currency-converter_skill

Overview

This skill provides real-time or near-real-time currency rate lookup and conversion between global currencies. It standardizes user input to ISO 4217 codes, queries an external exchange-rate API, and returns clear, human-friendly conversion results. It supports major currencies such as USD, EUR, CNY, JPY, and GBP.

How this skill works

The skill extracts amount, source currency, and target currency from the user's message, defaulting amount to 1 when omitted. It normalizes currency names or codes to ISO 4217 three-letter codes, calls a backend conversion script or API to fetch the latest rate, and formats the returned JSON into a concise textual reply. Errors from unsupported currencies, invalid amounts, or API/network failures are detected and returned as helpful prompts or error messages.

When to use it

• User asks a direct conversion (e.g., “100 USD to CNY”).
• User requests the current exchange rate between two currencies (e.g., “EUR to GBP rate”).
• User provides an amount and wants the converted total (e.g., “Convert 5000 JPY”).
• User needs a quick estimate for travel, payments, or pricing in another currency.
• User asks for conversion but omits amount — treat as a 1-unit rate check.

Best practices

• Require at least two currency identifiers (source and target); ask a clarifying question if one or both are missing.
• Normalize common currency names and symbols to ISO 4217 codes before calling the rate service.
• Treat omitted amount as 1 for rate-only queries and validate that amounts are positive numbers.
• Detect and surface API or network errors with a friendly retry suggestion.
• Return both the converted amount and the underlying exchange rate for transparency.

Example use cases

• “How much is 100 USD in CNY today?” → returns converted amount and 1 USD = X CNY rate.
• “What's the rate from EUR to GBP?” → shows 1 EUR = X GBP and optionally converts a default amount of 1.
• “Convert 5000 JPY to USD” → validates amount, fetches live rate, and replies with total converted value.
• Travel budgeting: convert hotel prices and daily spending to a home currency.
• E-commerce pricing: show customers approximate totals in their preferred currency.