external-provider
External Provider
Use this skill when the user asks about data from configured external providers (citizen services, banking, health, etc.).
Available Services
Check the provider schema to see which services are available. The authoritative list is the provider's /v1/schema response (cached in references/provider-schema.md when available). Common examples:
- Health services (appointments, records)
- Banking services (balance, transactions)
- Government services (documents, status)
How to Use
IMPORTANT: Use the telclaude CLI commands for all provider operations.
- Do NOT use WebFetch or curl to call provider endpoints directly
- Use Bash only to run
telclaudeCLI commands (provider-query, send-attachment, etc.) - The CLI handles authentication through the relay (mechanism is provider-dependent)
- Direct HTTP calls will fail with "Missing internal auth headers"
- The relay sanitizes responses (strips inline base64, stores attachments)
User ID (REQUIRED)
You MUST extract the user ID from <request-context> and pass it to ALL provider commands.
Look for this tag in your system context:
<request-context user-id="admin" />
Extract the user-id value and pass it via --user-id flag. Without this, requests will fail with 401.
1. Read the schema file
Read references/provider-schema.md
This shows the provider ID and available services/actions.
2. Query the provider via CLI
telclaude provider-query --provider <providerId> --service <service> --action <action> --user-id <userId>
With parameters:
telclaude provider-query --provider <providerId> --service <service> --action <action> --user-id <userId> --params '{"key": "value"}'
Examples (assuming <request-context user-id="admin" />):
# Get appointments
telclaude provider-query --provider my-provider --service health-api --action appointments --user-id admin
# Get bank transactions with date range
telclaude provider-query --provider my-provider --service bank-api --action transactions --user-id admin --params '{"startDate": "2024-01-01"}'
# Get document status
telclaude provider-query --provider my-provider --service gov-api --action status --user-id admin
3. Parse the response
The command outputs JSON. The exact shape is provider-dependent, but the common structure is:
{
"status": "ok" | "auth_required" | "challenge_pending" | "error",
"data": { ... },
"attachments": [
{
"id": "att_123",
"filename": "document.pdf",
"mimeType": "application/pdf",
"size": 12345,
"ref": "att_abc123.1234567890.signature",
"textContent": "Extracted text from the PDF for analysis..."
}
]
}
Some providers may include additional fields (e.g., confidence, lastUpdated, errorCode).
**Note:** The relay proxy intercepts responses and:
- Strips `inline` base64 content (you won't see it)
- Stores the file in the outbox
- Adds a `ref` token for delivery
### 4. Handle status codes
- `ok`: Present the data. Check for `noResults` field - if present, tell user "no records found"
- `auth_required`: Inform user that service needs authentication setup
- `challenge_pending`: Ask user to complete verification via `/otp <service> <code>`
- `error`: Show error message to user
## Handling Attachments
Attachments include:
- `ref`: Token to retrieve the stored file (use with `telclaude send-attachment`)
- `textContent`: Extracted text content (for PDFs, documents) - use this to analyze/summarize
**Important:** You will NOT see `inline` base64 content. The relay proxy strips it and stores the file automatically. Use `ref` to send files to users.
### Reading document content
Use `textContent` to answer questions about the document:
"Based on the document, [relevant information extracted from textContent]..."
### Sending files to the user
There are two cases depending on file size:
#### Case 1: Has `ref` — already stored
If the attachment has a `ref` field, the relay proxy already stored the file:
```bash
telclaude send-attachment --ref <attachment.ref>
Case 2: No ref — fetch from provider
If ref is empty, fetch the attachment directly:
telclaude fetch-attachment --provider <providerId> --id <attachment.id> --filename <attachment.filename> --mime <attachment.mimeType>
Output and delivery
Both commands output:
Attachment ready: /media/outbox/documents/<filename>.pdf
or
Attachment saved to: /media/outbox/documents/<filename>.pdf
You MUST include the exact path in your response. The relay watches for this path to trigger Telegram delivery.
Example workflow
- User asks for data or a document
- Call provider via
telclaude provider-query - Response includes
dataand optionallyattachmentswithrefandtextContent - Present the data to the user
- If attachments exist, use
textContentto summarize the document - If user wants the file:
- If
refis present:telclaude send-attachment --ref <ref> - If
refis empty:telclaude fetch-attachment --provider <providerId> --id <id> ...
- If
- Include the exact path from output in your response
Important Rules
- ALWAYS extract user-id - Look for
<request-context user-id="..." />in your context and pass it via--user-id. Requests without this will fail with 401. - ALWAYS use the provider - NEVER search for local files in the workspace when the user asks for health, banking, or government data. Always use
telclaude provider-queryto fetch fresh data from the provider. - Use CLI for provider queries - Use
telclaude provider-query, not WebFetch or curl - Never ask for credentials - The provider handles authentication separately
- Show confidence levels - If confidence < 1.0, mention data may be incomplete
- Show freshness - Always tell user when data was last updated
- Handle challenges gracefully - If OTP needed, explain the
/otp <service> <code>command - Never copy files directly to outbox - Only use
telclaude send-attachmentortelclaude fetch-attachmentto deliver files. Copying files directly to/media/outbox/will NOT trigger delivery.
Example Responses
Successful data fetch:
"Your next appointment is on [date] at [time]. This information was last updated [X] minutes ago."
Challenge pending:
"To access this service, please complete verification. Check your phone for an SMS code, then reply with /otp <service> <code>."
Auth required:
"This service needs to be set up first. Please ask the operator to configure authentication."
Attachment available:
"I found a document from [date]. There's a PDF available ([size]). Would you like me to send it to you?"
Attachment sent (use EXACT path from relay response):
"Here's your document: /media/outbox/documents/.pdf"
CLI Command Reference
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
telclaude provider-query --provider <id> --service <svc> --action <act> --user-id <uid> |
Query provider data |
telclaude send-attachment --ref <ref> |
Send stored attachment to user |
telclaude fetch-attachment --provider <id> --id <att-id> ... |
Fetch and send large attachment |
Note: --user-id is REQUIRED for provider-query. Extract it from <request-context user-id="..." />.
Provider Schemas (auto-generated)
See references/provider-schema.md for the latest schema fetched from /v1/schema.