Hypothesis Generation
spacering-net/codeg
Structured hypothesis formulation from observations. An agent skill from spacering-net/codeg.
Instructions for handling API keys and credentials safely, verifying their presence, and prompting the user to add them if missing using a safe protocol.
Install Credentials
$ npx skills add google-deepmind/science-skills --skill credentials -a claude-codeProject install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.
$ gh skill install google-deepmind/science-skills credentials --agent claude-codeProject scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/google-deepmind/science-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/credentials .claude/skills/credentials && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.
Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/
Install the "credentials" agent skill from https://github.com/google-deepmind/science-skills/tree/main/skills/credentials into .claude/skills/credentials/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "credentials", then confirm the skill loads.Claude Code copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$skill-installer install https://github.com/google-deepmind/science-skills/tree/main/skills/credentialsType this inside Codex. $skill-installer <name> installs a curated skill from openai/skills. The installer writes to $CODEX_HOME/skills (default ~/.codex/skills). Restart Codex if the skill does not show up.
$ npx skills add google-deepmind/science-skills --skill credentials -a codexProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.codex/skills/.
$ gh skill install google-deepmind/science-skills credentials --agent codexProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/google-deepmind/science-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .agents/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/credentials .agents/skills/credentials && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.agents/skills/ instead of .agents/skills for a personal install.
Codex skills documentation · loads skills from .agents/skills/
Install the "credentials" agent skill from https://github.com/google-deepmind/science-skills/tree/main/skills/credentials into .agents/skills/credentials/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "credentials", then confirm the skill loads.Codex copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$ npx skills add google-deepmind/science-skills --skill credentials -a cursorProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.cursor/skills/.
$ gh skill install google-deepmind/science-skills credentials --agent cursorProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/google-deepmind/science-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .cursor/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/credentials .cursor/skills/credentials && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.cursor/skills/ instead of .cursor/skills for a personal install.
Cursor skills documentation · loads skills from .cursor/skills/, .agents/skills/, .claude/skills/, .codex/skills/
Install the "credentials" agent skill from https://github.com/google-deepmind/science-skills/tree/main/skills/credentials into .cursor/skills/credentials/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "credentials", then confirm the skill loads.Cursor copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$ gemini skills install https://github.com/google-deepmind/science-skills.git --path skills/credentials--scope user (default) or --scope workspace; --path is the subfolder of the repo that holds the skill; --consent skips the security confirmation prompt.
$ npx skills add google-deepmind/science-skills --skill credentials -a gemini-cliProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.gemini/skills/.
$ gh skill install google-deepmind/science-skills credentials --agent gemini-cliProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/google-deepmind/science-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .gemini/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/credentials .gemini/skills/credentials && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.gemini/skills/ instead of .gemini/skills for a personal install, then run /skills reload.
Gemini CLI skills documentation · loads skills from .gemini/skills/, .agents/skills/
Install the "credentials" agent skill from https://github.com/google-deepmind/science-skills/tree/main/skills/credentials into .gemini/skills/credentials/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "credentials", then confirm the skill loads.Gemini CLI copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$ gh skill install google-deepmind/science-skills credentialsInstalls for Copilot at project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Preview a skill first with gh skill preview. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).
$ npx skills add google-deepmind/science-skills --skill credentials -a github-copilotProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.copilot/skills/.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/google-deepmind/science-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .github/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/credentials .github/skills/credentials && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.copilot/skills/ instead of .github/skills for a personal install. Commit .github/skills so cloud agent and code review can use it.
GitHub Copilot skills documentation · loads skills from .github/skills/, .claude/skills/, .agents/skills/
Install the "credentials" agent skill from https://github.com/google-deepmind/science-skills/tree/main/skills/credentials into .github/skills/credentials/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "credentials", then confirm the skill loads.GitHub Copilot copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$ npx skills add google-deepmind/science-skills --skill credentials -a opencodeOpenCode documents no install command of its own. Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.config/opencode/skills/.
$ gh skill install google-deepmind/science-skills credentials --agent opencodeProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/google-deepmind/science-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .opencode/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/credentials .opencode/skills/credentials && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.config/opencode/skills/ instead of .opencode/skills for a personal install.
OpenCode skills documentation · loads skills from .opencode/skills/, .claude/skills/, .agents/skills/
Install the "credentials" agent skill from https://github.com/google-deepmind/science-skills/tree/main/skills/credentials into .opencode/skills/credentials/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "credentials", then confirm the skill loads.OpenCode copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
Facts
- Skill name
credentials- GitHub stars
- 3.2k
- Token cost
- ~1k tokens
- SKILL.md length
- 573 words
- Files
- 1
- Skills in repo
- 40
- Repo updated
- First seen
- Licence
- Apache-2.0
At a glance
Instructions for handling API keys and credentials safely, verifying their presence, and prompting the user to add them if missing using a safe protocol.
