# Using the Agent Skill with AI Agents

#### How it works

The Elestio Agent Skill is a `SKILL.md` file placed in your AI agent's skills directory. When you ask your agent to deploy or manage infrastructure, it reads `SKILL.md` to understand:

- Which CLI commands to run
- The correct interactive deployment procedure (what to ask you before deploying)
- Provider capabilities and limitations
- Error-handling strategies

The agent then runs the appropriate `elestio` commands on your behalf.

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#### Trigger phrases

Your agent will activate the Elestio skill when you say things like

<table id="bkmrk-what-you-say-what-th"><thead><tr><th>What you say</th><th>What the agent does</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>"Deploy PostgreSQL"</td><td>`elestio deploy postgresql` with guided setup</td></tr><tr><td>"I need a Redis cache"</td><td>`elestio deploy redis` with guided setup</td></tr><tr><td>"Set up n8n for automation"</td><td>`elestio deploy n8n` with guided setup</td></tr><tr><td>"Deploy my app from GitHub"</td><td>Automated CI/CD pipeline workflow</td></tr><tr><td>"What services are running?"</td><td>`elestio services`</td></tr><tr><td>"How much is this costing?"</td><td>`elestio billing`</td></tr><tr><td>"Reboot my PostgreSQL server"</td><td>`elestio reboot <vmID>`</td></tr><tr><td>"Add a firewall rule for port 8080"</td><td>`elestio firewall update <vmID>`</td></tr></tbody></table>

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#### The Interactive Deployment Procedure

The skill **mandates** that the agent ask you for each deployment parameter individually. It will never deploy with default values without your confirmation.

##### Parameters asked (in order):

**1. Cloud Provider**

<div id="bkmrk-netcup%2C-hetzner%2C-aws"><div>Netcup, Hetzner, AWS, Azure, GCP, DigitalOcean, Vultr, Scaleway, and Linode.</div><div></div></div><p class="callout info">Recommended: Netcup, Hetzner, AWS, and Azure.</p>

**2. Region** *(based on provider chosen)*

- Netcup: `nbg` (Europe – Germany) | `mns` (North America – US)
- Hetzner: `fsn1`, `nbg1`, `hel1` (EU), `ash` (US)
- AWS: `us-east-1`, `eu-west-1`, etc.

**3. Service Plan / Size**

Starts at $14/month in the EU ($16 in the US) for a dedicated VM with 2 CPUs, 4 GB RAM, and 60 GB NVMe storage on Netcup.

You can check more here: [https://elest.io/pricing#pricing](https://elest.io/pricing#pricing "https://elest.io/pricing#pricing")

**4. Service Name**

The agent suggests a default (e.g., "prod-postgresql") and waits for your text input.

**5. Admin Email**

The agent proposes your email and lets you confirm or change it.

##### Example conversation

```
You:   "Deploy PostgreSQL"
Agent: Which cloud provider? (Netcup recommended for value, Hetzner for features)
You:   "Netcup"
Agent: Which region? (nbg = Europe Germany, mns = North America US)
You:   "nbg"
Agent: Which plan? SMALL ~$7/mo · MEDIUM ~$14/mo · LARGE ~$28/mo · XL ~$55/mo
You:   "MEDIUM"
Agent: What name for this service? Suggestion: prod-postgresql
You:   "demo-postgres"
Agent: Admin email? Suggestion: you@company.com
You:   "Confirmed"
Agent: [runs elestio deploy postgresql --project 112 --name demo-postgres ...]
Agent: ✓ Service deployed! Credentials: ...

```

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#### What the agent CANNOT do for you

The skill explicitly prohibits the agent from performing these steps (you must do them in a browser):

- Creating an Elestio account (signup)
- Adding a payment method
- Waiting for account approval

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##### After deployment: what the agent will do next

Once a service is deployed, the agent follows this sequence automatically:

1. **Get credentials:** `elestio credentials <vmID>`
2. **Enable auto-backups:** `elestio backups auto-enable <vmID>`
3. **Add custom domain** (if requested): `elestio ssl add <vmID> myapp.example.com`
4. **Configure firewall** (if requested): `elestio firewall enable <vmID> --rules [...]`
5. **Enable auto-updates:** `elestio updates system-enable <vmID> --security-only`

---

#### Supported agents &amp; skill locations

<table id="bkmrk-agent-skill-file-loc"><thead><tr><th>Agent</th><th>Skill file location</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Claude Code</td><td>`~/.claude/skills/elestio/SKILL.md`</td></tr><tr><td>OpenAI Codex</td><td>`~/.codex/skills/elestio/SKILL.md`</td></tr><tr><td>Cursor</td><td>`~/.cursor/rules/elestio.md`</td></tr><tr><td>OpenCode</td><td>`~/.config/opencode/skills/elestio/SKILL.md`</td></tr></tbody></table>

After installing or updating the skill, **restart your agent tool** to load the new instructions.

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#### Version &amp; source

- **Skill version:** 2.0
- **GitHub:** [https://github.com/elestio/elestio-skill](https://github.com/elestio/elestio-skill "https://github.com/elestio/elestio-skill")
- **Specification:** [https://agentskills.io/specification](https://agentskills.io/specification "https://agentskills.io/specification")