Cachet Management Skill

Manage and analyze components, incidents, metrics, and subscribers in Cachet.

API Conventions

Authentication

All API calls use the X-Cachet-Token: $CACHET_API_KEY header. Never hardcode tokens.

Base URL

$CACHET_URL/api/v1 (self-hosted, set via environment variable)

Core Helper Function

#!/bin/bash

cachet_api() {
    local method="$1"
    local endpoint="$2"
    local data="${3:-}"

    if [ -n "$data" ]; then
        curl -s -X "$method" \
            -H "X-Cachet-Token: $CACHET_API_KEY" \
            -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
            "${CACHET_URL}/api/v1${endpoint}" \
            -d "$data"
    else
        curl -s -X "$method" \
            -H "X-Cachet-Token: $CACHET_API_KEY" \
            -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
            "${CACHET_URL}/api/v1${endpoint}"
    fi
}

Output Rules

• TOKEN EFFICIENCY: Extract only needed fields with jq
• Target <=50 lines per script output
• Never dump full API responses

Discovery Phase

List Components

#!/bin/bash
echo "=== Components ==="
cachet_api GET "/components?per_page=25" \
    | jq -r '.data[] | "\(.status_name)\t\(.name)\t\(.group.name // "ungrouped")"' | column -t

echo ""
echo "=== Component Groups ==="
cachet_api GET "/components/groups" \
    | jq -r '.data[] | "\(.name)\t\(.enabled_components | length) components"' | column -t

Active Incidents

#!/bin/bash
echo "=== Active Incidents ==="
cachet_api GET "/incidents?sort=id&order=desc&per_page=20" \
    | jq -r '.data[] | select(.status < 4) | "\(.created_at[0:16])\t\(.human_status)\t\(.name[0:60])"' \
    | column -t

echo ""
echo "=== Scheduled Maintenance ==="
cachet_api GET "/schedules" \
    | jq -r '.data[] | "\(.scheduled_at[0:16])\t\(.status_name)\t\(.name[0:50])"' | column -t

Analysis Phase

Component Health Overview

#!/bin/bash
echo "=== Component Status Summary ==="
cachet_api GET "/components?per_page=100" \
    | jq -r '.data[] | .status_name' | sort | uniq -c | sort -rn

echo ""
echo "=== Components Not Operational ==="
cachet_api GET "/components?per_page=100" \
    | jq -r '.data[] | select(.status != 1) | "\(.status_name)\t\(.name)\t\(.updated_at[0:16])"' | column -t

echo ""
echo "=== Metrics ==="
cachet_api GET "/metrics" \
    | jq -r '.data[] | "\(.name)\t\(.default_value)\t\(.calc_type_name)"' | column -t

Incident Detail

#!/bin/bash
INCIDENT_ID="${1:?Incident ID required}"

echo "=== Incident Details ==="
cachet_api GET "/incidents/${INCIDENT_ID}" \
    | jq '.data | {id, name, human_status, message: .message[0:200], created_at, updated_at}'

echo ""
echo "=== Incident Updates ==="
cachet_api GET "/incidents/${INCIDENT_ID}/updates" \
    | jq -r '.data[] | "\(.created_at[0:16])\t\(.human_status)\t\(.message[0:80])"' | column -t

Output Format

• Use tab-separated columns with column -t
• Limit lists to 15-25 items
• Show summaries before details

Anti-Hallucination Rules

1. NEVER assume resource names — always discover via CLI/API in Phase 1 before referencing in Phase 2.
2. NEVER fabricate metric names or dimensions — verify against the service documentation or --help output.
3. NEVER mix CLI commands between service versions — confirm which version/API you are targeting.
4. ALWAYS use the discovery → verify → analyze chain — every resource referenced must have been discovered first.
5. ALWAYS handle empty results gracefully — an empty response is valid data, not an error to retry.

Counter-Rationalizations

Shortcut	Counter	Why
"I'll skip discovery and check known resources"	Always run Phase 1 discovery first	Resource names change, new resources appear — assumed names cause errors
"The user only asked for a quick check"	Follow the full discovery → analysis flow	Quick checks miss critical issues; structured analysis catches silent failures
"Default configuration is probably fine"	Audit configuration explicitly	Defaults often leave logging, security, and optimization features disabled
"Metrics aren't needed for this"	Always check relevant metrics when available	API/CLI responses show current state; metrics reveal trends and intermittent issues
"I don't have access to that"	Try the command and report the actual error	Assumed permission failures prevent useful investigation; actual errors are informative

Common Pitfalls

• Self-hosted: Base URL varies per installation -- always use $CACHET_URL env variable
• Component status codes: 1=Operational, 2=Performance Issues, 3=Partial Outage, 4=Major Outage
• Incident status codes: 1=Investigating, 2=Identified, 3=Watching, 4=Fixed
• Pagination: Use per_page and page parameters, check meta.pagination for total pages
• Metrics: Metric points are time-series data -- use /metrics/{id}/points for values