27 The Tercen Skills for Claude Code

Several chapters in this guide are written as prompts rather than command sequences: you describe the outcome, and the assistant knows the recipe. That only works if the assistant has the Tercen skills loaded. This chapter is how you get them, check them, and keep them current.

A skill is packaged instructions — not code, not a service. It tells the assistant how a particular Tercen job is done: which command, in which order, what the failure modes look like, and what to verify afterwards. Nothing runs on your machine that you did not run yourself.

27.1 Getting them

The skills ship as a Claude Code plugin marketplace:

claude plugin marketplace add tercen/skills
claude plugin install tercen-operator-dev@tercen

The same commands work as /plugin marketplace add … and /plugin install … inside a running session. There is a second plugin, tercen-science@tercen, covering scientist-facing data intake rather than operator development.

Important

tercen/skills is a private repository: you need read permission on it before either command will work, and that is granted per GitHub account. Contact Tercen to be granted it.

If marketplace add reports that the repository cannot be found, missing read permission is almost always the reason rather than a typo. Check which account you are actually authenticated as with gh auth status first — having access under one account does not help if gh is logged in as another.

27.2 Checking them

Three levels, from cheapest to most convincing.

Is the plugin installed, and at what version?

claude plugin list

What is actually in it?

claude plugin details tercen-operator-dev

Does this session have them? The check that matters, because a plugin installed but not loaded behaves exactly like one that was never installed:

Which Tercen skills do you have available?

If the answer is vague or names nothing, you are talking to a session that started before the install. Restart it.

27.3 Keeping them current

claude plugin update tercen-operator-dev

A restart is required before an update takes effect. Skills change when the platform changes — a renamed flag, a command that no longer exists, a new failure mode — so an old copy fails in ways that look like your mistake. If something in this guide does not match what your assistant does, check the version first.

27.4 What is in the operator plugin

Theme	Skills
Getting connected	`install-tercenctl`, `tercenctl-guide`, `tercen-studio`
Building an operator	`search-operators`, `create-operator`, `create-r-operator`, `validate-operator-output`
Shipping it	`release-operator`, `publish-operator`, `deploy-tercen-library`
Using and fixing	`load-data`, `file-import-pipeline`, `diagnose-operator-resources`

You do not need to name a skill. Describe the task and the right one is chosen; naming it (/publish-operator) is available when you want to be explicit.

27.5 Why you can rely on them

Skills are documentation, and documentation rots quietly — a flag gets renamed and the instructions still read perfectly well. The Tercen skills are therefore tested the way a user uses them: a scenario runs a fresh assistant session against a disposable Tercen Studio, given only the skills and a user’s own words, and the result is decided by querying the instance afterwards rather than by what the assistant reports. An assistant claiming “published successfully” while the library stayed empty is the specific failure those tests exist to catch.

Tip

If a skill cannot do something it plainly should, that is worth reporting. Each scenario in the test suite exists because something was wrong first, and the fix for a bad instruction is usually one line.

# The Tercen Skills for Claude Code Several chapters in this guide are written as **prompts** rather than command sequences: you describe the outcome, and the assistant knows the recipe. That only works if the assistant has the Tercen skills loaded. This chapter is how you get them, check them, and keep them current. A skill is packaged instructions — not code, not a service. It tells the assistant how a particular Tercen job is done: which command, in which order, what the failure modes look like, and what to verify afterwards. Nothing runs on your machine that you did not run yourself. ## Getting them The skills ship as a Claude Code **plugin marketplace**: ```bash claude plugin marketplace add tercen/skills claude plugin install tercen-operator-dev@tercen ``` The same commands work as `/plugin marketplace add …` and `/plugin install …` inside a running session. There is a second plugin, `tercen-science@tercen`, covering scientist-facing data intake rather than operator development. ::: {.callout-important} `tercen/skills` is a **private** repository: you need **read permission** on it before either command will work, and that is granted per GitHub account. Contact Tercen to be granted it. If `marketplace add` reports that the repository cannot be found, missing read permission is almost always the reason rather than a typo. Check which account you are actually authenticated as with `gh auth status` first — having access under one account does not help if `gh` is logged in as another. ::: ## Checking them Three levels, from cheapest to most convincing. **Is the plugin installed, and at what version?** ```bash claude plugin list ``` **What is actually in it?** ```bash claude plugin details tercen-operator-dev ``` **Does this session have them?** The check that matters, because a plugin installed but not loaded behaves exactly like one that was never installed: ``` Which Tercen skills do you have available? ``` If the answer is vague or names nothing, you are talking to a session that started before the install. Restart it. ## Keeping them current ```bash claude plugin update tercen-operator-dev ``` A restart is required before an update takes effect. Skills change when the platform changes — a renamed flag, a command that no longer exists, a new failure mode — so an old copy fails in ways that look like *your* mistake. If something in this guide does not match what your assistant does, check the version first. ## What is in the operator plugin | Theme | Skills | |---|---| | Getting connected | `install-tercenctl`, `tercenctl-guide`, `tercen-studio` | | Building an operator | `search-operators`, `create-operator`, `create-r-operator`, `validate-operator-output` | | Shipping it | `release-operator`, `publish-operator`, `deploy-tercen-library` | | Using and fixing | `load-data`, `file-import-pipeline`, `diagnose-operator-resources` | You do not need to name a skill. Describe the task and the right one is chosen; naming it (`/publish-operator`) is available when you want to be explicit. ## Why you can rely on them Skills are documentation, and documentation rots quietly — a flag gets renamed and the instructions still read perfectly well. The Tercen skills are therefore tested the way a user uses them: a scenario runs a fresh assistant session against a disposable Tercen Studio, given only the skills and a user's own words, and the result is decided by **querying the instance afterwards** rather than by what the assistant reports. An assistant claiming "published successfully" while the library stayed empty is the specific failure those tests exist to catch. ::: {.callout-tip} If a skill cannot do something it plainly should, that is worth reporting. Each scenario in the test suite exists because something was wrong first, and the fix for a bad instruction is usually one line. :::