Journey Preflight

Butterbase Preflight

Gate that ensures the user can actually talk to the Butterbase platform before any stage tries to. Writes results to docs/butterbase/03-preflight.md and stamps app_id + api_base into 00-state.md.

When to use

• Automatically as the first step of any journey-* build stage when 03-preflight.md is missing, older than 24 hours, or 00-state.md's app_id is null.
• Directly via /butterbase-skills:journey-preflight when the user wants to re-verify.

Procedure

For each check, write a one-line result to 03-preflight.md ( ✓/✗ ). Ask the user to fix any ✗ before continuing — do not auto-skip failures.

1. Butterbase account. Call mcp__butterbase__list_regions (cheapest call). Success → ✓. Auth error → ✗ with "Sign up at https://butterbase.ai, then run npx @butterbase/cli mcp install and complete the OAuth flow in your client (e.g. /mcp in Claude Code).". If MCP tool is not visible at all, jump to step 2.

1. MCP server connected. Check whether mcp__butterbase__* tools are listed in the agent's available tools. Absent → ✗ with "Install the Butterbase MCP server: npx @butterbase/cli mcp install. See https://butterbase.ai/docs/mcp.". Present → ✓.

1. MCP OAuth complete. Auth for mcp__butterbase__* calls is OAuth, not an env var — step 1 already proved it works if list_regions succeeded. If step 1 failed with auth error, retry after the user runs /mcp (or claude mcp login butterbase) and completes browser consent. BUTTERBASE_API_KEY (bb_sk_…) is still relevant for runtime app code (functions, server-side @butterbase/sdk) — check separately at deploy time, not here.

1. App provisioned. Read 00-state.md front-matter for app_id.

• Non-null and mcp__butterbase__manage_app (action get_config) succeeds → ✓.
• Null → ask the user: "No app yet. Create one now? (yes/no — if no, you can paste an existing app_id)". On yes, call mcp__butterbase__init_app (ask for app name and region — recommend us-east-1 as default). Capture app_id and api_base from the response. Update 00-state.md front-matter.
• User-provided app_id → verify with manage_app get_config; on success update 00-state.md.

1. CLI installed. Run butterbase --version. If "command not found":

• Read the Toolchain section of 02-plan.md. If CLI usage: yes (default), prompt: "Install @butterbase/cli globally now? (yes / skip)". On yes, run npm install -g @butterbase/cli. On skip, note in 03-preflight.md that the CLI is not installed and which workflows will require dashboard fallback.
• If CLI usage: no, skip this check.

03-preflight.md format

# Preflight — 

- account        ✓
- mcp_connected  ✓
- api_key        ✓
- app_provisioned ✓  app_id=app_abc123 region=us-east-1

Re-run with /butterbase-skills:journey-preflight.

Outputs

• Writes/overwrites docs/butterbase/03-preflight.md.
• Updates 00-state.md front-matter app_id, api_base, last_updated, and ticks - [x] preflight.

Anti-patterns

• ❌ Echoing the API key value back to the user.
• ❌ Skipping a failed check ("I'll just try anyway"). Stop and ask the user to fix it.
• ❌ Calling init_app without confirming with the user — apps cost money on paid plans.

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: butterbase-ai
• Source: butterbase-ai/butterbase-skills
• License: MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.