Individual skill
env-management
Use when a notebook run fails on a missing package (ImportError, ModuleNotFoundError, "there is no package called"), when you need to inspect an installed package version, or when you need to install, add, or manage Python or R packages for the notebook runtime. Covers inspect_packages, routing Python vs R through manage_packages, why in-cell %pip/!pip/install.packages() and OS installers are forbidden, restarting the kernel after an install, and when to stop and ask the user.
resources/skills/env-management/SKILL.md
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# Environment and package management
The notebook runs against the session's **bound runtime**: the app-managed default (`default-python` / `default-r`) unless you bind another one with `notebook_bind_runtime` — a named environment you created, or one of the user's own detected interpreters. You never activate environments by hand, and you never install packages from inside a cell. Installs happen in the trusted main process through a single tool, `manage_packages`, and always land in the currently bound runtime. This page is the workflow for getting a package installed and for knowing when a package is not something you can install yourself.
## When a package is missing
A run that fails with `ImportError` / `ModuleNotFoundError` (Python) or `Error in library(x): there is no package called 'x'` (R) means the package is not in the environment yet. The fix is one `manage_packages` call, not a code change. Do not rewrite the cell to use a different library that "does roughly the same thing" — install the package the task actually needs. Do not fall back to reading data or computing results a worse way to dodge the missing import.
## Check an installed version
Use `inspect_packages(language, packages)` when the user asks whether a package is installed in an app-managed runtime or which version is present, or when your code depends on a version-specific feature. It reads package metadata from the session's bound app-managed runtime without importing the package or changing the environment. An `installed` result does not prove the import will succeed; use `notebook_execute` when importability itself is the question.
Inspection does not provision a missing app-managed default runtime. If it reports `DEFAULT_RUNTIME_NOT_READY`, use `notebook_execute` in that language to prepare the runtime under notebook execution approval, then retry `inspect_packages`.
