How to Use altFINS AI Skills with OpenAI Codex

Skip to main content

Search Knowledge Base by Keyword

How to Use altFINS AI Skills with OpenAI Codex


Developer Guide

How to Use altFINS AI Skills with OpenAI Codex

Install reusable altFINS skills into your Codex agent and get crypto market analysis, CLI research, and plain-English-to-query translation — directly from your terminal.

 

1. What Are altFINS AI Skills?

altFINS AI Skills are reusable instruction packages that give your AI coding agent deep knowledge of the altFINS crypto analytics ecosystem. Each skill is a folder containing a SKILL.md file plus optional reference documents, scripts, and project templates.

When installed into an AI agent like OpenAI Codex, these skills allow the agent to automatically understand altFINS data surfaces — the MCP server, the CLI, and the REST API — and produce grounded, validated analysis instead of guessing.

The skills are open-source and hosted on GitHub at altfins-com/altfins-ai-skills.

🔑 Key Benefits

✅ Grounded analysis — Skills reference validated MCP and CLI surfaces, so Codex won’t invent tool names or capabilities
✅ 150+ pre-computed indicators — Access altFINS’s analytics engine through natural-language prompts
✅ Cross-platform — The same skills work in Codex, Claude Code, Gemini, Copilot, Cursor, and more
✅ One-command install — The altfins-skills CLI handles everything

 

2. Prerequisites

Before installing altFINS skills into Codex, make sure you have the following ready:

Requirement Details
OpenAI Codex CLI Install via npm i -g @openai/codex or brew install --cask codex
ChatGPT account Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise, or Edu plan (Free/Go has limited Codex access)
Homebrew (macOS/Linux) Required for the altfins-skills installer on macOS/Linux
altFINS API Key Free key from altfins.com — needed if you want Codex to call the API or CLI at runtime

 

3. Install Skills into Codex

Step 1 — Install the altfins-skills CLI

macOS / Linux:

brew install altfins-com/tap/altfins-skills

Windows:

Download the latest bundle from:

github.com/altfins-com/altfins-ai-skills/releases/latest/download/altfins-skills-windows.zip

Then unzip and run:

.\altfins-skills.exe list

Step 2 — See available skills

altfins-skills list

This prints the three available skills: altfins-market-analyst, altfins-market-researcher, and altfins-query-builder.

Step 3 — Install all skills into Codex

altfins-skills install --platform codex --all

This copies each skill into your Codex skills folder at ~/.codex/skills/ (or $CODEX_HOME/skills/ if you use a custom Codex home directory).

To install a single skill instead:

altfins-skills install --platform codex altfins-market-analyst

Step 4 — Verify installation

altfins-skills status

You should see all three skills listed as installed for the codex platform.

⚠️ Important: After installing skills, restart Codex so it can discover the new skill folders. Run codex again in your terminal.

 

4. The Three altFINS Skills

The skills repository ships three complementary skills. Each addresses a distinct workflow:

Skill 1

altfins-market-analyst

Use this when you want structured crypto market analysis built around validated altFINS-facing workflows. The skill references the documented MCP surface — Screener, Technical Analysis, OHLCV, Signals, News, Analytics, and Crypto Calendar — and enforces evidence-based reasoning.

Best for: Single-coin technical outlooks · Multi-coin comparisons · Signal-based market scans · Structured research reports

Skill 2

altfins-market-researcher

Use this when you need actual af CLI commands, export formats, or repeatable terminal-based research workflows. The skill is grounded in the validated CLI surface snapshots — real help text, command metadata, and confirmed flags.

Best for: CLI command generation · Data export pipelines · Terminal-native research · CI/CD integrations with altFINS data

Skill 3

altfins-query-builder

Use this when a user starts with a vague plain-English request and the first job is to translate it into a clean structured brief or validated API/CLI request plan. The skill contains example translations and a target catalog of known endpoints and parameters.

Best for: Natural language → API query translation · Screener filter construction · Structured brief creation from vague requests

 

5. Using Skills in Codex

Once installed, Codex discovers the skills automatically. There are two ways to invoke them:

Explicit Invocation

In Codex CLI or IDE, type $ followed by the skill name to trigger it directly:

$altfins-market-analyst Analyze the current technical outlook for ETH

You can also browse installed skills by typing /skills in the Codex interface.

Implicit Invocation

When your prompt matches a skill’s description, Codex can load it automatically. For example, asking “What does the altFINS screener show for coins in a strong uptrend on the 4h timeframe?” will likely trigger the market-analyst or query-builder skill without you needing to reference it explicitly.

