Activate a Connector in Kibana

This skill creates a live connector instance in a running Kibana by calling the Actions API. The user wants to activate a $ARGUMENTS connector.

When agentBuilder:experimentalFeatures is enabled, creating a connector automatically indexes it into the Semantic Metadata Layer (SML), making its sub-actions discoverable by AI agents.

CRITICAL: Never read, log, or display the contents of any credentials file. Credentials must only flow through the bundled scripts.

Step 1: List Available Connector Types

Run the helper script to see what connector types are registered. This script auto-detects whether Kibana is running on http/https and with standard/serverless auth — no manual configuration needed.

src/platform/packages/shared/kbn-connector-specs/.claude/skills/activate-connector/scripts/list_connector_types.sh

If the script reports that it cannot detect a running Kibana instance, stop and tell the user:

Kibana does not appear to be running. Please start Elasticsearch and Kibana first:

yarn es snapshot   # in one terminal
yarn start         # in another terminal

Then re-run this skill.

Match the user's argument ($ARGUMENTS) to one of the listed type IDs. If no exact match, show the user the available types and ask them to pick one.

Step 2: Check for Existing Connectors

Run the helper script to see what's already created:

src/platform/packages/shared/kbn-connector-specs/.claude/skills/activate-connector/scripts/list_connectors.sh

If a connector of the same type already exists, inform the user and ask if they want to create another one or stop.

Step 3: Collect Credentials Securely

First, determine what credential the user needs to provide. Use the Credential Reference section below and the connector spec's auth type to identify the correct format.

Then ask the user to write their credentials to a temporary file. Use the AskUserQuestion tool to present this request clearly, including the specific credential type and format they need.

For example, if activating a GitHub connector (bearer token):

To activate the GitHub connector, I need a GitHub personal access token (starts with ghp_ or github_pat_).

For security, please write it to a temporary file — I will not read this file. The creation script will read it and immediately delete it.

Please run this in your terminal:

echo -n 'ghp_your_token_here' > /tmp/connector_credentials

Then let me know when the file is ready.

Important:

• NEVER read /tmp/connector_credentials or any credentials file the user creates
• NEVER use the Read tool on the credentials file
• NEVER cat or otherwise inspect the credentials file
• The create_connector.sh script handles reading and deleting it

Credential Reference

Use this table to tell the user what credential to provide. Look up the connector spec's auth type in src/platform/packages/shared/kbn-connector-specs/src/specs/ to confirm.

Common auth types

Auth Type	Credential Format	Example
bearer	A bearer/access token string	ghp_abc123...
api_key_header	An API key string	sk-abc123...
basic	username:password	admin:secretpass

Known connectors

Connector	Type ID	Auth Type	Credential to Provide
GitHub	.github	Bearer	GitHub personal access token (ghp_... or github_pat_...)
Notion	.notion	Bearer	Notion API integration token (starts with secret_ or ntn_)
Google Drive	.google_drive	Bearer	Google OAuth 2.0 access token (ya29....)
Slack	.slack2	Bearer	Slack Bot User OAuth Token (xoxb-...)
Jira Cloud	.jira-cloud	Basic	your_email@example.com:your_api_token
Zendesk	.zendesk	Basic	your_email@example.com/token:your_api_token
SharePoint Online	.sharepoint-online	OAuth	Requires OAuth client credentials (clientId, clientSecret, tenantId). May need UI-based setup.

For unknown / newly added connectors

If the connector type isn't listed above:

1. Check the connector spec: grep -r "auth:" src/platform/packages/shared/kbn-connector-specs/src/specs/<name>/
2. Look for types: ['bearer'], types: ['api_key_header'], or types: ['oauth_client_credentials']
3. If bearer: the credential is a token string
4. If api_key_header: the credential is an API key string
5. If oauth_client_credentials: warn the user this may need UI-based setup

Step 4: Create the Connector

Once the user confirms the credentials file is ready, run:

src/platform/packages/shared/kbn-connector-specs/.claude/skills/activate-connector/scripts/create_connector.sh \
  --type "<connector_type_id>" \
  --name "<display_name>" \
  --auth-type "<auth_type>" \
  --credentials-file /tmp/connector_credentials

Where:

• <connector_type_id> is the type ID from Step 1 (e.g., .github, .notion)
• <display_name> is a human-readable name for the connector instance
• <auth_type> is bearer, api_key_header, or basic — look up the connector spec's auth type from Step 3's Credential Reference. If omitted, the script auto-detects (colon in credential → basic, else bearer), but always pass it explicitly for api_key_header connectors since auto-detection can't distinguish them from bearer tokens.

For api_key_header connectors, you must also pass --header-field with the header field name from the connector spec's auth.types[].defaults.headerField:

  --auth-type api_key_header --header-field "X-Api-Key"

If the connector requires additional config (e.g., serverUrl for MCP-native connectors), add:

  --config '{"serverUrl":"https://mcp.example.com/mcp/"}'

The script will auto-detect the Kibana URL and auth, read the credentials, delete the file, and make the API call.

Step 5: Verify Activation

Run the list script again to confirm:

src/platform/packages/shared/kbn-connector-specs/.claude/skills/activate-connector/scripts/list_connectors.sh

Show the user the newly created connector entry. If it appears, report success. If not, show any error output from Step 4.

Important Notes

• This skill requires Kibana to be running — it makes live API calls
• Auto-detection tries http/https on localhost:5601 with both elastic:changeme (standard) and elastic_serverless:changeme (serverless) credentials
• Credentials are never seen by Claude — they flow through the file -> script -> API pipeline only
• The credentials file is deleted immediately after the script reads it
• Connector sub-actions become available to agents when agentBuilder:experimentalFeatures is true in Kibana settings
• To override auto-detection, set KIBANA_URL and/or KIBANA_AUTH environment variables, or pass --kibana-url to the scripts