Using the Augrented Agent Skill

Category: Getting Started
Read time: 4 minutes

The Augrented Agent Skill gives your coding agent instructions on how to use the Augrented MCP server effectively — what tools to call, in what order, which datasets names to use, what parcel ID formats each city expects, and how to handle edge cases (ambiguous addresses, abbreviated street suffixes, multi-address buildings).

Instead of your agent guessing the right way to query NYC's BBL system or Austin's TCAD parcel IDs, the skill packages that domain knowledge directly into your agent's workflow.

What the skill does

The augrented-buildings skill teaches your agent:

How to search buildings in each city (BBL for NYC, block-lot for SF, APN for LA, GEO ID for Austin)
Which dataset_name values are valid for each city's get_building_records tool
How to parse and present building profiles — risk forecast, violations, ownership, permits
How to handle edge cases: abbreviated street suffixes, Queens hyphenated house numbers, multi-address buildings
How to rank and compare landlord portfolios

Supported cities: NYC, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Austin.

Supported coding agents

The npx skills CLI supports installation to 67+ coding agents, including:

Agent	`--agent` flag value
Claude Code	`claude-code`
Codex CLI	`codex`
OpenCode	`opencode`
Cursor	`cursor`
Windsurf	`windsurf`
GitHub Copilot	`copilot`
Cline	`cline`
Roo Code	`roo-code`

The CLI auto-detects which agents you have installed. If none are detected, you'll be prompted to select agents interactively.

Installation

Quick install (interactive)

npx skills add augrented/augrented-rental-research

This fetches the skill package from GitHub, detects your installed coding agents, and prompts which ones to install to.

GitHub shorthand

npx skills add augrented/augrented-rental-research

This is equivalent to the full URL form:

npx skills add https://github.com/augrented/augrented-rental-research

Install a specific skill by name

The repo contains one skill (named augrented-buildings). Install it explicitly:

npx skills add augrented/augrented-rental-research --skill augrented-buildings

Install all skills to all agents (non-interactive)

npx skills add augrented/augrented-rental-research --all

Global install (user-level)

By default, npx skills add installs to the project directory (e.g., .claude/skills/ in your project). Use the -g (global) flag to install to your home directory instead (e.g., ~/.claude/skills/):

npx skills add augrented/augrented-rental-research -g

Target a specific agent

# Single agent
npx skills add augrented/augrented-rental-research -a claude-code

# Multiple agents
npx skills add augrented/augrented-rental-research -a claude-code -a cursor

CI/CD (fully non-interactive)

npx skills add augrented/augrented-rental-research \
  --skill augrented-buildings \
  -g \
  -a claude-code \
  -y

Flag	Purpose
`--skill augrented-buildings`	Install only the named skill
`-g`	Global install (to `~/.claude/skills/`)
`-a claude-code`	Target a specific agent
`-y`	Skip all confirmation prompts

Previewing without installing

To see what skills are available in the package without committing to an install:

npx skills add augrented/augrented-rental-research --list

This prints the name and description of each skill in the package without writing anything.

Using a skill without installing

The npx skills use command generates a prompt for one skill and either prints it to stdout or starts an agent with it directly:

# Print the generated prompt (pipe to any agent)
npx skills use augrented/augrented-rental-research

# Use a specific skill from the package
npx skills use augrented/augrented-rental-research \
  --skill augrented-buildings \
  --agent claude-code

Useful for one-off agent sessions where you don't want to install the skill permanently.

Post-install: what changes

After running npx skills add augrented/augrented-rental-research, your agent picks up the skill the next time it starts. The skill adds domain knowledge about Augrented's MCP server to the agent's instruction context, including:

The correct tool-calling order for each city
Parcel ID format requirements per city
Valid dataset_name values for get_building_records
How to handle search ambiguity (abbreviated streets, multiple frontage addresses)
Landlord portfolio ranking conventions

You don't need to install the MCP server separately unless your agent doesn't have the tools available — the skill assumes the Augrented MCP server is already connected. See Using the Augrented MCP API: setup and authentication for server setup instructions.

Verifying the install

Check that the skill was installed with:

# Claude Code
npx skills list -a claude-code

# All agents
npx skills list -g

You should see augrented-buildings in the output.

Troubleshooting

Problem	Fix
"No agents detected"	Run with `-a claude-code` (or your agent) explicitly
Skill doesn't load in agent	Restart the agent. Skills load at startup, not mid-session
"could not find skill"	Pass `--skill augrented-buildings` — the repo uses subdirectories under `skills/`
Agent still doesn't use MCP tools correctly	Check that the Augrented MCP server is connected first (see the MCP setup article), then verify the skill is installed globally with `npx skills list -g`

Using the Augrented MCP API: setup and authentication — Connect your agent to the MCP server itself
Using the NYC building data MCP tools — NYC-specific tool reference
Using the San Francisco building data MCP tools — SF-specific tool reference

Search any address — free for your first 10 buildings.