What is this thing?

Identifies unfamiliar electronic equipment from a photo of its label, ports or board, or from typed label text, and returns an ID sheet covering make, model, type, likely storage, batteries, whether it's data-bearing, a quarantine recommendation and a confidence level, with what to check to confirm. A person confirms every ID. Use when receiving, intake or a technician meets data-center or industrial gear they can't identify.

Run it as a prompt

Paste this into any AI agent, or fetch it: curl -s https://uplift.page/api/v1/prompts/gear-id-from-photo/raw

prompt.md

# What is this thing?

Help me identify a piece of equipment I can't place, and tell me what could hold data or a battery before anyone takes it apart. I confirm every answer.

## Before you start

Ask me for a photo of the label, the ports or the board, or the label text typed out, then stop and wait. Remind me in one line not to photograph customer asset tags, screens showing data or paperwork with customer names. If I say **"use the sample"**, use the typed labels at the end of this prompt.

## Steps

1. **Read what's visible:** brand, model and part numbers, regulatory marks, port types, drive bays, battery warnings. List exactly what you read, so I can check your reading against the label.
2. **ID sheet,** one per item:
   - make and model, or your best guess and what it's based on;
   - type (server, storage array, switch, appliance, controller, other);
   - storage, likely or confirmed: drives, SSDs, flash, SD cards, or none, and where it would be;
   - batteries: type (coin cell, RAID cache battery, lithium pack, UPS) and whether removable;
   - data-bearing: yes, no or unknown;
   - **quarantine:** yes or no, with a one-line reason;
   - confidence: high, medium or low;
   - **to confirm:** the one or two things a technician should check by hand.
3. **If you're guessing, say so plainly.** Low confidence is useful; false confidence is dangerous.

## Rules

- Never say something holds no data unless the evidence shows it. When unsure, it's data-bearing and quarantined until a person checks.
- Don't invent model numbers or specs. If you can search the web, say which facts came from a search and link them.
- A technician confirms every ID before the item is processed.

## Sample (typed label text, made up for practice)

1. "NetApp DS224C · Model: DS224C · 24x 2.5in · PN 111-03250 · 100-240V"
2. "Cisco UCS C220 M5 · Serial FCH2xxxxxxx · Contains lithium battery CR2032"
3. "Rack unit, no brand visible · front: 12 drive caddies, 2 empty · rear: 2 PSUs, 4 SFP+ ports, 1 serial console port"

Install it as a skill

Agents that support the Agent Skills standard load it automatically when it applies.

download

curl -fsSL https://uplift.page/p/gear-id-from-photo/SKILL.md --create-dirs -o .agents/skills/gear-id-from-photo/SKILL.md

or from any MCP client

MCP server: https://uplift.page/mcp
Tool: pull_skill  {"slug": "gear-id-from-photo"}

The full skill

Help me identify a piece of equipment I can't place, and tell me what could hold data or a battery before anyone takes it apart. I confirm every answer.

Before you start

Ask me for a photo of the label, the ports or the board, or the label text typed out, then stop and wait. Remind me in one line not to photograph customer asset tags, screens showing data or paperwork with customer names. If I say "use the sample", use the typed labels at the end of this prompt.

Steps

Read what's visible: brand, model and part numbers, regulatory marks, port types, drive bays, battery warnings. List exactly what you read, so I can check your reading against the label.
ID sheet, one per item:
- make and model, or your best guess and what it's based on;
- type (server, storage array, switch, appliance, controller, other);
- storage, likely or confirmed: drives, SSDs, flash, SD cards, or none, and where it would be;
- batteries: type (coin cell, RAID cache battery, lithium pack, UPS) and whether removable;
- data-bearing: yes, no or unknown;
- quarantine: yes or no, with a one-line reason;
- confidence: high, medium or low;
- to confirm: the one or two things a technician should check by hand.
If you're guessing, say so plainly. Low confidence is useful; false confidence is dangerous.

Rules

Never say something holds no data unless the evidence shows it. When unsure, it's data-bearing and quarantined until a person checks.
Don't invent model numbers or specs. If you can search the web, say which facts came from a search and link them.
A technician confirms every ID before the item is processed.

Sample (typed label text, made up for practice)

"NetApp DS224C · Model: DS224C · 24x 2.5in · PN 111-03250 · 100-240V"
"Cisco UCS C220 M5 · Serial FCH2xxxxxxx · Contains lithium battery CR2032"
"Rack unit, no brand visible · front: 12 drive caddies, 2 empty · rear: 2 PSUs, 4 SFP+ ports, 1 serial console port"

Served from the uplift.page library and refreshed within 5 minutes of every update.