The Deployment.io Skill

The deployment.io skill is a SKILL.md-compliant bundle that teaches your coding agent how to deploy on deployment.io — git pre-flight, parameter detection, log-based diagnosis, and approval handling. It pairs with the MCP server and works across Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, OpenAI Codex, Gemini CLI, and 25+ other SKILL.md-compliant agents.

Source: github.com/deployment-io/skills (MIT, semver).

What the Skill Adds

The MCP server gives your agent the tools (deploy_static_site, deploy_web_service, list_environments, etc.). The skill gives it the playbook:

Framework → publish_directory table (Vite/Svelte/Astro → dist, CRA → build, Next.js static → out, Hugo → public, Jekyll → _site).
How to pick is_spa correctly (client-side routers vs. static site generators).
Where to find the port inside a container (Dockerfile EXPOSE, app listen calls, PORT env).
Health-check route detection (/health, /healthz, /ping, /ready).
Git pre-flight: git fetch origin, check unpushed commits, capture the exact SHA for commit_hash.
Diagnose a bad deploy: use get_deployment_logs + get_job_status to read failure output.
Approval flow: poll get_approval_status, don't retry the original call.

Without the skill, your agent has the tools but has to re-derive these details on each session. With the skill, the runbook is loaded automatically when the prompt matches a deploy intent.

Prerequisites

A deployment.io account.
The deployment.io MCP server connected in your agent — see MCP Configuration. The skill calls these tools; without the MCP server, the skill has nothing to invoke.

Install

Clone the repo once:

git clone --depth 1 --branch v0.1.0 https://github.com/deployment-io/skills.git /tmp/dio-skills

Then copy the skill folder into the path your agent reads from:

Agent	Command
Claude Code / Claude Desktop	`mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && cp -r /tmp/dio-skills/skills/deployment-io ~/.claude/skills/`
Codex CLI	`mkdir -p ~/.codex/skills && cp -r /tmp/dio-skills/skills/deployment-io ~/.codex/skills/`
Gemini CLI	`mkdir -p ~/.gemini/skills && cp -r /tmp/dio-skills/skills/deployment-io ~/.gemini/skills/`
Cursor	`mkdir -p ~/.cursor/skills && cp -r /tmp/dio-skills/skills/deployment-io ~/.cursor/skills/`

Important: Restart your agent after copying. Skills are scanned at session start, not at runtime — if you skip this step, the skill won't load.

Verify It's Loaded

Start a new conversation and ask:

"What skills do you currently have loaded?"

Your agent should list deployment-io. For a deeper check, ask about specific content the skill owns:

"I'm planning to deploy a Vite app on deployment.io — what publish_directory should I use, and what about a Hugo site?"

A skill-loaded agent answers with the framework table verbatim. A generic agent will either guess or say it doesn't know.

Troubleshooting

Skill doesn't appear when I ask "what skills are loaded?"

Confirm the path: ls ~/.claude/skills/deployment-io/SKILL.md (adjust path per agent). The file must be directly inside a deployment-io/ folder in your agent's skills directory, not nested deeper. Restart your agent — skills are only scanned at session start.

Skill is listed but doesn't activate on deploy prompts.

Try a more explicit phrase: "Use the deployment-io skill to deploy my app to staging." If it activates now, the issue is trigger-phrase matching — try rephrasing your natural request. If it still doesn't activate, check the frontmatter parses: yq e --front-matter=extract ~/.claude/skills/deployment-io/SKILL.md — you should see name and description fields.

Skill activates but tool calls fail.

The MCP server isn't connected. The skill calls tools like deploy_static_site and list_environments that come from the deployment.io MCP server. Ask your agent: "Is the deployment-io MCP server connected?" If not, follow the MCP configuration guide.

Agent ignores the framework table or keeps asking for parameters it should know.

Your agent may have an older skill version cached. Delete ~/.claude/skills/deployment-io (or your agent's path), re-run the install, and restart.

Update

Re-clone with a new tag and re-copy to the agent's skills path:

git clone --depth 1 --branch <new-tag> https://github.com/deployment-io/skills.git /tmp/dio-skills
cp -r /tmp/dio-skills/skills/deployment-io ~/.claude/skills/  # or your agent's path

Restart the agent to pick up the new version.

License

MIT. Fork it, extend it, customize it for your team.