doc-nz

name	doc-nz
description	Query Department of Conservation (DOC) New Zealand public huts, campsites, Great Walk booking availability, current alerts, and track pages through a lightweight read-only CLI. Use when the task involves DOC huts, campsites, Great Walks, availability calendars, track alerts, or DOC place status in New Zealand.
license	MIT
compatibility	Requires Python 3.10+ and network access for live data
metadata	{"thecolab.category":"public-data","thecolab.source_owner":"Department of Conservation","thecolab.source_type":"official","thecolab.auth":"none","thecolab.access_mode":"public-api","thecolab.data_class":"public","thecolab.writes":"false","thecolab.browser":"false","thecolab.risk":"low","thecolab.cache_ttl":"24h","thecolab.schema_version":"1","thecolab.skill_type":"public-api","thecolab.pack":"nz-public-data","thecolab.source_url":"https://www.doc.govt.nz/","thecolab.allowed_domains":"bookings.doc.govt.nz,doc.govt.nz,prod-nz-rdr.recreation-management.tylerapp.com,www.doc.govt.nz","thecolab.last_verified":"2026-07-19","thecolab.health":"healthy","thecolab.maintainer":"@adam91holt"}

DOC NZ

Goal

Query live Department of Conservation New Zealand huts, campsites, Great Walk availability, alerts, and track information through a small deterministic CLI with human-readable and JSON output, without login or booking actions.

Use this when

• A user asks whether a Great Walk hut or campsite has spaces for a date range
• A user wants DOC Great Walk booking status or booking windows
• A user asks for current DOC track, hut, campsite, park, or region alerts
• A user wants a quick DOC track description with active alerts
• A workflow needs machine-readable DOC hut, campsite, or Great Walk data

Do not use this for

• Booking, modifying, holding, cancelling, or paying for DOC reservations
• Login, customer accounts, payment, checkout, or basket workflows
• Private booking data, personal itineraries, or account-specific prices
• Non-DOC accommodation or non-New Zealand public land
• Safety-critical trip decisions without checking DOC directly before travel

Preferred workflow

1. Run scripts/cli.py with the narrowest subcommand that answers the task
2. Use great-walks to resolve DOC Great Walk place ids and booking windows
3. Use availability for date-grid availability on a Great Walk name/place id or facility id
4. Use alerts --region <region> for current regional DOC alerts and closures
5. Use track <name> for a DOC page summary plus page-level alerts
6. Use --json for agent chaining, comparisons, and reports

CLI

Run with:

python3 skills/doc-nz/scripts/cli.py <command> [flags]

Commands

• great-walks [--json] - list Great Walks, public booking window, ids, and open/closed booking status
• huts [--region text] [--query text] [--limit N] [--json] - list popular public DOC booking places and filter locally
• huts --great-walk <name-or-id> [--from DATE] [--to DATE] [--nights N] [--accommodation NAME] [--direction ID_OR_NAME] [--json] - list Great Walk hut/campsite facility ids with an availability grid
• availability <name-or-id> [--from DATE] [--to DATE] [--nights N] [--accommodation NAME] [--direction ID_OR_NAME] [--json] - Great Walk availability by walk name/place id, or facility id from huts --great-walk
• alerts [--region REGION] [--limit N] [--json] - list DOC alert regions, or current alert groups for one region
• track <name> [--json] - track or booking-place description with DOC page alerts where a DOC page is linked

Examples

python3 skills/doc-nz/scripts/cli.py great-walks --json
python3 skills/doc-nz/scripts/cli.py huts --query campsite --limit 10 --json
python3 skills/doc-nz/scripts/cli.py huts --great-walk routeburn --from 2026-11-01 --nights 1 --accommodation Hut --json
python3 skills/doc-nz/scripts/cli.py availability "Milford Track" --from 2026-11-01 --nights 3 --json
python3 skills/doc-nz/scripts/cli.py availability 2864 --from 2026-11-01 --nights 1 --json
python3 skills/doc-nz/scripts/cli.py alerts --region fiordland --limit 5 --json
python3 skills/doc-nz/scripts/cli.py track "Routeburn Track" --json

Resources

• CLI entrypoint: scripts/cli.py
• API and stability notes: references/api-notes.md

Notes

• Upstream source: Department of Conservation New Zealand, including bookings.doc.govt.nz and doc.govt.nz
• No API key, username, password, account cookie, or browser automation is required for the implemented read-only commands
• Booking availability is live public availability, not a hold or guarantee; always confirm directly with DOC before travel
• Great Walk availability is the most complete booking surface; generic DOC booking place detail endpoints were not reliable enough to expose
• Endpoint shapes can change; verify with a small live query before relying on broad workflows
• Do not use this skill for booking actions, checkout, payment, login, account access, or high-volume scraping