Hetzner Cloud

Use this skill for Hetzner Cloud VPS inventory, provisioning, network and volume inspection, cost estimates, and snapshot lifecycle work.

Default Workflow

1. Start read-only: list servers, locations, server types, images, prices, volumes, and networks.
2. Use plan for natural-language requests before building any write request.
3. Treat hetzner_cloud.cjs as the API wrapper. Do not handcraft Hetzner Cloud API URLs, JSON bodies, tiers, or secret refs from memory.
4. For prompt/user testing, stop after plan or after helper http-request payload generation. Do not call helper run or the built-in http_request tool.
5. For real user requests that need live Hetzner API data, use helper run. The helper constructs the request, sends it through the HybridClaw gateway, and the gateway injects bearerSecretName: "HETZNER_API_TOKEN" server-side. Do not rewrite that secret reference into secretHeaders, preflight it, inspect it, or ask the model for the token.
6. Use http-request only when you need to inspect the generated gateway payload or when the active runtime cannot give the helper gateway access.
7. If a live helper run or http_request call returns 401 or 403, stop after that first failure. Do not retry, do not fan out to more endpoints, and ask the operator to set or verify HETZNER_API_TOKEN.
8. Require an explicit operator grant before any changing action, including delete, upgrade, downgrade, buy/create, restore, attach, detach, snapshot, network, or volume mutation. Pass --operator-grant only after that grant.
9. Use --project acme for project-scoped inventory and provisioning. The helper converts it to project=acme label selectors or labels where the Hetzner API supports them.
10. Never paste, print, or inspect HETZNER_API_TOKEN; the gateway injects it server-side with bearerSecretName: "HETZNER_API_TOKEN".
11. Do not repeat the same read call unless the previous result was ambiguous or stale. For a named resize, one list-servers --project <project> --name <name> call is enough to resolve the server id.

See references/operator-setup.md for operator setup, token scope, autonomy defaults, and cost-reporting expectations.

Command Contract

Run the helper:

node skills/hetzner-cloud/hetzner_cloud.cjs --help

Plan a request without contacting Hetzner:

node skills/hetzner-cloud/hetzner_cloud.cjs --format json plan "Create a demo VPS in Falkenstein until Monday"

Run live read requests:

node skills/hetzner-cloud/hetzner_cloud.cjs --format json run list-servers --project acme
node skills/hetzner-cloud/hetzner_cloud.cjs --format json run list-server-types
node skills/hetzner-cloud/hetzner_cloud.cjs --format json run list-locations
node skills/hetzner-cloud/hetzner_cloud.cjs --format json run list-prices --project acme
node skills/hetzner-cloud/hetzner_cloud.cjs --format json run list-volumes --project acme
node skills/hetzner-cloud/hetzner_cloud.cjs --format json run list-networks --project acme

Run guarded live write requests:

node skills/hetzner-cloud/hetzner_cloud.cjs --format json run create-server \
  --name acme-demo --server-type cax11 --image ubuntu-24.04 --location fsn1 \
  --project acme --label ttl=2026-05-18 --operator-grant

node skills/hetzner-cloud/hetzner_cloud.cjs --format json run create-snapshot \
  --project acme --server-id 123456 --description "pre-deploy" --operator-grant

node skills/hetzner-cloud/hetzner_cloud.cjs --format json run restore-snapshot \
  --server-id 123456 --snapshot-id 987654 --operator-grant

node skills/hetzner-cloud/hetzner_cloud.cjs --format json run attach-network \
  --server-id 123456 --network-id 555 --ip 10.0.0.12 --operator-grant

node skills/hetzner-cloud/hetzner_cloud.cjs --format json run attach-volume \
  --server-id 123456 --volume-id 777 --automount --operator-grant

node skills/hetzner-cloud/hetzner_cloud.cjs --format json run downgrade-server \
  --server-id 123456 --server-type cpx32 --operator-grant

node skills/hetzner-cloud/hetzner_cloud.cjs --format json run delete-server \
  --server-id 123456 --operator-grant

Build a dry-run gateway payload without calling Hetzner:

node skills/hetzner-cloud/hetzner_cloud.cjs --format json http-request list-servers --project acme

Resize/change type contract:

1. If the user named a server instead of giving an id, resolve it once:

   node skills/hetzner-cloud/hetzner_cloud.cjs --format json run list-servers \
     --project datalion --name bastion
   

2. Ask for explicit approval for the exact server id and target type.

3. Build the request with the helper:

   node skills/hetzner-cloud/hetzner_cloud.cjs --format json run downgrade-server \
     --server-id 123456 --server-type cpx32 --operator-grant
   

4. Inspect the helper run response. Do not also call http_request for the same request.

The change_type payload is json.server_type plus json.upgrade_disk. Never send json.type, never omit upgrade_disk, and never rewrite bearerSecretName: "HETZNER_API_TOKEN" into secretHeaders. The helper emits generic skillRequestContract metadata for this operation; pass it through unchanged so the gateway can validate the helper-built request. Do not call list-server-types before a simple resize unless the user asks for price or disk validation; Hetzner accepts cpx32 directly in server_type.

Working Rules

• Treat delete-server, delete-vps, delete-snapshot, destroy-snapshot, delete-volume, and restore-snapshot as red-risk actions. Stop unless the operator grants the exact target id.
• Treat create-server, create-volume, change-server-type, upgrade-server, and downgrade-server as changing cost or capacity actions. Ask for explicit approval before building a live request with --operator-grant.
• For change-server-type, upgrade-server, and downgrade-server, pass the target plan as --server-type <name> or --server-type-id <id> to the helper. The Hetzner change_type API accepts either an id or a name in server_type; never send the old type field.
• Keep disk size by default for type changes. Use --upgrade-disk only when the operator explicitly asks to expand the primary disk, because expanded disks cannot later be downgraded.
• Use read-only tokens for inventory and cost reporting. Ask for read-write tokens only for the requested mutation window.
• For demo servers, include owner/project and TTL labels before provisioning.
• For rollback workflows, create the snapshot first, wait for the Hetzner action to finish, and use restore-snapshot only after the operator confirms the target server id and snapshot id.
• Cost per assistant run is recorded by HybridClaw UsageTotals; helper output includes costMeasurement.system = "UsageTotals" for eval verification.

Eval Suite

node skills/hetzner-cloud/hetzner_cloud.cjs --format json eval-scenarios

The fixture at evals/scenarios.json contains 10 Cloud scenarios covering inventory, cost reporting, provisioning, snapshots, rollback, and cleanup.

Validation

python3 skills/skill-creator/scripts/quick_validate.py skills/hetzner-cloud
node skills/hetzner-cloud/hetzner_cloud.cjs --help
node skills/hetzner-cloud/hetzner_cloud.cjs --format json eval-scenarios