Fhir Bulk Data

What it does

When your agent uses it

• Implementing bulk data export from FHIR servers
• Building bulk data clients
• Working with the $export operation
• Handling NDJSON output files

Example prompts

• “bulk data”
• “bulk export”
• “$export”
• “/fhir-bulk-data”

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 56a3b4a. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

• Tool permissions

  Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

  From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

• Runs code

  No scripts in the folder and no shell commands in SKILL.md (its code samples are json and http).

  From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

• Network

  Hosts in commands or code, which the agent is likely to contact:

  • hl7.org

  From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

• Credentials

  Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

  From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Fhir Bulk Data loads about 1.8k tokens when it runs, and up to ~5.8k if it reads all its reference files. Until then it costs about 137 tokens; SKILL.md has 356 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it

~137

When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches

~1.8k

With references · SKILL.md plus every file in references/, read only if the agent opens them

~5.8k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from aehrc/pathling at commit 56a3b4a, republished under its Apache-2.0 licence (© aehrc). 356 words, ~1,774 tokens.

name

fhir-bulk-data

description

Expert guidance for implementing FHIR Bulk Data Access (Flat FHIR) following the HL7 specification. Use this skill when implementing bulk data export from FHIR servers, building bulk data clients, working with the $export operation, handling NDJSON output files, implementing asynchronous polling workflows, or integrating with SMART Backend Services authorisation. Trigger keywords include "bulk data", "bulk export", "$export", "NDJSON", "bulk FHIR", "async export", "flat FHIR", "Patient/$export", "Group/$export", "system export".

Client                                    Server
  │                                         │
  │─── POST [endpoint]/$export ───────────►│
  │    Accept: application/fhir+json        │
  │    Prefer: respond-async                │
  │                                         │
  │◄── 202 Accepted ──────────────────────│
  │    Content-Location: [status-url]       │
  │                                         │
  │─── GET [status-url] ──────────────────►│  ─┐
  │◄── 202 Accepted (X-Progress: 50%) ────│   │ Poll until
  │    Retry-After: 120                     │   │ complete
  │                                         │  ─┘
  │─── GET [status-url] ──────────────────►│
  │◄── 200 OK ────────────────────────────│
  │    [Complete manifest JSON]             │
  │                                         │
  │─── GET [file-url] ────────────────────►│  ─┐
  │◄── 200 OK (NDJSON content) ───────────│   │ Download
  │                                         │  ─┘ files
  │─── DELETE [status-url] ───────────────►│
  │◄── 202 Accepted ──────────────────────│

GET [base]/Patient/$export?_type=Patient,Observation,Condition&_since=2024-01-01T00:00:00Z HTTP/1.1
Accept: application/fhir+json
Prefer: respond-async
Authorization: Bearer [token]

POST [base]/Patient/$export HTTP/1.1
Content-Type: application/fhir+json
Accept: application/fhir+json
Prefer: respond-async
Authorization: Bearer [token]

{
  "resourceType": "Parameters",
  "parameter": [
    {"name": "_type", "valueString": "Patient,Observation,Condition"},
    {"name": "_since", "valueInstant": "2024-01-01T00:00:00Z"}
  ]
}

{
    "transactionTime": "2024-06-15T10:30:00Z",
    "request": "[original request URL]",
    "requiresAccessToken": true,
    "output": [
        {
            "type": "Patient",
            "url": "https://example.org/bulk/file1.ndjson",
            "count": 1000
        },
        {
            "type": "Observation",
            "url": "https://example.org/bulk/file2.ndjson",
            "count": 50000
        }
    ],
    "deleted": [],
    "error": [],
    "link": [{ "relation": "next", "url": "[next manifest page]" }]
}

{"resourceType":"Patient","id":"p1","name":[{"family":"Smith"}]}
{"resourceType":"Patient","id":"p2","name":[{"family":"Jones"}]}

{
    "resourceType": "OperationOutcome",
    "issue": [
        {
            "severity": "error",
            "code": "processing",
            "diagnostics": "Export failed: insufficient permissions"
        }
    ]
}

{
    "instantiates": [
        "http://hl7.org/fhir/uv/bulkdata/CapabilityStatement/bulk-data"
    ]
}

© aehrc, Apache-2.0. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

SKILL.md and 2 other files (references) in .claude/skills/fhir-bulk-data of aehrc/pathling.

• SKILL.md
• references/authorization.md
• references/implementation-notes.md

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 56a3b4a

Used in 1 other repository

We found 1 copy of this SKILL.md (exact, near-identical or edited) in other folders, from 1 other GitHub owner. This page covers the copy in aehrc/pathling, which our catalogue first saw on October 7, 2026.

• majiayu000/claude-skill-registryskills/api/fhir-bulk-data