placed-interview-coach

name	placed-interview-coach
description	This skill should be used when the user wants to "practice interview", "mock interview", "prepare for interview", "system design interview", "behavioral interview", "STAR stories", "interview coaching", "get interview questions", or wants to prepare for technical interviews using the Placed career platform at placed.exidian.tech.
version	1.0.0
metadata	{"openclaw":{"emoji":"🎯","homepage":"https://placed.exidian.tech"}}
tags	interview,interview-prep,mock-interview,behavioral-interview,system-design-interview,star-method,interview-questions,interview-coaching,technical-interview,placed,exidian,career

Placed Interview Coach

AI-powered interview preparation via the Placed API. No MCP server required — all calls are made directly with curl.

API Key

Load the key from ~/.config/placed/credentials, falling back to the environment:

if [ -z "$PLACED_API_KEY" ] && [ -f "$HOME/.config/placed/credentials" ]; then
  source "$HOME/.config/placed/credentials"
fi

If PLACED_API_KEY is still not set, ask the user:

"Please provide your Placed API key (get it at https://placed.exidian.tech/settings/api)"

Then save it for future sessions:

mkdir -p "$HOME/.config/placed"
echo "export PLACED_API_KEY=<key_provided_by_user>" > "$HOME/.config/placed/credentials"
export PLACED_API_KEY=<key_provided_by_user>

How to Call the API

placed_call() {
  local tool=$1
  local args=${2:-'{}'}
  curl -s -X POST https://placed.exidian.tech/api/mcp \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer $PLACED_API_KEY" \
    -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
    -d "{\"jsonrpc\":\"2.0\",\"id\":1,\"method\":\"tools/call\",\"params\":{\"name\":\"$tool\",\"arguments\":$args}}" \
    | python3 -c "import sys,json; d=json.load(sys.stdin); print(d['result']['content'][0]['text'])"
}

Available Tools

Tool	Description
start_interview_session	Begin a mock interview for a specific role
continue_interview_session	Submit your answer and get the next question
get_interview_feedback	Get full performance analysis for a session
list_interview_cases	Browse system design cases
start_system_design	Start a system design interview
get_behavioral_questions	Get STAR-format behavioral questions
save_story_to_bank	Save a STAR story for reuse
get_interview_questions	Generate likely questions for a role/company

Usage Examples

Start a mock interview:

placed_call "start_interview_session" '{
  "resume_id": "res_abc123",
  "job_title": "Senior Software Engineer",
  "difficulty": "hard",
  "company": "Google"
}'
# Returns: session_id + first question

Answer a question:

placed_call "continue_interview_session" '{
  "session_id": "sess_abc123",
  "user_answer": "I would approach this by first clarifying requirements..."
}'
# Returns: feedback on your answer + next question

Get session feedback:

placed_call "get_interview_feedback" '{"session_id":"sess_abc123"}'

List system design cases:

placed_call "list_interview_cases"
# Returns: Design Twitter, Design URL Shortener, Design Netflix, Design Uber, etc.

Start a system design interview:

placed_call "start_system_design" '{"case_id":"design-twitter","difficulty":"senior"}'

Get behavioral questions:

placed_call "get_behavioral_questions" '{
  "target_role": "Engineering Manager",
  "focus_categories": ["leadership", "conflict-resolution", "failure"]
}'

Save a STAR story:

placed_call "save_story_to_bank" '{
  "situation": "Led team through major refactor",
  "task": "Reduce technical debt while shipping features",
  "action": "Created phased plan, mentored junior devs, set clear milestones",
  "result": "30% faster deployments, reduced bugs by 25%",
  "category": "leadership"
}'

Interview Types

Technical (Coding)

• Difficulty: easy, medium, hard
• Clarify requirements → code → explain trade-offs → test with examples

System Design

Framework: Requirements → High-Level Architecture → Database Design → Scalability → Fault Tolerance → Trade-offs

Behavioral

Use the STAR method for every answer:

• Situation — Context and background
• Task — Your responsibility
• Action — What you specifically did
• Result — Outcome with metrics

Tips

• Think out loud during technical interviews — explain your reasoning
• Start system design with constraints and scale requirements
• Use specific metrics in STAR answers ("reduced latency by 40%")
• Save strong stories to the bank so they're reusable across interviews
• Practice the same case at different difficulty levels to build confidence