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AI Agent Skills

Use Skills + MCP in Cursor, Hermes, or Claude Desktop — install, prompts, and troubleshooting.

7 min read

AI Agent Skills Guide

Use Skills + MCP to run VidAU GEO from Cursor, Hermes, Claude Desktop, or any MCP-compatible agent — in plain language, without memorizing API names.

Skills vs MCP

Layer What it is What you do
Skills Step-by-step playbooks (SKILL.md) Install once; talk naturally
MCP Live connection to VidAU (https://geo.vidau.ai/mcp) Add the MCP server in your agent

Skills are instructions. MCP is the engine. Skills alone cannot fetch data or write articles — MCP must be connected.

You (natural language)
    → Skill (workflow & defaults)
        → MCP tools (API calls)
            → geo.vidau.ai backend

Setup (about 5 minutes)

Step 1 — Connect MCP (required)

mcp_servers:
  vidau-geo:
    url: https://geo.vidau.ai/mcp
    enabled: true
    connect_timeout: 60
    timeout: 300

Restart the agent (Hermes: /reload-mcp).

Step 2 — Install Skills

One command (Hermes — macOS / Linux / Git Bash):

curl -fsSL https://geo.vidau.ai/skills/install.sh | bash

Windows Hermes Desktop (PowerShell):

irm https://geo.vidau.ai/skills/install.ps1 | iex

From GitHub:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/vidaudeveloper/Vidau-Geo-Agent/main/install.sh | bash

irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/vidaudeveloper/Vidau-Geo-Agent/main/install.ps1 | iex

Auto-install prompt: copy the block from INSTALL_PROMPT.md into your agent chat.

Catalog: geo.vidau.ai/skills/manifest.json

The 8 Skills (what to say)

You do not need to name skills in chat — the agent picks the right one. Examples:

Goal Example prompt Skill used
GEO snapshot Run a 60-second GEO snapshot for https://example.com and give me the HTML report. vidau-geo-quick-audit
Full audit Run a full GEO audit for https://example.com. vidau-geo-full-audit
Brand KPIs How is our brand doing — visibility, citations, SOV, sentiment? vidau-geo-brand-insights
Write article Write a GEO competitor comparison article for our site. vidau-geo-compose
Publish Publish the article you just wrote to WordPress as a draft. vidau-geo-publish
Markdown only Draft markdown only — no meta or schema. vidau-geo-write-draft
Automation Run the full pipeline: topic → compose → quality → publish. vidau-geo-automation
MCP missing (Auto) setup guide when MCP is not connected vidau-geo-mcp-setup

Default article path

Prefer vidau-geo-compose (meta, schema, SEO keywords, optional hero images, quality gate). Use vidau-geo-write-draft only when the user explicitly wants markdown without meta/schema.

Compose workflow (what the skill orchestrates)

  1. list_brands → pick brand (silent if only one)
  2. Topic from user, or suggest_topic / generate_topic
  3. suggest_seo_keywords → pass keywords to compose
  4. compose_article (defaults: language=auto, tone=professional, template_id=simple, image_source=auto)
  5. Preview in Content Creation → My Articles (draftId in response)
  6. Publish only if asked → vidau-geo-publish / publish_compose

Supported clients

Client MCP Skills
Hermes ✅ ✅ install.sh / install.ps1 (Windows)
Cursor ✅ ✅ remote SKILL.md URLs
Claude Desktop ✅ ✅ remote SKILL.md URLs
Other MCP agents ✅ ✅ if they load remote skills

Tips

  • One brand on account → agent picks it silently.
  • Multiple brands → agent asks by site name, not UUID.
  • Publish default → WordPress/Shopify draft unless you say “publish live”.
  • Credits → audits, compose, and automation consume VidAU credits.
  • MCP connected → agent skips setup nagging and runs your request.

Troubleshooting

Symptom Fix
Agent says MCP not connected Add the vidau-geo MCP block above and /reload-mcp
401 / auth failed Confirm the vidau-geo MCP block, then /reload-mcp
insufficient_credits Add credits at geo.vidau.ai
missing_seo_keywords Configure keyword library in GEO console → Brand
Invented audit scores Re-install skills; agent must call MCP tools, not guess
Hero images skipped Connect WordPress connector; or set image_source=none

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