IBM webMethods Integration Flow Pilot: A Beginner's Guide
Supplemental #1: Setting Up the Skills with Your Own Agent
Type: Supplemental Article
Read Time: ~7 min
Difficulty: Beginner
Prerequisites: an agentic AI assistant installed, the skills folder downloaded in Part 1
Product Page: IBM webMethods Integration Flow Pilot
New to Flow Pilot? Start with the Introduction: What Is Flow Pilot? before continuing.
What You Will Do
In this article, we'll install the Flow Pilot skill files into your AI assistant at the global skill level WITHOUT the use of the Flow Pilot VS Code Extension. Once installed, your assistant will be able to generate flow services, create unit tests, produce Mermaid diagrams, and write service documentation, all from plain-text prompts. Without the extension, your agent will not be able to deploy, validate, or execute your flow services. One way to get your Flow Pilot generated flow services into 12.1 Service Designer is to manually copy and paste them into the "Source" tab of a flow service within Service Designer.
IBM Bob is used in the examples below. The skill files work with any AI assistant that can read Markdown files: IBM Bob, Claude Code, Codex, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Windsurf, Cline, and others. The commands differ only in the destination path.
Prerequisites
Before we get started, make sure you have everything in place:
- An agentic AI assistant installed. IBM Bob is used in the examples
- The extracted Flow Pilot ZIP folder from Part 1 accessible. You will need the
skills/ folder
The VS Code extension is NOT REQUIRED to upload the relevant skills to your agent of choice. However, the 7-part Beginner's Guide will assume you have the extension installed.
What the Skill Files Enable
The skill files are structured Markdown documents that give your AI assistant deep knowledge of the Flow Pilot ecosystem. With them loaded, your assistant can:
| Capability |
Covered by Skills |
| Generate Flow Services from a plain-text description |
Yes |
| Create unit test XML files |
Yes |
| Produce Mermaid .mmd diagram files |
Yes |
| Write structured Markdown service documentation |
Yes |
| Connect to and deploy to Integration Server |
No - this is handled by the VS Code extension from Part 1 |
Deployment is not driven by the skill files, it is handled by the Flow Pilot extension you installed in Part 1. The skills and the extension are complementary: the skills handle generation, the extension handles IS connectivity, deployment, and command palette capabilities.
The skills folder in the MRS ZIP from Part 1 contains the core generation skills. The Flow Pilot extension includes additional orchestration capabilities that become available when the extension is active in your workspace.
How to Install the Skills
This supplemental article covers the global install. The skill files are copied into your AI assistant's root skills directory once, and are available in every workspace from that point forward without any per-project setup.
Using a VS Code-based AI IDE (IBM Bob, Cursor, Windsurf)? When the Flow Pilot extension is installed in a VS Code-based AI IDE, it automatically adds skill files to the local workspace directory each time you open a new workspace. This is convenient for getting started, but the skills are workspace-local. They do not follow you across projects. The global install described below is still available even after the extension is installed.
Step 1. Create the Skills Directory
Before copying the files, if you don't already have one, create the destination directory for your AI assistant's skills. Open Terminal and run the appropriate command for your coding agent of choice:
IMPORTANT NOTE:
The file path to an agent's relevant skill folders are subject to change. Use the following commands as examples/templates, but verify the correct destination of your agent's skill folder using the developer's documentation of the agent and use that path instead.
IBM Bob
(Mac) mkdir -p ~/.bob/skills/webmethods-flow/
(Windows Command) mkdir %USERPROFILE%\.bob\skills\webmethods-flow\
GitHub Copilot:
(Mac) mkdir -p ~/.copilot/skills/webmethods-flow/
(Windows Command) mkdir %USERPROFILE%\.copilot\skills\webmethods-flow\
Cursor:
(Mac) mkdir -p ~/.cursor/skills/webmethods-flow/
(Windows Command) mkdir %USERPROFILE%\.cursor\skills\webmethods-flow\
Windsurf:
(Mac) mkdir -p ~/.windsurf/skills/webmethods-flow/
(Windows Command) mkdir %USERPROFILE%\.windsurf\skills\webmethods-flow\
Cline:
(Mac) mkdir -p ~/.cline/skills/webmethods-flow/
(Windows Command) mkdir %USERPROFILE%\.cline\skills\webmethods-flow\
Step 2. Copy the Skill Files
Run the following command for your AI assistant, replacing /path/to/extracted-zip/ with the actual path to the folder you extracted in Part 1:
IMPORTANT NOTE:
The file path to an agent's relevant skill folders are subject to change. Use the following commands as examples/templates, but verify the correct destination of your agent's skill folder using the developer's documentation of the agent and use that path instead.
