What Are Skills?

Skills are workflow-oriented guides that help Claude Code accomplish complex infrastructure tasks. Unlike raw API wrappers, skills encode best practices, security patterns, and operational knowledge specific to DigitalOcean.

Each skill is a focused playbook that:

• Makes opinionated decisions (VPC by default, defense-in-depth security)
• Generates production-ready configurations
• Guides multi-step workflows (audit → remediate → verify)

Prerequisites

| Requirement | Purpose | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------- | | Claude Code | AI-powered development environment | | DigitalOcean Account | Infrastructure provider | | DigitalOcean API Token | Authentication for API calls | | DigitalOcean MCP (optional) | Recommended for cleaner tool integration |

Quick Setup

1. Install the Plugin

# From GitHub
claude plugin add github:iamnolanhu/digitalocean-skills

2. Configure Your API Token

# Set your DigitalOcean API token
export DIGITALOCEAN_API_TOKEN=your-token-here

Or copy .env.example to .env and add your token there.

3. Verify Installation

# Check that skills are available
/do-status

Example Prompts

| What You Want | Example Prompt | | ---------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------- | | Create a Droplet | "Create a production-ready Droplet in NYC1 with firewall rules" | | Set up VPC | "Design a VPC for staging and production environments" | | Security audit | "Audit my DigitalOcean infrastructure for security issues" | | Configure firewall | "Set up defense-in-depth firewall rules for my web servers" | | SSH access | "Configure SSH keys for my new Droplet" | | Cost tracking | "Show me my current DigitalOcean costs and resource usage" | | Infrastructure dashboard | "Give me a full overview of my DigitalOcean resources" |

Available Skills

| Skill | Description | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | provisioning-droplets | Secure Droplet creation with sizing, networking, and backup configuration | | configuring-firewalls | Defense-in-depth firewall patterns and security rules | | managing-load-balancers | HA setup, SSL termination, and health checks | | designing-vpcs | Network architecture, CIDR planning, and VPC peering | | managing-dns | Domain configuration, DNS records, and email setup | | managing-ssh-keys | SSH key setup, troubleshooting, and key rotation | | hardening-infrastructure | Security audits, compliance checklists, and best practices | | tracking-resources | Monitor infrastructure costs and resource usage | | using-digitalocean-skills | Plugin overview and getting started guide |

Skills are automatically invoked based on context, or explicitly:

Use the provisioning-droplets skill to create a new server

Commands

| Command | Description | | --------------- | ----------------------------------- | | /do-dashboard | Full infrastructure view with costs | | /do-costs | Quick cost breakdown | | /do-status | Infrastructure overview | | /do-provision | Interactive guided provisioning | | /do-firewall | Firewall rule management | | /do-ssh-setup | SSH key configuration |

Command Examples

/do-dashboard              # Full infrastructure overview with costs
/do-costs                  # Quick cost breakdown
/do-status                 # Infrastructure summary
/do-status nyc1            # Filter by region
/do-firewall list          # List all firewalls
/do-firewall show fw-prod  # Show firewall details
/do-ssh-setup              # Configure SSH keys

Agents

| Agent | Description | | ------------------------ | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | infrastructure-auditor | Systematic security audit with categorized findings and remediation guidance | | network-architect | VPC design, CIDR planning, and architecture diagrams | | cost-optimizer | Right-size Droplets, identify waste, and recommend cost savings |

Use the infrastructure-auditor agent to audit my DigitalOcean setup
Use the network-architect agent to design a multi-region architecture
Use the cost-optimizer agent to reduce my DigitalOcean costs

Skill Structure

digitalocean-skills/
├── skills/
│   ├── provisioning-droplets/       # Secure Droplet creation
│   ├── configuring-firewalls/       # Defense-in-depth patterns
│   ├── managing-load-balancers/     # HA and SSL termination
│   ├── designing-vpcs/              # Network architecture
│   ├── managing-dns/                # Domain and records
│   ├── managing-ssh-keys/           # SSH key setup & rotation
│   ├── hardening-infrastructure/    # Security best practices
│   ├── tracking-resources/          # Cost and usage monitoring
│   └── using-digitalocean-skills/   # Plugin overview & getting started
├── agents/
│   ├── infrastructure-auditor       # Security assessments
│   ├── network-architect            # VPC topology design
│   └── cost-optimizer               # Cost reduction & right-sizing
├── commands/
│   ├── /do-dashboard                # Full infrastructure view
│   ├── /do-costs                    # Quick cost breakdown
│   ├── /do-status                   # Infrastructure overview
│   ├── /do-provision                # Guided provisioning
│   ├── /do-firewall                 # Firewall management
│   └── /do-ssh-setup                # SSH key configuration
└── hooks/
    └── session-start                # Auto-init on startup

