canhelp

Display a human-readable summary of a canister's interface given its mainnet canister ID or a human-readable name. Like --help but for canisters. Only for mainnet canisters — for local canisters, read the generated .did file in your project directly.

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Repository: dfinity/icskills
Last source activity: August 5, 2026 at 18:48
Detected SKILL.md language: English
Stars: 34
Forks: 14

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Source instructions · Read-only preview

name	canhelp
description	Display a human-readable summary of a canister's interface given its mainnet canister ID or a human-readable name. Like --help but for canisters. Only for mainnet canisters — for local canisters, read the generated .did file in your project directly.
license	Apache-2.0
compatibility	icp-cli >= 0.1.0
allowed-tools	Bash(./scripts/resolve-canister-id.sh ), Bash(./scripts/fetch-candid.sh ), Read, Grep, Glob
argument-hint	<canister-id-or-name>
metadata	{"title":"Canister Help","category":"Infrastructure"}

Given a canister ID or name in $ARGUMENTS, fetch and summarize its Candid interface.

Steps

Resolve the canister ID by running the resolve script from the skill's base directory:
```
./scripts/resolve-canister-id.sh "$ARGUMENTS"
```
If $ARGUMENTS is already a valid principal, the script echoes it back. Otherwise, it queries the IC Dashboard API and outputs matches as <canister-id> <name> (one per line).
- If there is a single result, clearly display the resolved canister ID and use it directly.
- If there are multiple results, present the list to the user and ask them to pick one before continuing.
Fetch the Candid interface using the resolved canister ID:
```
./scripts/fetch-candid.sh <resolved-canister-id>
```
The script outputs the path to the downloaded .did file.
Read the file using the Read tool.
Present the output as a readable summary with the following structure:

Canister <canister-id>

Query methods:
- method_name(arg1: type1, arg2: type2) → return_type — one-line description if inferable from the name
Update methods:
- method_name(arg1: type1) → return_type
Types:
- List any custom record/variant types defined in the interface, with their fields

Guidelines

Group methods by query vs update
Sort methods alphabetically within each group
For complex nested types, show the top-level structure and note nesting
If the candid is very large (>100 methods), show a summary count and list only the most important-looking methods, offering to show the full list on request
If the fetch succeeds, but the Candid interface is empty,explain that the canister is not exposing its Candid interface in the wasm metadata
If the fetch fails, suggest the user verify the canister ID and that icp is installed

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mops-cli

Manage Motoko projects with the mops CLI — toolchain pinning, dependency management, type-checking, building, and linting. Use when working with mops.toml, mops.lock, running mops commands, adding/removing packages, pinning moc or lintoko versions, checking or building canisters, configuring moc flags, or setting up a new Motoko project.

2026-09-08

service-discoverability

Make a canister app discoverable to an AI agent from just its URL, including through ICP MCP. Covers publishing a /.well-known/ic-architecture manifest of your canisters — generated at deploy time from real canister IDs via the static-site recipe's presync hook and envsubst — plus exposing candid:service (interface), a getApiDoc query method (behavior), an optional OQL schema/execute data surface, and a /.well-known/ii-derivation-origin file (identity). Publishing that manifest opts the app into ICP MCP and is itself the operator's acceptance of the ICP MCP App Operator Terms, so confirm with the app's operator before deploying it. Use when making an app agent-ready or available through ICP MCP, for agent/service discovery, the well-known ic-architecture manifest, or generating that manifest at deploy time. Do NOT use for the sign-in flows that consume the derivation origin: use agent-web-identity for the agent/CLI web-identity link, or internet-identity for adding II login to a frontend.

2026-09-03

internet-identity

Integrate Internet Identity authentication. Covers passkey and OpenID sign-in flows, delegation handling, principal-per-app isolation, and the /.well-known/ii-app-metadata document that shows your app's name, description, and logo on the sign-in screen. Use when adding sign-in, login, auth, passkeys, or Internet Identity to a frontend or canister. Do NOT use for wallet integration or ICRC signer flows — use wallet-integration instead.

2026-09-02

View all from this repository

name	canhelp
description	Display a human-readable summary of a canister's interface given its mainnet canister ID or a human-readable name. Like --help but for canisters. Only for mainnet canisters — for local canisters, read the generated .did file in your project directly.
license	Apache-2.0
compatibility	icp-cli >= 0.1.0
allowed-tools	Bash(./scripts/resolve-canister-id.sh ), Bash(./scripts/fetch-candid.sh ), Read, Grep, Glob
argument-hint	<canister-id-or-name>
metadata	{"title":"Canister Help","category":"Infrastructure"}

Given a canister ID or name in $ARGUMENTS, fetch and summarize its Candid interface.

Steps

Resolve the canister ID by running the resolve script from the skill's base directory:
```
./scripts/resolve-canister-id.sh "$ARGUMENTS"
```
If $ARGUMENTS is already a valid principal, the script echoes it back. Otherwise, it queries the IC Dashboard API and outputs matches as <canister-id> <name> (one per line).
- If there is a single result, clearly display the resolved canister ID and use it directly.
- If there are multiple results, present the list to the user and ask them to pick one before continuing.
Fetch the Candid interface using the resolved canister ID:
```
./scripts/fetch-candid.sh <resolved-canister-id>
```
The script outputs the path to the downloaded .did file.
Read the file using the Read tool.
Present the output as a readable summary with the following structure:

Canister <canister-id>

Query methods:
- method_name(arg1: type1, arg2: type2) → return_type — one-line description if inferable from the name
Update methods:
- method_name(arg1: type1) → return_type
Types:
- List any custom record/variant types defined in the interface, with their fields

Guidelines

Group methods by query vs update
Sort methods alphabetically within each group
For complex nested types, show the top-level structure and note nesting
If the candid is very large (>100 methods), show a summary count and list only the most important-looking methods, offering to show the full list on request
If the fetch succeeds, but the Candid interface is empty,explain that the canister is not exposing its Candid interface in the wasm metadata
If the fetch fails, suggest the user verify the canister ID and that icp is installed

canhelp

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Steps

Guidelines

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Steps

Guidelines

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