Your first skill-guided GIS task

Load a GIS skill, run a public read-only task, and distinguish planning from connected-tool execution.

Start with a public, read-only validation task. This proves that Hermes can load the skill and follow its workflow without requiring private credentials or a production write.

1. Choose a public service

Use an ArcGIS REST service that is intentionally public. Copy the layer or service URL; do not paste a token into the prompt.

2. Load the validator skill

hermes -s arcgis-rest-service-validator chat -q \
  "Validate this public ArcGIS FeatureServer before I build against it: <URL>. Check metadata, capabilities, layers, schema, query support, paging, counts, geometry, CRS, authority, and implementation risks. Do not make writes."

3. What the skill should cause Hermes to do

Read the service and layer metadata.
Confirm FeatureServer/MapServer, layer IDs, geometry, spatial reference, fields, object ID, max record count, and advertised capabilities.
Run a minimal bounded count/query if an appropriate web or GIS tool is connected.
Compare authoritative count with paged retrieval when full extraction is requested.
Identify token, hosted-view, pagination, projection, or spatial-query risks.
Report the exact source URL, inspected layer, timestamp, limitations, and a recommended implementation path.

4. Planning-only versus connected execution

If Hermes has only the skill, it can produce the validation plan and commands. If the profile also has web access, an Esri MCP, an ArcGIS REST tool, or a local script, it can execute the inspection.

The skill does not grant access

The skill repository contains no ArcGIS token and no Esri tool. Private items remain inaccessible until the user configures approved authentication in the execution environment.

5. Expected answer structure

Source
- service and layer URLs
- owner/authority evidence where available

Capabilities
- layer type, geometry, CRS, fields
- query/statistics/paging support
- max record count and object ID

Validation
- count method and result
- bounded query result
- paging or hosted-view risks

Recommendation
- suitable or unsuitable for the intended app
- client/tool implementation path
- required caveats and next safe test

Writes
- none requested or performed

Next tasks

Use geospatial-data-qa-pipeline to design QA for the downloaded layer.

Use arcgis-rest-to-product-app to propose a read-only web application around
the validated source.