Skill Dependency Graph

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    User Request                              │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                              │
              ┌───────────────┼───────────────┐
              ▼               ▼               ▼
     ┌────────────┐   ┌────────────┐   ┌────────────┐
     │ Provision  │   │  Network   │   │  Security  │
     │  Droplets  │   │ Architect  │   │  Auditor   │
     └────────────┘   └────────────┘   └────────────┘
              │               │               │
              ▼               ▼               ▼
     ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
     │              Core Skills Layer                  │
     │  ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────────┐   │
     │  │   VPC    │ │ Firewall │ │ SSH Keys     │   │
     │  └──────────┘ └──────────┘ └──────────────┘   │
     │  ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────────┐   │
     │  │   DNS    │ │ Load Bal │ │ Hardening    │   │
     │  └──────────┘ └──────────┘ └──────────────┘   │
     └────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                              │
                              ▼
     ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
     │           DigitalOcean MCP Tools               │
     └────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Using With or Without MCP

This plugin works in two modes:

With MCP (Recommended)

Install the official DigitalOcean MCP server for the cleanest experience:

claude mcp add digitalocean-mcp \
  -e DIGITALOCEAN_API_TOKEN=$DIGITALOCEAN_API_TOKEN \
  -- npx @digitalocean/mcp --services droplets,vpcs,firewalls,domains

Skills will use MCP tools like droplet-create, firewall-list, etc.

Without MCP

If you prefer not to install MCP, skills use direct API calls via curl. Just set your API token:

export DIGITALOCEAN_API_TOKEN=your-token-here

Each skill includes both MCP commands and API fallback examples.

Philosophy

These skills are opinionated playbooks, not documentation replicas:

• They make decisions — VPC by default, defense-in-depth security patterns
• They generate configurations — Firewall rules, load balancer specs, CIDR blocks
• They guide workflows — Audit → Remediate → Verify cycles
• They never handle credentials directly — Environment variables only

Key principle: Skills contain DigitalOcean-specific knowledge that complements MCP tools, turning API calls into production-ready infrastructure.

Credential Safety

All skills follow this priority for credentials:

1. Environment Variables — DIGITALOCEAN_API_TOKEN from .env or shell
2. Claude Code Settings — Configured via Claude Code MCP settings
3. Never hardcoded — Skills never store, log, or expose credentials

See .env.example for configuration guidance.

Droplets

• droplet-create, droplet-delete, droplet-get, droplet-list
• droplet-reboot, droplet-rename, droplet-resize
• droplet-power-on, droplet-power-off, droplet-shutdown
• droplet-snapshot, droplet-enable-backups, droplet-disable-backups

Firewalls

• firewall-create, firewall-delete, firewall-get, firewall-list
• firewall-add-rules, firewall-remove-rules
• firewall-add-droplets, firewall-remove-droplets

Load Balancers

• load-balancer-create, load-balancer-delete, load-balancer-get, load-balancer-list
• load-balancer-update, load-balancer-add-droplets, load-balancer-remove-droplets

VPCs

• vpc-create, vpc-delete, vpc-get, vpc-list
• vpc-peering-create, vpc-peering-delete, vpc-peering-list

DNS

• domain-create, domain-delete, domain-get, domain-list
• domain-record-create, domain-record-delete, domain-record-edit, domain-record-list

Certificates

• certificate-lets-encrypt-create, certificate-custom-create
• certificate-delete, certificate-list

SSH Keys

• ssh-key-create, ssh-key-delete, ssh-key-get, ssh-key-list

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please see CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines on:

• Adding new skills
• Improving existing workflows
• Reporting issues
• Submitting pull requests

Roadmap

• v1.1: App Platform and Managed Databases skills
• v1.2: Kubernetes (DOKS) cluster management
• v1.3: Monitoring and automation skills

Resources

• DigitalOcean API Documentation
• DigitalOcean MCP Server
• Claude Code Documentation
• DigitalOcean Size Slugs

License

MIT License - see LICENSE for details.

Author

Nolan Hu (@iamnolanhu)