IBM Bob
(Mac) cp -r /path/to/extracted-zip/skills/flow ~/.bob/skills/webmethods-flow/
(Windows) xcopy /E /I C:\path\to\extracted-zip\skills\flow %USERPROFILE%\.bob\skills\webmethods-flow\flow
GitHub Copilot:
(Mac) cp -r /path/to/extracted-zip/skills/flow ~/.copilot/skills/webmethods-flow/
(Windows) xcopy /E /I C:\path\to\extracted-zip\skills\flow %USERPROFILE%\.copilot\skills\webmethods-flow\flow
Cursor:
(Mac) cp -r /path/to/extracted-zip/skills/flow ~/.cursor/skills/webmethods-flow/
(Windows) xcopy /E /I C:\path\to\extracted-zip\skills\flow %USERPROFILE%\.cursor\skills\webmethods-flow\flow
Windsurf:
(Mac) cp -r /path/to/extracted-zip/skills/flow ~/.windsurf/skills/webmethods-flow/
(Windows) xcopy /E /I C:\path\to\extracted-zip\skills\flow %USERPROFILE%\.windsurf\skills\webmethods-flow\flow
Cline:
(Mac) cp -r /path/to/extracted-zip/skills/flow ~/.cline/skills/webmethods-flow/
(Windows) xcopy /E /I C:\path\to\extracted-zip\skills\flow %USERPROFILE%\.cline\skills\webmethods-flow\flow
For example, if you extracted the ZIP to your Downloads folder and are using IBM Bob on Mac:
cp -r ~/Downloads/wm-integration-flow-pilot-12.1.0.2/skills/flow ~/.bob/skills/webmethods-flow/
This copies the entire (Mac) skills/flow/ or (Windows) skills\flow\ directory, all skill files, references, grammar, and examples, into your AI assistant's global skills directory. Your assistant reads everything in that directory at startup, so these skills will be available in every workspace from this point forward.
IMPORTANT: If you choose to install the skills to your global directory, be sure the skills folder is kept up to date with the newest Core Fix of Flow Pilot (the most recently released version) and that it is the same version present in any local workspaces that may also have the Flow Pilot skills. Keep your version of Flow Pilot up to date with the newest version. Failure to do so may lead to Flow Pilot using stale, outdated skills..
Step 3. Verify the Skills are Loaded
Open your AI assistant and send the following message:
Give me a brief description of skills that are available to you regarding webMethods Integration Server Flow Services.
Your assistant should respond with a summary of the available skills: Flow Service generation, unit testing, diagramming, and documentation. Note that you may have to open a workspace to get the agent to acknowledge the skills.
If your assistant responds generically with no mention of FSL, Flow Services, or skill files, the skills have not loaded correctly. Check that:
- The copy command completed without errors - confirm the destination directory exists and contains files
- Your AI assistant has been restarted since the skills were installed
- The path used in the copy command points to the correct source. Confirm the (Mac)
skills/flow/ or (Windows) skills\flow\ directory exists in your extracted ZIP folder
An Aside About the VS Code Extension
When using the Flow Pilot VS Code Extension, you can add the skills to a hidden ./bob directory in your local workspace via the "webMethods Flow Script: Install Skills into Workspace Folder" command. The local .bob/ directory includes additional supporting documentation (tutorials, orchestration skills, etc.). It is still a workspace-local setup rather than a global installation. In the case that the skills are not added with this command (i.e. the Flow Pilot extension does not recognize your agent), the global install of the skills will give your agent the context it should need to create flows.
Troubleshooting
Problem: mkdir or copy command fails with "No such file or directory"
Solution: Re-run mkdir -p with the correct path, then retry the copy command.
Problem: Assistant responds with no mention of FSL or skill files
Solution: Confirm the copy command completed successfully, restart your assistant, and try again.
Problem: Not sure if the destination directory was created
Solution: Run (Mac) ls ~/.bob/skills/webmethods-flow/ or (Windows) dir %USERPROFILE%\.bob\skills\webmethods-flow\ (substituting your agent's path). If files are listed, the copy succeeded.
Problem: Using a VS Code-based AI IDE and workspace-local files appear in every project
Solution: If you installed the Flow Pilot VS Code extension, this is the extension's auto-inject behavior. The global install above does not prevent it, but a later update may resolve this.
Summary
With the skill files installed globally, your AI assistant has everything it needs to generate, test, diagram, and document webMethods Flow Services - in any workspace, without any per-project setup.
Series Home: IBM webMethods Integration Flow Pilot: A Beginner's Guide
Product Page: IBM webMethods Integration Flow Pilot
IBM webMethods Integration Flow Pilot: A Beginner's Guide - Supplemental #1