central-station

What this skill does

# Central Station

Search and browse Railway's Central Station - the community support platform for threads, discussions, and documentation.

## API Endpoints

| Endpoint | URL |
|----------|-----|
| GraphQL | `https://station-server.railway.com/gql` |
| Thread Markdown | `https://station-server.railway.com/api/threads/:slug` |
| LLM Data Export | `https://station-server.railway.com/api/llms-station` |
| Frontend | `https://station.railway.com` |

## When to Use

- User wants to search Central Station threads or docs
- User asks about community discussions or support questions
- User wants to find threads about a specific topic (deployments, databases, etc.)
- User asks "what are people asking about X"
- User wants to see recent threads or questions
- User mentions Central Station, community threads, or support discussions
- User wants to find existing solutions before creating a new thread

## When NOT to Use

- User wants Railway product documentation - use `railway-docs` skill
- User wants to check their project status - use `status` skill
- User wants to manage their Railway project - use appropriate skill (deploy, environment, etc.)

## Docs Search

For official Railway documentation, use the `railway-docs` skill which fetches from `https://docs.railway.com/api/llms-docs.md`.

Central Station's `unifiedSearch` can identify document types but has limited field access:

```bash
curl -s 'https://station-server.railway.com/gql' \
  -H 'content-type: application/json' \
  --data-raw '{"query":"{ unifiedSearch(input: { query: \"volumes\", limit: 10 }) { results { document { __typename } } } }"}'
```

Document types returned: `EsThreadItem` (threads) and `DocSearchResult` (docs).

**Note**: For searching thread content, use the LLM Data Export endpoint instead (see below) which provides full thread data.

## Quick Actions

### Get Recent Threads

Fetch recent threads, optionally filtered by topic:

```bash
curl -s 'https://station-server.railway.com/gql' \
  -H 'content-type: application/json' \
  -d '{"query": "{ threads(first: 10, sort: recent_activity) { edges { node { slug subject status topic { slug displayName } upvoteCount createdAt } } } }"}'
```

With topic filter:

```bash
curl -s 'https://station-server.railway.com/gql' \
  -H 'content-type: application/json' \
  -d '{"query": "{ threads(first: 10, sort: recent_activity, topic: \"questions\") { edges { node { slug subject status topic { displayName } upvoteCount } } } }"}'
```

### Get Thread by Slug

Fetch a specific thread with its content:

```bash
curl -s 'https://station-server.railway.com/gql' \
  -H 'content-type: application/json' \
  -d '{"query": "{ thread(slug: \"THREAD_SLUG\") { slug subject status content { data } topic { displayName } upvoteCount } }"}'
```

### Get Thread as Markdown

For a cleaner read, fetch the thread as markdown:

```bash
# Append .md to the frontend URL (requires topic slug)
curl -s 'https://station.railway.com/TOPIC_SLUG/THREAD_SLUG.md'

# Or use API with format query parameter
curl -s 'https://station-server.railway.com/api/threads/THREAD_SLUG?format=md'

# Or use API with Accept header
curl -s 'https://station-server.railway.com/api/threads/THREAD_SLUG' \
  -H 'Accept: text/markdown'
```

### List Topics

Get all available topics:

```bash
curl -s 'https://station-server.railway.com/gql' \
  -H 'content-type: application/json' \
  -d '{"query": "{ topics { slug displayName displayNamePlural } }"}'
```

Returns: questions, feedback, community, billing, bug-bounty, privacy, abuse, templates

### Get Trending Threads

Fetch currently trending threads:

```bash
curl -s 'https://station-server.railway.com/gql' \
  -H 'content-type: application/json' \
  -d '{"query": "{ trendingThreads { slug subject status topic { displayName } upvoteCount } }"}'
```

### Get Pinned Threads

Fetch pinned/important threads:

```bash
curl -s 'https://station-server.railway.com/gql' \
  -H 'content-type: application/json' \
  -d '{"query": "{ pinnedThreads { slug subject topic { displayName } } }"}'
```

### Search via LLM Data Export

For searching thread content, fetch all threads and filter locally:

```bash
curl -s 'https://station-server.railway.com/api/llms-station' | jq '.items[] | select(.title | test("postgres"; "i")) | {title, topic: .topic.name, status: .metadata.status}'
```

This endpoint returns all public threads with full content, useful for searching by keywords.

## Thread Statuses

| Status | Description |
|--------|-------------|
| `OPEN` | Unresolved, accepting responses |
| `SOLVED` | Marked as resolved |
| `AWAITING_RAILWAY_RESPONSE` | Waiting for Railway team |
| `AWAITING_USER_RESPONSE` | Waiting for original poster |
| `CLOSED` | No longer accepting responses |
| `ARCHIVED` | Old thread, preserved for reference |

## Sort Options

For the `threads` query, use the `sort` parameter:

| Sort Value | Description |
|------------|-------------|
| `recent_activity` | Most recently active (default) |
| `newest` | Newest first |
| `highest_votes` | Most upvoted |

## Presenting Results

When showing threads:

1. **Thread title** - The subject
2. **Topic** - Category (questions, feedback, etc.)
3. **Status** - Open, solved, awaiting response
4. **Summary** - Brief preview from content
5. **Link** - `https://station.railway.com/{topic_slug}/{thread_slug}`

Format example:
```
Found 3 threads about "postgres":

1. "Connection timeout when connecting to Postgres"
   Topic: questions | Status: SOLVED | Upvotes: 5
   https://station.railway.com/questions/connection-timeout-postgres

2. "How to connect to Postgres from local development"
   Topic: community | Status: OPEN | Upvotes: 12
   https://station.railway.com/community/connect-postgres-local

3. "Postgres SSL certificate verification failed"
   Topic: questions | Status: AWAITING_RAILWAY_RESPONSE
   https://station.railway.com/questions/postgres-ssl-verification
```

## Common Search Patterns

| User Query | Filter/Search |
|------------|---------------|
| "Why is my deploy failing?" | topic: questions, search: "deploy" |
| "Can't connect to database" | topic: questions, search: "database" or "postgres" |
| "Domain not working" | topic: questions, search: "domain" |
| "Feature requests" | topic: feedback |
| "What are people building?" | topic: community |

## Composability

- **After finding a thread**: Summarize the solution or link to it
- **No results found**: Suggest using `railway-docs` skill or creating a new thread
- **Technical issue found**: Use relevant skill (deploy, environment, etc.) to help fix it

## Error Handling

### No Results Found

```
No threads found. Try:
- Different topic filter
- Checking Railway docs instead
- Creating a new thread at https://station.railway.com
```

### Invalid Topic

List available topics first:
```bash
curl -s 'https://station-server.railway.com/gql' -H 'content-type: application/json' -d '{"query": "{ topics { slug } }"}'
```

### Thread Not Found

```
Thread not found. It may have been deleted or marked private.
```