canhelp

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

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. Read the file using the Read tool.

4. 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