HashiCorp Agent Skills — Install & Live Demo

Name: HashiCorp Agent Skills (Claude Skill)
Author: hashicorp

Why use it

Key features

Terraform: module conventions, provider selection, plan review
Vault: policy authoring, secret rotation flows
Nomad job spec scaffolding
Consul service mesh patterns
Pulled from HashiCorp's own published guidance

Live Demo

What it looks like in practice

hashicorp-agent-skills.replay ▶ ready

0/0

Install

Pick your client

~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json · Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "hashicorp-agent-skills": {
      "command": "git",
      "args": [
        "clone",
        "https://github.com/hashicorp/agent-skills",
        "~/.claude/skills/agent-skills"
      ],
      "_inferred": true
    }
  }
}

Open Claude Desktop → Settings → Developer → Edit Config. Restart after saving.

~/.cursor/mcp.json · .cursor/mcp.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "hashicorp-agent-skills": {
      "command": "git",
      "args": [
        "clone",
        "https://github.com/hashicorp/agent-skills",
        "~/.claude/skills/agent-skills"
      ],
      "_inferred": true
    }
  }
}

Cursor uses the same mcpServers schema as Claude Desktop. Project config wins over global.

VS Code → Cline → MCP Servers → Edit

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "hashicorp-agent-skills": {
      "command": "git",
      "args": [
        "clone",
        "https://github.com/hashicorp/agent-skills",
        "~/.claude/skills/agent-skills"
      ],
      "_inferred": true
    }
  }
}

Click the MCP Servers icon in the Cline sidebar, then "Edit Configuration".

~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "hashicorp-agent-skills": {
      "command": "git",
      "args": [
        "clone",
        "https://github.com/hashicorp/agent-skills",
        "~/.claude/skills/agent-skills"
      ],
      "_inferred": true
    }
  }
}

Same shape as Claude Desktop. Restart Windsurf to pick up changes.

~/.continue/config.json

{
  "mcpServers": [
    {
      "name": "hashicorp-agent-skills",
      "command": "git",
      "args": [
        "clone",
        "https://github.com/hashicorp/agent-skills",
        "~/.claude/skills/agent-skills"
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Continue uses an array of server objects rather than a map.

~/.config/zed/settings.json

{
  "context_servers": {
    "hashicorp-agent-skills": {
      "command": {
        "path": "git",
        "args": [
          "clone",
          "https://github.com/hashicorp/agent-skills",
          "~/.claude/skills/agent-skills"
        ]
      }
    }
  }
}

Add to context_servers. Zed hot-reloads on save.

claude mcp add hashicorp-agent-skills -- git clone https://github.com/hashicorp/agent-skills ~/.claude/skills/agent-skills

One-liner. Verify with claude mcp list. Remove with claude mcp remove.

Use Cases

Real-world ways to use HashiCorp Agent Skills

Author a reusable Terraform module the HashiCorp way

👤 Platform engineers ⏱ ~15 min intermediate

When to use: You want a module that won't get torched in code review.

Prerequisites

Server/skill installed and authenticated — See repo README

Flow

Scaffold

Use the HashiCorp Terraform skill to scaffold a module for an AWS RDS Postgres with backups and CMK encryption.✓ Copied

→ Module skeleton with variables, outputs, README, examples/
Validate

Run tflint and the skill's checklist. Fix anything that fails.✓ Copied

→ Clean tflint + checklist green

Outcome: Module that matches HashiCorp's published conventions.

Pitfalls

Versions drift fast. Re-pull the skill quarterly — Versions drift fast. Re-pull the skill quarterly — provider major versions change argument names.

Cost & Limits

What this costs to run

API quota: See provider docs for rate limits
Tokens per call: Varies by tool
Monetary: See repo README for pricing details
Tip: Cache tool results and avoid repeated identical calls.

Security

Permissions, secrets, blast radius

Credential storage: Use environment variables; never commit secrets

Data egress: Tool calls go to the provider's API as documented

Troubleshooting

Common errors and fixes

skill references deprecated argument

Update the skill (git pull in ~/.claude/skills/hashicorp-agent-skills) and re-read its docs.

Verify: git log --oneline | head

provider version conflict

The skill suggests required_providers blocks; align your root module to the same major version.

Verify: terraform init succeeds

Alternatives

HashiCorp Agent Skills vs others

Alternative	When to use it instead	Tradeoff
Generic Terraform examples	You want community modules instead of authoring	No authoring guidance

More

Resources

📖 Read the official README on GitHub

🐙 Browse open issues

🔍 Browse all 400+ MCP servers and Skills