Smart App Launch

What it does

When your agent uses it

• Implementing FHIR app authorization
• EHR launch sequences
• Standalone app launch
• Backend services authentication

Example prompts

• “SMART on FHIR”
• “EHR launch”
• “standalone launch”
• “/smart-app-launch”

Workflow steps

5 steps, taken from the step headings in SKILL.md.

1. 1Discover server capabilities
2. 2Choose client authentication
3. 3Request authorization
4. 4Exchange code for tokens
5. 5Access FHIR resources

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 http).

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

• Network

  No URLs in SKILL.md.

  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

Smart App Launch loads about 1.3k tokens when it runs, and up to ~13k if it reads all its reference files. Until then it costs about 147 tokens; SKILL.md has 374 words of instructions outside code blocks.

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

~147

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

~1.3k

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

~13k

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). 374 words, ~1,328 tokens.

name

smart-app-launch

description

Expert guidance for implementing SMART App Launch (HL7 FHIR specification for OAuth 2.0-based authorization). Use this skill when implementing FHIR app authorization, EHR launch sequences, standalone app launch, backend services authentication, SMART scopes, token handling, or capability discovery. Trigger keywords include "SMART", "SMART on FHIR", "EHR launch", "standalone launch", "FHIR authorization", "FHIR OAuth", "backend services", "system scopes", "patient scopes", "fhirUser", ".well-known/smart-configuration", "PKCE", "client_credentials", "launch context".

GET {fhir-base}/Patient/123
Authorization: Bearer {access_token}

patient/Observation.rs     # Read + search patient observations
user/Appointment.cruds     # Full access to user's appointments
system/Patient.rs          # Backend service read/search all patients
launch/patient             # Request patient context at launch
openid fhirUser            # Get user identity via OIDC
offline_access             # Request refresh token

© 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 6 other files (references) in .claude/skills/smart-app-launch of aehrc/pathling.

• SKILL.md
• references/app-launch.md
• references/backend-services.md
• references/capability-discovery.md
• references/client-authentication.md
• references/scopes.md
• references/security.md

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 56a3b4a