[andrewbartels1]

Agents can now learn how to use the server's tools in three ways: short instructions sent when a client connects, the skill served as MCP resources, or the skill installed into the agent (#175). This also archives the finished tool-descriptions change (#82).

What changed

• A solidworks-mcp skill, shipped in the package at src/solidworks_mcp/skills/solidworks-mcp/. It is a SKILL.md plus four reference files:

  • workflows.md: a part, a revolve, a ring of holes, editing an existing model, an assembly and a drawing.
  • selection-and-units.md: which inputs take metres, plane axes, and choosing faces and edges.
  • errors-and-limits.md: what to do for each error_type, the tools that can't run yet, and the known faults with workarounds.
  • vba-fallback.md: when to write VBA instead.

  I checked every fact against the tool code.

• Server instructions are sent in the MCP initialize response (under 1500 characters). They cover:

  • calling get_model_info first;
  • the build order;
  • the millimetre rule;
  • finishing with verify_model;
  • what "Not available yet" means;
  • where to find the skill.

• The skill served as resources through FastMCP 3.4.9's SkillProvider: skill://solidworks-mcp/SKILL.md, a manifest, and the reference files. Reading them needs no SolidWorks connection.

• solidworks-mcp skill install copies the skill into ~/.claude/skills/solidworks-mcp/. --project installs into the current project and --dir into any folder; --dry-run shows what it would write. It writes only that folder, keeps files the user added there, reads no client config, and needs no network. setup now ends with a one-line hint about it.

• A test keeps the skill true. It fails if any backticked name in the skill or the instructions isn't a registered tool, an input field, an error_type or a known response key. It also fails if the skill sends an agent to a tool that can't run yet. It currently checks 127 names.

• Two description fixes: batch_process_files and generate_vba_batch_export pointed agents to batch_export, which can't run yet. They now point to export_step.

• Docs: a README section, a new docs/agents/agent-skill.md page, a link from the COM pitfalls page, the changelog, and a queue note saying that fixing a fault also edits the skill.

Checks

• Full mock suite: 3597 passed, 100% coverage.
• ruff passes, and mkdocs build --strict passes.
• A built wheel contains all five skill files, and skill install --dry-run lists them.

Still to do

Task 5.2: run the demo prompt on real SolidWorks with and without the skill, and record the difference. It needs a live run, and you choose the demo prompt, so it hasn't happened yet. It doesn't block merging.