City of Edmonton Open Data

Access 2,179+ datasets from the City of Edmonton open data portal. Search, fetch, and analyze city data on transit, traffic, environment, census, and more. D...

Security Scan

The skill is internally consistent with its description: it's a Python CLI that queries data.edmonton.ca via the Socrata SODA API, requires no secrets, and contains no disproportionate or unexplained behaviors.

Purpose & Capability

Name/description claim access to City of Edmonton open data; the included script implements Socrata API calls to data.edmonton.ca and provides search, list, info, fetch, categories, popular, and geojson commands — all consistent with the stated purpose. No unrelated services or credentials are requested.

Instruction Scope

SKILL.md instructs running the included Python script and documents an optional SOCRATA_APP_TOKEN environment variable. The script performs only network calls to data.edmonton.ca and writes a local cache file (.cache/catalog.json) inside the skill directory. Note: the SKILL.md header lists 'permissions: Bash' although the code is a Python CLI; this is a minor mismatch but does not indicate broader scope creep.

Install Mechanism

No install spec; this is instruction-only with an included Python script that has no third‑party dependencies (uses stdlib urllib). No network downloads or archive extraction during install, so install risk is low.

Credentials

Only an optional SOCRATA_APP_TOKEN is referenced to reduce rate limits; no other secrets, tokens, or unrelated environment variables are requested or accessed by the code.

Persistence & Privilege

Skill does not request always:true, does not modify other skills or system configuration, and only writes a cache file in its own directory. Autonomous invocation remains enabled (platform default) but is not accompanied by broad credentials or escalated privileges.

Assessment

This skill appears to do exactly what it says: query the City of Edmonton Socrata open-data portal. Things to consider before installing: (1) the script caches the dataset catalog to a .cache/catalog.json file inside the skill directory (it may grow if you run large queries) — check or change the cache location if you have storage/privacy concerns; (2) the only environment variable is an optional SOCRATA_APP_TOKEN to reduce rate limits — do not provide unrelated secrets; (3) SKILL.md notes 'permissions: Bash' although the implementation is Python — benign but slightly inconsistent; (4) the skill will make outbound HTTPS requests to data.edmonton.ca when used, so run under normal network policies you trust. If you want extra assurance, inspect or run the included scripts in a sandboxed environment before enabling autonomous invocation.

Access and analyze 2,179+ open datasets from the City of Edmonton via the Socrata SODA API. Data covers transit, traffic, census, environment, city administration, and more.

Portal: https://data.edmonton.ca Licence: Open Government Licence – City of Edmonton

Quick Start

# Search for datasets
python3 scripts/edmonton_data.py search "traffic"

# List datasets by category
python3 scripts/edmonton_data.py list --category "Transit"

# View dataset info
python3 scripts/edmonton_data.py info 24uj-dj8v

# Fetch data (default JSON, 10 rows)
python3 scripts/edmonton_data.py fetch 24uj-dj8v --limit 5

# Fetch with filters
python3 scripts/edmonton_data.py fetch 24uj-dj8v --where "year='2025'" --select "job_category,address,construction_value"

# Export to CSV
python3 scripts/edmonton_data.py fetch 24uj-dj8v --limit 100 --csv > permits.csv

# List all categories
python3 scripts/edmonton_data.py categories

# View popular datasets
python3 scripts/edmonton_data.py popular

# GeoJSON export (if dataset has location columns)
python3 scripts/edmonton_data.py geojson h4ti-be2n --limit 50

Commands Reference

Command	Description
search <query>	Search datasets by keyword
list [--category <cat>]	List datasets, optionally filter by category
info <dataset-id>	Show dataset metadata (columns, types, row count)
fetch <dataset-id>	Download data rows (opts: --limit, --where, --select, --order, --csv, --json)
categories	List all categories with dataset counts
popular	Show most-viewed datasets
geojson <dataset-id>	Export geocoded data as GeoJSON

Query Parameters

The fetch command supports Socrata SODA query parameters:

• --limit N — Max rows to return (default: 10)
• --where "condition" — SQL-like filter (e.g., "construction_value > 100000")
• --select "col1,col2" — Choose specific columns
• --order "col DESC" — Sort results
• --offset N — Skip N rows (pagination)
• --csv — Output as CSV instead of JSON

Dataset IDs

Dataset IDs are 9-character alphanumeric codes (e.g., 24uj-dj8v). Find them via search or list, or from the dataset URL: data.edmonton.ca/dataset/{id}.

Data Sources

All data sourced from the City of Edmonton's Open Data Portal (data.edmonton.ca) under the Open Government Licence – City of Edmonton. See references/datasets.md for a curated list of popular datasets.

Environment Variables

Variable	Required	Description
SOCRATA_APP_TOKEN	No	Optional Socrata app token to reduce rate limits. Works without it.