 

6. Example Prompts and Workflows

Here are real-world prompts you can try inside Codex after installing the altFINS skills:

Market Analysis

$altfins-market-analyst
Use validated altFINS data only. Give me a technical
outlook for BTC. Cover trend, momentum, support/resistance,
and any active signals. Use the 4h and 1d timeframes.

Codex loads the market-analyst skill, reads the MCP anchors and output-mode references, then produces a structured analysis with clearly separated facts, inferences, and next steps.

CLI Research

$altfins-market-researcher
Write me an af CLI command to pull all bullish
MACD crossover signals from the last 7 days,
output as JSON.

Codex references the validated CLI surface to generate a correct af signals command with proper flags — no guessing.

Query Building

$altfins-query-builder
I'm looking for mid-cap altcoins that are oversold
but still in an overall uptrend. Turn this into a
proper screener query.

Codex translates the natural language into a structured filter using the skill’s target catalog of known screener parameters and endpoints.

Multi-Coin Scan

$altfins-market-analyst
Use validated altFINS data only. Find a small group
of technically interesting candidates and summarize
them as a market scan. Highlight the strongest
evidence, the biggest uncertainty, and the next
checks to run.

Produces a concise market scan with clear evidence labels — directly usable for further research or sharing.

7. How Skills Work Under the Hood

Understanding the mechanics helps you get the most out of the skills.

Progressive disclosure: Codex does not load the full skill into its context window on startup. It starts with just the metadata — name and description. Only when your task matches a skill (or you invoke one explicitly) does Codex load the full SKILL.md instructions. This keeps context lean and reduces hallucination.

Skill folder structure: Each installed skill is a directory under ~/.codex/skills/<skill-name>/ containing:

SKILL.md Core instructions with YAML frontmatter (name + description) and workflow steps
README.md Human-readable overview and when-to-use guidance
references/ Validated source inventories, MCP anchors, example prompts, and target catalogs
assets/project/ Project-mode templates for Cursor and OpenClaw adapters

Validated surfaces: The skills bundle checked-in snapshots of the altFINS CLI help text, command metadata, and the documented MCP surface. This means Codex references real, confirmed tool capabilities — not hallucinated ones. The working rules inside each skill explicitly forbid inventing tool names or capabilities.

Discovery locations: Codex scans for skills in multiple locations — .agents/skills/ in your project directory (and parent directories up to the repo root), plus ~/.codex/skills/ for user-level skills. The altFINS installer places skills at the user level so they’re available in every project.

 

8. Troubleshooting

Problem Solution
Codex doesn’t see the skills Restart Codex after installing. Run altfins-skills status to confirm the skills are in the correct directory. Check that ~/.codex/skills/ contains the skill folders.
Skill doesn’t trigger implicitly Use explicit invocation with $altfins-market-analyst at the start of your prompt. Implicit matching depends on description overlap, which can vary by prompt phrasing.
Codex invents tool names Always include “Use validated altFINS data only” in your prompt. The skills instruct Codex not to invent tools, but reinforcing this in your prompt helps.
Want to uninstall Run altfins-skills uninstall --platform codex --all to remove all skills, or specify a single skill name.

 

9. Next Steps

Now that your Codex agent has altFINS skills, here’s where to go next:

All Supported Platforms

📘 Connect the altFINS MCP Server
Add the altFINS MCP server to Codex for live data access. Configure it in ~/.codex/config.toml under the [mcp] section.
🔧 Install the altFINS CLI (af)
Give Codex a local CLI tool to execute. See the altFINS CLI Guide for installation steps.
📡 Explore the altFINS Data API
Build custom integrations with 150+ indicators and 7 years of history. See the API Documentation.
🖥️ Try other platforms
The same skills work in Claude Code, Gemini, Copilot, Cursor, and OpenClaw. Just change the --platform flag.
⭐ Star the repo
Follow development at github.com/altfins-com/altfins-ai-skills

9. Next Steps

Now that your Codex agent has altFINS skills, here’s where to go next:

All Supported Platforms

Platform Mode Install Surface
Codex skills ~/.codex/skills/<skill>
Claude skills ~/.claude/skills/<skill>
Gemini skills ~/.gemini/skills/<skill>
Copilot skills ~/.copilot/skills/<skill>
Cursor project .cursor/rules/<skill>.mdc
OpenClaw project AGENTS.md + .altfins-skills/

Ready to get started?

Get your free altFINS API key and install the skills in under 60 seconds.

Get API Key →
View on GitHub →

Related Articles

altFINS CLI: The Complete Guide →
altFINS Crypto Market & Analytical Data API →
The Ultimate Guide to Cryptocurrency MCP Servers →
Getting Started with altFINS →