- Research & Science work in your project
- SKILL.md covers Safe Verification (No Leaks), Prompting the User to Add… and Running scripts requiring…
- Needs ALPHAGENOME_API_KEY
What it does
Credentials is an agent skill from google-deepmind/science-skills. Instructions for handling API keys and credentials safely, verifying their presence, and prompting the user to add them if missing using a safe protocol.
Its SKILL.md is about 1k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. It is a single SKILL.md file with no bundled scripts.
It sits in Research & Science. The repository describes itself as: GDM Science Skills to speed up agentic scientific workflows with better grounding and higher token efficiency. Integrate insights from AlphaGenome, AFDB, UniProt and 30+ other… The licence is Apache-2.0.
When your agent uses it
- Research & Science work in your project
Example prompts
- “Use the credentials skill to instruction for handling API keys and credentials safely, verifying their presence, and prompting the user to add them…”
- “/credentials”
Requirements
- A credential in ALPHAGENOME_API_KEY
What it can do on your machine
Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 6883275. 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 bash).
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 these keys or tokens, usually read from environment variables:
ALPHAGENOME_API_KEY
From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.
Context cost
Credentials loads about 1k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 41 tokens; SKILL.md has 573 words of instructions outside code blocks.
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
Auto-check: notes
The automated check noted patterns worth knowing about, such as sudo or a known installer.
- NoteMentions a .env fileSKILL.md:19
the `.env` file (typically located in your home directory `~/.env` or the - NoteMentions a .env fileSKILL.md:28
defined in `~/.env`. The `-s` flag ensures the command works cleanly even if - NoteMentions a .env fileSKILL.md:29
`~/.env` does not exist yet. - NoteMentions a .env fileSKILL.md:32
grep -sq "^CREDENTIAL_NAME=" ~/.env - NoteMentions a .env fileSKILL.md:41
missing or the `.env` file does not exist yet), the credential is missing. - NoteMentions a .env fileSKILL.md:53
> `.env` file if it does not already exist. - NoteMentions a .env fileSKILL.md:55
**NEVER** run `cat ~/.env`, `grep "VAR" ~/.env` (without `-q`), `echo $VAR`, or - NoteMentions a .env fileSKILL.md:70
` with the resolved literal path to the `.env` file (usually - NoteMentions a .env fileSKILL.md:71
`~/.env`). - NoteMentions a .env fileSKILL.md:89
automatically from the `.env` file using `dotenv`.
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 google-deepmind/science-skills at commit 6883275, republished under its Apache-2.0 licence (© google-deepmind). 573 words, ~1,039 tokens.
Download SKILL.mdSave it as
.claude/skills/credentials/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).- name
- credentials
- description
- Instructions for handling API keys and credentials safely, verifying their presence, and prompting the user to add them if missing using a safe protocol.
Safe Credentials Protocol
Many skills require API keys or other credentials to function or to access higher rate limits. This skill defines the standard safe credentials protocol for verifying and prompting for these credentials without leaking sensitive keys into the agent context or the conversation history.
Safe Verification (No Leaks)
As soon as a skill that requires a credential or API key looks relevant to the
user's request, you MUST immediately verify if the credential is present in
the .env file (typically located in your home directory ~/.env or the
project root) — before doing any other work for that skill.
CRITICAL: You must verify the presence of the credential without printing its value to the terminal or reading it into your context.
How to verify:
Use grep in quiet and suppress-errors mode (-sq) to check if the variable is
defined in ~/.env. The -s flag ensures the command works cleanly even if
~/.env does not exist yet.
grep -sq "^CREDENTIAL_NAME=" ~/.envReplace CREDENTIAL_NAME with the actual credential name required by the
calling skill (e.g., ALPHAGENOME_API_KEY or USER_EMAIL).
- If the command succeeds (exit code 0), the credential is present. You can proceed.
- If the command fails (any non-zero exit code — whether the credential is
missing or the
.envfile does not exist yet), the credential is missing. You MUST IMMEDIATELY stop and prompt the user to add it using the instructions in Prompting the User to Add Credentials before attempting to run any scripts or tools. Do not conclude the turn by simply stating that the key is missing.
[!CRITICAL] If verification fails (any non-zero exit code), you MUST NOT attempt to execute any tools or scripts from the calling skill, nor should you conclude the turn by simply reporting the missing key. You MUST IMMEDIATELY generate the appropriate terminal command from the templates below and prompt the user to run it. The template command will create the
.envfile if it does not already exist.
NEVER run cat ~/.env, grep "VAR" ~/.env (without -q), echo $VAR, or
printenv to check for credentials.
Show full SKILL.md (235 more words)Show less
Prompting the User to Add Credentials
If a credential is missing, do NOT ask the user to paste it into the chat. This would leak the value into the agent's context and the conversation history.
Instead, you MUST generate a specific command for the user to run in their terminal by replacing the placeholders in one of the templates below.
CRITICAL: Before presenting the command to the user, you MUST replace:
CREDENTIAL_NAMEwith the actual variable name needed (e.g.,ALPHAGENOME_API_KEY,USER_EMAIL).ENV_FILEwith the resolved literal path to the.envfile (usually~/.env).
