Agent skill

irail-cli

Query Belgian railway (NMBS/SNCB) schedules via the irail CLI. Use when the user wants train departures, connections between stations, train compositions, or service disruptions. Triggered by mentions of Belgian trains, NMBS, SNCB, iRail, train schedules, or railway delays.

View SKILL.md on GitHub Repository
Stars 163
Forks 31

Install this agent skill to your Project

npx add-skill https://github.com/majiayu000/claude-skill-registry/tree/main/skills/other/other/irail

Metadata

Additional technical details for this skill

author
dedene
version
1.1.0
openclaw 
{
    "install": [
        {
            "tap": "dedene/tap",
            "bins": [
                "irail"
            ],
            "kind": "brew",
            "formula": "irail"
        },
        {
            "bins": [
                "irail"
            ],
            "kind": "go",
            "package": "github.com/dedene/irail-cli/cmd/irail"
        }
    ],
    "requires": {
        "bins": [
            "irail"
        ],
        "anyBins": [
            "jq"
        ]
    }
}

SKILL.md

irail-cli

CLI for Belgian railways (NMBS/SNCB) via iRail API. No authentication required.

Quick Start

bash
# Station departures
irail liveboard Brugge

# Find connections
irail connections Brugge Leuven

# Check disruptions
irail disturbances

Authentication

None required. iRail API is public and free to use.

Core Rules

  1. Always use --json when parsing output programmatically
  2. Station names are flexible - accepts partial matches, quotes for multi-word
  3. Time format - HH:MM (24-hour), date format YYYY-MM-DD
  4. Language options - nl, fr, en, de (default: nl)

Output Formats

Flag Format Use case
(default) Table User-facing with colors
--json JSON Agent parsing, scripting

Colors indicate: red = delays, yellow = platform changes.

Workflows

Liveboard (Departures/Arrivals)

bash
# Departures from station
irail liveboard Brugge
irail liveboard "Brussel-Centraal"

# Arrivals instead of departures
irail liveboard Brugge --arrivals

# Specific date/time
irail liveboard Brugge --time 09:00 --date 2025-02-15

# JSON for scripting
irail liveboard Brugge --json

# Different language
irail liveboard Brugge --lang en

Connections (Route Planning)

bash
# Find routes
irail connections Brugge Leuven

# Specific departure time
irail connections Brugge Leuven --time 09:00

# Arrive by time (instead of depart at)
irail connections Brugge Leuven --time 14:00 --arrive-by

# More results
irail connections Brugge Leuven --results 10

# JSON for parsing
irail connections Brugge Leuven --json

Stations

bash
# List all stations
irail stations

# Search stations
irail stations --search bruss
irail stations --search gent

# JSON for scripting
irail stations --json

Vehicle (Train Info)

bash
# Show train information
irail vehicle IC1832

# Include all stops
irail vehicle IC1832 --stops

# JSON output
irail vehicle IC1832 --json

Composition (Train Cars)

bash
# Show train composition (seats, amenities)
irail composition S51507
irail composition IC1832

# JSON for parsing
irail composition S51507 --json

Disturbances

bash
# All current disruptions
irail disturbances

# Only planned works
irail disturbances --type planned

# Only unplanned disruptions
irail disturbances --type disturbance

# JSON for scripting
irail disturbances --json

Scripting Examples

bash
# Get next train to destination
irail connections Brugge Leuven --json | jq -r '.[0].departure'

# Find station ID
irail stations --search "brussel" --json | jq -r '.[0].id'

# Check if delays exist on liveboard
irail liveboard Brugge --json | jq '[.[] | select(.delay > 0)] | length'

# Get platform for next departure
irail liveboard Brugge --json | jq -r '.[0].platform'

# List all disruptions
irail disturbances --json | jq -r '.[].title'

Environment Variables

Variable Description
IRAIL_LANG Default language (nl, fr, en, de)
IRAIL_JSON Default to JSON output
NO_COLOR Disable colored output

Language Options

Code Language
nl Dutch (default)
fr French
en English
de German
bash
irail liveboard Brugge --lang fr
irail connections Brugge Leuven --lang en

Command Reference

Command Description
liveboard Station departures/arrivals
connections Route planning between stations
stations List/search stations
vehicle Train information and stops
composition Train car composition
disturbances Service disruptions
completion Shell completions

Common Patterns

Check if train is delayed

bash
irail vehicle IC1832 --json | jq '.delay // 0'

Get connection with transfers

bash
irail connections Brugge Leuven --json | jq '.[0].vias | length'

Find direct trains only

bash
irail connections Brugge Leuven --json | jq '[.[] | select(.vias == null or (.vias | length) == 0)]'

Guidelines

  • No authentication needed - API is public
  • Be mindful of API usage in loops - add delays between requests
  • Station names are case-insensitive and support partial matching
  • Delay values are in seconds (divide by 60 for minutes)

Installation

bash
brew install dedene/tap/irail

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