irail-cli

What This Skill Does

The irail-cli skill provides a seamless interface for interacting with the Belgian railway (NMBS/SNCB) network via the official iRail API. It acts as a powerful backend utility that allows users to query live departure boards, plan complex rail journeys, investigate real-time service disruptions, and inspect specific train compositions or vehicle details. Designed for precision and reliability, this tool bypasses manual web searching, instead fetching structured data directly from the national rail infrastructure. It is essential for users requiring up-to-the-minute platform information, departure times, or analysis of potential delays across the Belgian network.

Installation

To integrate this capability into your OpenClaw environment, execute the following command in your terminal: clawhub install openclaw/skills/skills/dedene/irail Once installed, no further authentication is required as the iRail API is public and does not demand API keys or personal credentials, ensuring a plug-and-play experience.

Use Cases

This skill is highly versatile for both casual commuters and data-driven users. Use it to:

• Check live departures from specific stations when running late.
• Plan intercity routes by specifying departure or arrival times.
• Retrieve vehicle-specific data, such as carriage composition and onboard amenities.
• Monitor network reliability by auditing current disturbances, distinguishing between planned track works and sudden operational delays.
• Script automation tasks to receive mobile notifications about platform changes or delays.

Example Prompts

1. "Check the current departure board for Brugge and tell me if there are any delays on the train to Brussel-Centraal."
2. "Find me the fastest connection from Leuven to Gent-Sint-Pieters arriving before 14:00 today."
3. "Are there any major railway disruptions currently affecting travel between Antwerp and Brussels?"

Tips & Limitations

• Always include the --json flag when building automated workflows to ensure output is parseable by tools like jq.
• Station names are flexible, but for exact results, use standard naming conventions (e.g., "Brussel-Centraal").
• The default language is Dutch (nl); use the --lang flag (en, fr, de) to switch to your preferred language.
• Remember that delay information is dynamic; refresh queries frequently if you are at the station.
• The tool is strictly limited to the NMBS/SNCB network and cannot provide information on international connections outside the scope of the iRail API.