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name: crypto-prices description: "Fetch live cryptocurrency prices with zero API keys — CoinGecko's public endpoints primary, Coinbase spot fallback, via plain curl. Use when asked what's bitcoin at, ETH price in euros, how's the crypto market today, or price of some altcoin. Produces the current price with 24h context, the source and timestamp, the rerunnable command, and the volatility caveat that crypto answers must carry."

Crypto Prices Skill

Crypto prices are the most-asked live number after weather, and two services answer keylessly: CoinGecko's public API (thousands of coins, market context, any quote currency) and Coinbase's spot endpoint (fast, reliable, majors only). This skill fetches, adds the 24-hour context that turns a number into information, and carries the caveat every crypto answer owes: this number is already stale, and it is not advice.

What This Skill Produces

• The price — stated first, in the asked currency, with 24h change alongside
• Context — 24h high/low or market-cap rank when the question implies "how's it doing"
• The command — exact curl, rerunnable
• The caveat — timestamped, volatile, informational-only

Required Inputs

Ask for these if not provided:

• The coin(s) — resolve names to CoinGecko ids (bitcoin, ethereum, solana…); for obscure tickers, search first: https://api.coingecko.com/api/v3/search?query=name — ticker collisions are common and the wrong coin is a real failure mode
• Quote currency — usd default, but honor the user's (CoinGecko quotes in dozens: vs_currencies=eur,inr,jpy)
• Depth — a number, or market context (change, volume, rank)?

Framework: The Two Sources

1. CoinGecko — primary: simple price: curl -s "https://api.coingecko.com/api/v3/simple/price?ids=bitcoin,ethereum&vs_currencies=usd&include_24hr_change=true&include_24hr_vol=true&include_last_updated_at=true" · richer context: .../api/v3/coins/markets?vs_currency=usd&ids=bitcoin,ethereum (adds rank, high/low, ATH distance) · trending: .../api/v3/search/trending. Public tier rate-limits (~10–30 req/min) — batch ids into one call, never loop.
2. Coinbase — fallback for majors: curl -s "https://api.coinbase.com/v2/prices/BTC-USD/spot" — extremely reliable, majors and USD/EUR/GBP pairs, no market context. Use when CoinGecko rate-limits or for a fast single number.
3. Timestamp every answer: include include_last_updated_at and print it; crypto moves percent-per-hour on bad days, and an undated price is misinformation waiting to age.
4. Context is the value-add: "$63,977, down 2.1% in 24h" answers "how's bitcoin"; the bare price doesn't. For "how's the market," compare BTC + ETH + a top-alt rather than editorializing.
5. The line that never moves: prices are informational; no buy/sell/hold, no predictions, no portfolio math presented as guidance. "Is now a good time to buy" gets the price, the volatility fact, and a clean refusal to predict.

Output Format

[Coin] Price

[Price] [currency] · 24h: [±x.x%] [· rank/context if asked]

[Multi-coin questions: small table, one row per coin]

Source: [CoinGecko / Coinbase] at [timestamp, UTC] · rerun: [exact curl] Live snapshot, already aging — informational only, not investment advice.

Quality Checks

• The coin id was resolved unambiguously (searched when the ticker could collide)
• 24h change accompanies the price
• The timestamp appears in the answer
• Multi-coin requests were batched into one call
• The not-advice line appears verbatim in spirit — every time

Anti-Patterns

• Do not answer from memory — a remembered crypto price is fiction; fetch or hand over the command
• Do not guess which coin a ticker means — search and confirm; $PEPE-class collisions burn people
• Do not loop per-coin requests against a rate-limited public API — batch
• Do not predict, recommend, or imply timing — the refusal is part of the skill
• Do not quote without the timestamp — undated crypto prices are misinformation with confidence

Example Trigger Phrases

• "What's bitcoin at?"
• "How's the crypto market today?"
• "Price of some altcoin."