Skills
skills/agairola/life-skills/beach-check

beach-check

SKILL.md

Beach Check Skill

Check water quality and swimming safety at NSW beaches. Zero config — no API keys, no setup.

Install

npx skills add agairola/life-skills --skill beach-check

When to Use

Trigger this skill when the user:

  • Asks about beach water quality or swimming safety
  • Wants to know if a beach is safe to swim at
  • Mentions Beachwatch, pollution forecast, or beach closures
  • Asks about conditions at a specific NSW beach (Bondi, Coogee, Manly, Bronte, etc.)
  • Says "is it safe to swim" or "beach conditions"
  • Wants to find nearby beaches with good water quality

Prerequisites

  • uv — brew install uv (macOS) or pip install uv (all platforms)
  • API keys — not needed. Fully zero-config.
  • Dependencies — declared inline (PEP 723), installed automatically by uv run.

Setup Status

!command -v uv > /dev/null 2>&1 && echo "uv: installed" || echo "uv: NOT INSTALLED"

Location Flow

Follow the standard location resolution steps in ../../references/location-flow.md before running the script. Skill-specific additions:

  • If the user mentioned a specific beach name, use --beach instead of location flags.

Command Template

uv run "${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/beach_check.py" [LOCATION_FLAGS] [OPTIONS]

Options

Flag Values Default Purpose
--beach beach name (string) — Search for a specific beach by name
--location suburb/city name — Find nearby beaches by place name
--lat latitude (float) — Latitude for nearby search
--lng longitude (float) — Longitude for nearby search
--radius km (integer) 10 Search radius for nearby mode
--no-cache (flag) off Force fresh data

Only parse stdout (JSON). Stderr contains diagnostics only.

Common Commands

# Search for a specific beach by name
uv run "${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/beach_check.py" --beach "Bondi"

# User shared location via chat platform
uv run "${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/beach_check.py" --lat -33.92 --lng 151.26

# User mentioned a place
uv run "${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/beach_check.py" --location "Coogee, NSW"

# Auto-detect location (terminal — opens browser on first run)
uv run "${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/beach_check.py"

# Wider search radius
uv run "${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/beach_check.py" --location "Manly" --radius 20

Presenting Results

Follow the formatting rules in ../../references/platform-formatting.md. Key skill-specific formatting below.

Map Links

Each beach in the JSON includes two URL fields:

  • google_maps_url — searches by beach name
  • apple_maps_url — pins exact lat/lng with beach name label

Use hyperlinks (not raw URLs) where the platform supports them:

  • Telegram, Discord, terminal: Use markdown links — [Beach Name](url)
  • WhatsApp, Signal, SMS: These don't support hyperlinks. Put the link on a separate line.

Provide both Google Maps and Apple Maps links so the user can choose.

Two Response Modes

Beach search (--beach): Show detailed info for the matched beach plus similar alternatives.

Nearby (--location or --lat/--lng): Show a list of nearby beaches sorted by distance with water quality.

Beach Search: Single Beach Detail

For platforms with hyperlinks (Telegram, Discord, terminal):

Bondi Beach — Water Quality: Good

Pollution forecast: Unlikely
Last tested: 10 Mar 2026

[Google Maps](google_maps_url) · [Apple Maps](apple_maps_url)

Similar beaches:
· North Bondi Beach — Good · 0.5 km
· Bronte Beach — Good · 1.2 km

For platforms without hyperlinks (WhatsApp, Signal, SMS):

Bondi Beach — Water Quality: Good

Pollution forecast: Unlikely
Last tested: 10 Mar 2026

Google Maps: [google_maps_url]
Apple Maps: [apple_maps_url]

Similar beaches:
· North Bondi Beach — Good · 0.5 km
· Bronte Beach — Good · 1.2 km

Nearby: Beach List

For platforms with hyperlinks:

Beaches near Coogee (within 10 km):

1. [Coogee Beach](google_maps_url) — Good · 1.2 km
   Pollution: Unlikely
   [Apple Maps](apple_maps_url)
2. [Maroubra Beach](google_maps_url) — Good · 2.1 km
   Pollution: Unlikely
3. [Bronte Beach](google_maps_url) — Fair · 2.5 km
   Pollution: Possible

5 beaches found within 10 km · Beachwatch NSW

For platforms without hyperlinks:

Beaches near Coogee (within 10 km):

1. Coogee Beach — Good · 1.2 km
   Pollution: Unlikely
   Google Maps: [google_maps_url]
   Apple Maps: [apple_maps_url]
2. Maroubra Beach — Good · 2.1 km
   Pollution: Unlikely
   Google Maps: [google_maps_url]
3. Bronte Beach — Fair · 2.5 km
   Pollution: Possible
   Google Maps: [google_maps_url]

5 beaches found within 10 km · Beachwatch NSW

Formatting Rules

  • Beach search mode: show full detail for matched beach, compact list for alternatives
  • Nearby mode: top 10 beaches sorted by distance, show quality + pollution forecast
  • Stale data: if "stale": true in JSON, append the stale_note — "Heads up: water quality data for this beach is [N] days old and may not reflect current conditions."
  • Both Google Maps and Apple Maps for the top result; Google Maps only for the rest
  • Water quality colour hints (for platforms that support emoji):
    • Good = safe to swim
    • Fair = generally safe, minor risks
    • Poor = swimming not recommended
    • Bad = do not swim
  • Invite follow-up: "Ask me about a specific beach for more detail" or "Reply with a beach name for full info"

Handling Edge Cases

  • Low confidence (confidence: "low"): Do not silently show results. Tell the user: "I got an approximate location of [city] but it may not be exact. What suburb or postcode are you near?" Rerun with their answer.
  • Stale data (stale: true): Show results but add a note — "Heads up: water quality data for some beaches is several days old and may not reflect current conditions."
  • No results (empty beaches): "No beaches found within [radius]km. Want me to try a wider search or a different area? Note: this tool covers NSW beaches only."
  • API errors: "Couldn't get beach data right now. The Beachwatch API may be temporarily unavailable — try again in a few minutes."
  • Non-NSW location: The Beachwatch API only covers NSW. If the user is clearly outside NSW, let them know: "Beach water quality data is currently available for NSW beaches only."

Reference

Water Quality Ratings

Rating Value Meaning
Good 4 Safe for swimming — low bacterial levels
Fair 3 Generally safe — minor pollution risk
Poor 2 Swimming not recommended — elevated bacteria
Bad 1 Do not swim — high contamination risk

Pollution Forecast

Forecast Meaning
Unlikely Low chance of pollution — safe conditions expected
Possible Some chance of pollution — check before swimming
Likely High chance of pollution — avoid swimming
Forecast not available No forecast data — use water quality rating as guide

Data Source

All data comes from the NSW Government Beachwatch program via their public API. No API key needed. Data is updated regularly by the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage. No user data is sent to any service beyond coordinates for geocoding.

Script Location Fallback (internal — for reference only)

When the script runs, it resolves location internally in this order:

  1. Explicit args — --lat/--lng or --location (Nominatim geocoding)
  2. Browser consent — localhost page requesting navigator.geolocation (WiFi, ~15-50ft accuracy, cached 24hrs)
  3. IP geolocation — ip-api.com (city-level only, often inaccurate for non-city users)

The agent should almost never reach step 3. The Location Flow above ensures the user provides location info before the script runs.

Weekly Installs
2
Repository
agairola/life-skills
First Seen
9 days ago
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