StackHawk API Skill

This skill enables Claude to act as a security reporting agent against the StackHawk platform. The core workflow is:

Question → Authenticate → Query API via hawk op → Present Results → Suggest Next Actions

All platform queries run through the hawk binary's op subtree (hawk op …). It authenticates, refreshes tokens, follows pagination, and emits stable JSON. There is no raw-REST fallback — if hawk is unavailable, install it and run hawk init --browser rather than hand-rolling curl. See references/hawk-op-shortcuts.md.

Step 1: Assess Context

Before making any calls, check what's available:

1. Is hawk installed and configured? (hawk version reports v6.0.0 or greater)

   # Identify the driving skill for CLI usage telemetry (read by hawk/hawkop).
   export _STACKHAWK_SKILL=api
   command -v hawk >/dev/null && hawk op status
   

   • valid org + JWT → proceed.
   • installed but unconfigured → hawk init --browser (interactive; the combined binary has no hawk op init — hawk init writes ~/.hawk/hawk.properties, which hawk op reads along with the HAWK_API_KEY env var).
   • not installed → instruct the user to install the hawk CLI (docs: docs.stackhawk.com) and stop; do not fall back to curl.

2. Is hawk op authenticated? For local/agentic use, hawk init --browser stores credentials in ~/.hawk/hawk.properties — no env var needed for interactive sessions. Verify:

   hawk op status
   

   CI/CD only: If running in a pipeline, set HAWK_API_KEY as a secret. hawk op reads it directly — no config file required.

3. Is orgId known? Required for most endpoints.

   • hawk op org get returns the active org UUID.
   • hawk op org set <ID> switches the default org.

4. Route based on user intent:

   User says...	Go to...
   "What's my security posture?" or "dashboard"	Step 3 (org summary)
   "Tell me about [app]'s findings" or "what needs attention"	Step 4 (app deep dive)
   "What apps haven't been scanned recently?"	Step 3 with stale-app focus
   "What changed since last week?" or "what's new"	Step 4 with diff recipe
   "Show me untriaged findings"	Step 3, then drill into Step 4 for flagged apps

Step 2: Authenticate

hawk init --browser once for interactive setup — the CLI stores credentials in ~/.hawk/hawk.properties and hawk op handles token refresh and 401 retry on every call. No further auth work for this skill.

→ Full setup commands (install, CI env var, profiles for org switching): references/hawk-op-shortcuts.md.

Step 3: Org Posture Summary

Goal: Give the user a bird's-eye view of security health across all apps and environments.

Approach

Use hawk op app list and hawk op scan list to assemble an org-level view. hawk op app list --format json returns app metadata; hawk op scan list --format json returns per-scan severity counts. Join on applicationId to build a posture table.

# All apps with metadata (team, type, env count)
hawk op app list --format json

# Recent scans across the org — has per-scan severity counts
hawk op scan list --limit 500 --format json

Fields available per scan: highAlertCount, mediumAlertCount, lowAlertCount, applicationId, environmentName, startedTimestamp, status.

Present as a table

Format the response as:

Resolve applicationId → app name via hawk op app list --format json.

Flag priority items

• Stale apps: startedTimestamp older than 30 days — flag as "No recent scan"
• High severity hotspots: environments with highAlertCount > 0, sorted descending
• Incomplete scans: status not COMPLETED — may indicate config issues

After presenting the table

Offer to drill down on any flagged app:

• "App X has 3 unaddressed High findings — shall I pull the full finding details?"
• → Step 4 for any app the user selects

Full recipe with jq transforms: → references/reporting-recipes.md

Step 4: App Deep Dive

Goal: Get specific finding details for a single app — what was found, where, and what it means.

hawk op scan get (one command covers ~90% of cases)

hawk op scan get walks the scan → alerts → findings chain internally. No manual drill-down, no ID extraction, no token handling.

# Latest scan for an app — overview + alerts table
hawk op scan get --app "<APP_NAME>"

# Full findings with HTTP evidence + remediation (best for AI agent reasoning)
hawk op scan get --app "<APP_NAME>" --detail full --format json

--detail full returns every alert, every affected URI, HTTP messages (subject to --max-body-size), and remediation guidance in one JSON blob.

→ Specific scan IDs, single-alert / single-URI drill-down, --max-findings tuning: references/hawk-op-shortcuts.md §2.

Present findings

Show a structured summary:

• Scan summary: date, duration, total alerts by severity
• Alert breakdown: alert name, severity, CWE, number of affected paths
• Finding details: for High severity — affected URI, HTTP method, parameter, triage status

Link to the scan on the platform:

https://app.stackhawk.com/scans/{scanId}

"What changed?" — diff recipe

Compare two scans: use hawk op scan list to get the two most recent scan IDs for the app, pull alerts for each via hawk op scan get, diff the pluginId sets.

→ Executable recipe (hawk op pipeline with comm diff): references/hawk-op-shortcuts.md §2. → Full jq recipes: references/reporting-recipes.md.

Step 5: Present Results and Suggest Next Actions

Formatting

• Use tables for multi-app/multi-finding summaries
• Use structured lists for single-app deep dives
• Include the platform link (app.stackhawk.com/scans/{scanId}) whenever referencing a specific scan
• Show triage status (NEW, FALSE_POSITIVE, RISK_ACCEPTED, ASSIGNED) alongside each finding

Next action suggestions

Base suggestions on what the data shows:

Platform UI vs API data

Use API data (this skill) when:

• Generating a bulk posture report across many apps
• Comparing findings across scans programmatically
• Building a CI/CD gate decision from scan output

Direct to platform UI when:

• Triaging individual findings (accept, mark false positive)
• Managing API keys, team membership, or app configuration
• Viewing request/response evidence for a specific finding (or use hawk op scan get <SCAN_ID> --uri-id <ID> --message)

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Don't hardcode API keys in scripts — always reference ${HAWK_API_KEY} for CI/CD; store credentials via hawk init --browser for local use; never inline the key value itself.
• Don't confuse orgId with appId — hawk op scan list --app <APP_ID> takes the app UUID. The org is implicit from config; override with --org <ID> if needed. Mixing them returns empty results, not an error.
• Don't attempt triage via API — triage write operations (accept, false positive) are not in scope for this skill. Direct users to the platform UI at app.stackhawk.com.
• Don't report "no findings" without checking path count — an empty findings list may mean the spider didn't crawl enough routes. Low path count on a scan is a coverage gap, not a clean bill of health. Recommend spider tuning via → hawkscan skill.
• Don't forget --detail full when you need the remediation/HTTP message payload. The default hawk op scan get output is the overview — it won't include per-URI evidence.