

Give the agent a login

The agent reads Chatter through the API. Make an account for it in Settings > Users and roles, with the role Viewer. A Viewer can only look, so the agent cannot change your machines or your users. To test an alert query, the alert-query skill needs an Admin login. With a Viewer login, it asks you to click Test in the app.

The agent asks you to set the login in the terminal, so that the password does not go in the chat:

export CHATTER_URL=http://<chatter address>:3001
export CHATTER_USERNAME=<the Viewer account>
read -rs CHATTER_PASSWORD && export CHATTER_PASSWORD

read -rs waits for you to type the password, and does not show it. Type it, then push Enter.

Warning:

Do not give an agent an Admin login unless you must. An agent with an Admin login can change and remove machines, users and settings.