Template
All credentials are treated as sensitive. The read -s flag hides the user's
typing. You MUST inform the user that their typing will be hidden.
CRITICAL: When requesting a credential, you MUST also provide the user with the appropriate registration link or instructions provided by the calling skill so they know how to obtain the value if they do not have one.
printf "Enter CREDENTIAL_NAME (typing hidden): " && read -s val && echo && echo "CREDENTIAL_NAME=$val" >> "ENV_FILE" && echo "Saved."Running scripts requiring credentials
All helper scripts inside the calling skills load these credentials
automatically from the .env file using dotenv.
You do NOT need to manually read the keys, export them to the shell
environment, or pass them as CLI arguments, when calling the helper scripts that
require them. As long as you have verified the key is present in .env using
the safe protocol above, simply run the script directly — the script will load
the credential automatically.
© google-deepmind, 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
Just SKILL.md in skills/credentials of google-deepmind/science-skills.
Open the folder on GitHubat commit 6883275
Compare with similar skills
Credentials next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.
| Skill | Stars | Used in | Tokens | Auto-check | Licence | Repo updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Credentials this skillgoogle-deepmind/science-skills | 3.2k | — | ~1k | Automated safety check: Notes | Apache-2.0 | |
| Hypothesis Generationspacering-net/codeg | 3.8k | 15 repos | ~3.6k | Automated safety check: Notes | MIT | |
| GitHub Deep Researchbytedance/deer-flow | 83k | 5 repos | ~1.3k | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT | |
| Nature Paper CardYuan1z0825/nature-skills | 46k | 2 repos | ~2.1k | Automated safety check: Pass | Apache-2.0 | |
| Read arXiv Paperkarpathy/nanochat | 58k | 2 repos | ~494 | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT | |
| Content Research Writerweapp-tailwindcss/weapp-tailwindcss | 1.9k | 25 repos | ~3.5k | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT |
Similar skills
GitHub Deep Research
bytedance/deer-flow
Researches a GitHub repository over four rounds using the GitHub API and web search, then writes a structured markdown report with timeline, metrics and Mermaid diagrams.
Nature Paper Card
Yuan1z0825/nature-skills
Builds a structured deep-reading card for one scientific paper, covering methods, how experiments support claims, limitations and research ideas, with a script to prepare the source.
Read arXiv Paper
karpathy/nanochat
Fetches the TeX source of an arXiv paper from its URL, reads it and writes a markdown summary tied to the nanochat project.
Content Research Writer
weapp-tailwindcss/weapp-tailwindcss
Assists in writing high-quality content by conducting research, adding citations, improving hooks, iterating on outlines, and providing real-time feedback on each section.
Peer Review
spacering-net/codeg
Structured manuscript/grant review with checklist-based evaluation.
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Related
Categories
Questions about Credentials
What does Credentials do?
Instructions for handling API keys and credentials safely, verifying their presence, and prompting the user to add them if missing using a safe protocol. Credentials is an agent skill from google-deepmind/science-skills. Instructions for handling API keys and credentials safely, verifying their presence, and prompting the user to add them if missing using a safe protocol.
When should I use Credentials?
Credentials fits situations like: research & Science work in your project.
How do I install Credentials in Claude Code?
Run `npx skills add google-deepmind/science-skills --skill credentials -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/credentials in google-deepmind/science-skills) into .claude/skills/credentials in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.
How do I install Credentials in Codex?
Run `npx skills add google-deepmind/science-skills --skill credentials -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/credentials in google-deepmind/science-skills) into .agents/skills/credentials in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.
Can I use Credentials in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?
Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add google-deepmind/science-skills --skill credentials -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/credentials, .gemini/skills/credentials, .github/skills/credentials and .opencode/skills/credentials in your project.
What does Credentials need to run?
Going by SKILL.md and its folder, Credentials needs credentials named ALPHAGENOME_API_KEY. Our summary lists: A credential in ALPHAGENOME_API_KEY.
Does Credentials access the network?
SKILL.md contains no URLs. Any network use would come from the scripts or tools the agent runs. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.
Is Credentials safe to install?
Our automated static check of SKILL.md found notes only (mentions a .env file), nothing it rates as a warning. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.
What licence does Credentials use?
Credentials is published under the Apache-2.0 licence (the repository's licence). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.
How many tokens does Credentials use?
About 1k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 4.2k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full.
What are the alternatives to Credentials?
Skills that share tags, products or a category with Credentials: Hypothesis Generation (spacering-net/codeg, 3.8k stars), GitHub Deep Research (bytedance/deer-flow, 83k stars), Nature Paper Card (Yuan1z0825/nature-skills, 46k stars) and Read arXiv Paper (karpathy/nanochat, 58k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.
Who maintains Credentials?
google-deepmind (a GitHub organization) maintains it in google-deepmind/science-skills, which has 3,216 GitHub stars. The repository holds 40 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on September 15, 2026.
Source: google-deepmind/science-skills on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.