Software Development Skills

Use when editing data in an Esri enterprise geodatabase (SDE) or any versioned, networked, or topology-participating data with ArcPy — updating, inserting, or deleting features. Makes the agent use edit sessions, respect versioning and locks, and avoid corrupting multiuser geodatabase data.

Use when starting an Esri/ArcGIS automation task and choosing how to connect — deciding between ArcPy and the ArcGIS API for Python. Makes the agent pick the right library for the environment (local Pro/desktop geoprocessing vs web/Enterprise/Online feature services) instead of forcing the wrong one.

Use when a request is ambiguous, underspecified, or could be read more than one way — before writing code based on a guess. Makes the agent surface the ambiguity and either ask or state the assumption it's making, instead of silently picking one interpretation and building the wrong thing.

Use when writing or modifying code that calls an external library, framework, SDK, or API — especially one that is niche, recently updated, or whose exact method names and parameters you are not certain of. Makes the agent confirm real, current API signatures before using them, instead of inventing plausible-but-wrong calls from memory.

Use when working with spatial data — before a spatial join, a distance or area measurement, an overlay, or combining two datasets. Makes the agent confirm every dataset's coordinate reference system (CRS), refuse to assume an undefined one, and reproject everything to a common, operation-appropriate CRS first.

Use when the user is learning and wants to understand the code, not just receive it — they're new to the language, framework, or to coding agents in general. Makes the agent briefly explain what each change does and why, in plain language, so the user learns from every edit instead of blindly accepting it.

Use when converting, reprojecting, filtering, or loading vector data between formats with GDAL/OGR (ogr2ogr) — shapefile, GeoJSON, GeoPackage, PostGIS, and similar. Makes the agent use correct, safe ogr2ogr invocations instead of guessed flags, and prefer robust formats over fragile ones.

Use at the start of any non-trivial coding task — before writing code for a new feature, a fix, or a change that spans more than a couple of lines or files. Makes the agent state a short plan and confirm direction before implementing, so you catch a wrong approach in 3 sentences instead of 300 lines.

Use when writing PostGIS or spatial SQL — distance, proximity, intersection, or geometry storage queries. Makes the agent use correct SRIDs, spatial indexes, and the right ST functions, so spatial SQL is both correct and fast instead of silently slow or wrong.

Use when processing raster or imagery data that is large — multi-gigabyte GeoTIFFs, mosaics, satellite scenes, DEMs — where loading the whole array into memory would fail or thrash. Makes the agent work in windows/tiles, use overviews and cloud-optimized formats, and avoid out-of-memory full-array reads.

Use when about to modify code in a file or function you haven't actually read yet — making a change in an unfamiliar or existing part of the codebase. Makes the agent read the surrounding code first so the edit matches existing patterns and doesn't break nearby logic.

Use when performing a spatial join or location-based filter between two layers — joining attributes by location, or selecting features that intersect, contain, or fall within another layer. Makes the agent pick the correct spatial predicate, confirm CRS and geometry preconditions, and handle one-to-many matches deliberately instead of silently inflating or dropping records.

Use when editing existing code — making a fix, adding a feature, or changing behavior in a file that already has working code. Enforces minimal, scoped diffs so the agent changes only what the task requires and never refactors, reformats, or "improves" untouched code.

Use before running spatial operations — joins, overlays, buffers, dissolves, area or length calculations — on vector data, especially data from an external or non-GIS source. Makes the agent check for invalid geometries and repair them deliberately first, instead of letting them silently corrupt the result or crash the operation.