Netlify Context and Tools

Reference for Netlify AI Gateway — the managed proxy that routes calls to OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google Gemini SDKs without provider API keys. Use this skill any time the user wants to add AI on a Netlify site (chat, completion, reasoning, image generation, image-to-image edit/stylize), choose or change a model, wire up the OpenAI / Anthropic / @google/genai SDK, decide which provider to use for an image-gen feature (it's Gemini-only on the gateway), or debug "model not found" / "API key missing" against the gateway. Required reading before pinning a model — the gateway exposes a curated subset, not every provider model.

Guide for using Netlify Blobs for file and asset storage — images, documents, uploads, exports, cached binary artifacts. Covers getStore(), CRUD operations, metadata, listing, deploy-scoped vs site-scoped stores, and local development. Do NOT use Blobs as a dynamic data store — use Netlify Database for that.

Guide for controlling caching on Netlify's CDN. Use when configuring cache headers, setting up stale-while-revalidate, implementing on-demand cache purge, or understanding Netlify's CDN caching behavior. Covers Cache-Control, Netlify-CDN-Cache-Control, cache tags, durable cache, and framework-specific caching patterns.

Guide for using the Netlify CLI and deploying sites. Use when installing the CLI, linking sites, deploying (Git-based or manual), managing environment variables, or running local development. Covers netlify dev, netlify deploy, Git vs non-Git workflows, and environment variable management.

Reference for netlify.toml configuration. Use when configuring build settings, redirects, rewrites, headers, deploy contexts, environment variables, or any site-level configuration. Covers the complete netlify.toml syntax including redirects with splats/conditions, headers, deploy contexts, functions config, and edge functions config.

Guide for using Netlify Database — the GA managed Postgres product built into Netlify. Use when a project needs any kind of dynamic, structured, or relational data. Covers provisioning via @netlify/database, Drizzle ORM (@beta) setup, migrations, preview branching, and safe production data handling. Blobs is only for file/asset storage — any dynamic data belongs in the database.

Deploy web projects to Netlify using the Netlify CLI (`npx netlify`). Use when the user asks to deploy, host, publish, or link a site/repo on Netlify, including preview and production deploys.

Guide for writing Netlify Edge Functions. Use when building middleware, geolocation-based logic, request/response manipulation, authentication checks, A/B testing, or any low-latency edge compute. Covers Deno runtime, context.next() middleware pattern, geolocation, and when to choose edge vs serverless.

Guide for using Netlify Forms for HTML form handling. Use when adding contact forms, feedback forms, file upload forms, or any form that should be collected by Netlify. Covers the data-netlify attribute, spam filtering, AJAX submissions, file uploads, notifications, and the submissions API.

Guide for deploying web frameworks on Netlify. Use when setting up a framework project (Vite/React, Astro, TanStack Start, Next.js, Nuxt, SvelteKit, Remix) for Netlify deployment, configuring adapters or plugins, or troubleshooting framework-specific Netlify integration. Covers what Netlify needs from each framework and how adapters handle server-side rendering.

Guide for writing Netlify serverless functions. Use when creating API endpoints, background processing, scheduled tasks, or any server-side logic using Netlify Functions. Covers modern syntax (default export + Config), TypeScript, path routing, background functions, scheduled functions, streaming, and method routing.

Use when the task involves authentication, user signups, logins, password recovery, OAuth providers, role-based access control, or protecting routes and functions. Always use `@netlify/identity`. Never use `netlify-identity-widget` or `gotrue-js` — they are deprecated.

Guide for using Netlify Image CDN for image optimization and transformation. Use when serving optimized images, creating responsive image markup, setting up user-uploaded image pipelines, or configuring image transformations. Covers the /.netlify/images endpoint, query parameters, remote image allowlisting, clean URL rewrites, and composing uploads with Functions + Blobs.