SmartPot Deployment
SmartPot tools bridge NOAA tide data with autonomous crab pot operations. This guide walks through a typical deployment conversation — from checking conditions before you head out, through monitoring a multi-day soak, to analyzing catch patterns over time.
Checking conditions before you go
Section titled “Checking conditions before you go”“I want to deploy crab pots near Anacortes. Is now a good time?”
The assistant starts by figuring out what the tide is doing right now at your location. It finds the nearest NOAA station (Anacortes, 9448576) and classifies the current tidal phase.
Right now it’s mid-flood — the tide has been rising for about 2.5 hours since a −0.42 ft low, heading toward a 9.87 ft high in about 3.5 hours. That’s 44% through the flood phase.
The assistant called tidal_phase with your GPS coordinates. It automatically found the nearest tidal station (Anacortes, 7.2 nm away) and classified the current phase as “flood” with 44.3% progress. The response includes the bracketing high/low events and the latest observed water level.
{ "latitude": 48.3928, "longitude": -122.6775}{ "station": { "id": "9448576", "name": "Anacortes" }, "station_distance_nm": 7.2, "phase": "flood", "description": "Tide is rising (flood) — water moving shoreward", "previous": { "type": "low", "time": "2026-02-22 11:48", "level_ft": -0.42 }, "next": { "type": "high", "time": "2026-02-22 17:54", "level_ft": 9.87 }, "progress_pct": 44.3, "latest_observed": { "time": "2026-02-22 14:24", "level_ft": 4.61 }}Getting a deployment assessment
Section titled “Getting a deployment assessment”The assistant then runs a full deployment briefing — evaluating wind, water temperature, pressure, and tide schedule against safety thresholds to produce a GO, CAUTION, or NO-GO recommendation.
For a 48-hour soak starting now, the briefing comes back GO:
- Wind: 8.2 knots sustained, gusts to 12.4 from the NW
- Water temperature: 46.3°F
- Pressure: 1018.4 mb, stable
- Tidal cycles during soak: 4 complete cycles
- Advisories: none
The assistant called deployment_briefing with your coordinates and a 48-hour soak window. It automatically found the nearest station, fetched the tide schedule for the full soak period, pulled current weather conditions, and applied threshold logic to produce the assessment.
{ "latitude": 48.3928, "longitude": -122.6775, "soak_hours": 48}{ "station": { "id": "9448576", "name": "Anacortes" }, "soak_window": { "hours": 48, "tidal_cycles": 4 }, "conditions": { "wind": { "speed_kn": 8.2, "gust_kn": 12.4, "direction": "NW" }, "water_temperature_f": 46.3, "air_pressure_mb": 1018.4 }, "assessment": "GO", "advisories": []}Assessment thresholds
Section titled “Assessment thresholds”The briefing applies these criteria automatically:
| Condition | GO | CAUTION | NO-GO |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sustained wind | Under 15 kn | 15–20 kn | Over 20 kn |
| Wind gusts | Under 25 kn | 25–30 kn | Over 30 kn |
| Water temperature | Above 40°F | — | — (advisory below 40°F) |
| Barometric pressure | Stable or rising | — | — (advisory if falling > 3 mb) |
Monitoring during the soak
Section titled “Monitoring during the soak”A day into the soak, you check in:
“How are conditions looking at my pot deployment site? Any anomalies?”
The assistant compares observed water levels against predictions to detect storm surge, seiche events, or unusual deviations. For the past 6 hours, everything is tracking normally — max deviation is 0.31 ft, well within the 0.5 ft threshold.
The assistant called water_level_anomaly for station 9448576, comparing the last 6 hours of observed water levels against predictions. A deviation under the threshold (0.5 ft default) means conditions are tracking the forecast — no action needed.
{ "station_id": "9448576", "window_hours": 6, "threshold_ft": 0.5}{ "risk_level": "normal", "explanation": "Water levels within 0.5 ft of predictions — conditions as expected", "max_deviation_ft": 0.31, "mean_deviation_ft": 0.14, "direction": "above", "sample_count": 60}Risk levels
Section titled “Risk levels”| Risk | Deviation | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| normal | Under threshold | Tracking predictions — no action needed |
| elevated | 1× to 2× threshold | Moderate deviation — monitor more frequently |
| high | Over 2× threshold | Possible storm surge or seiche — consider early recovery |
Analyzing catch patterns
Section titled “Analyzing catch patterns”After several deployments, you have catch records to analyze:
“I’ve been logging my catches. Can you tell me if tidal conditions affect my numbers?”
Pass your catch events to the assistant and it enriches each one with the tidal phase at that time and location. Over time, patterns emerge — maybe mid-flood retrievals consistently outperform ebb retrievals, or catches peak during spring tides.
The assistant called catch_tidal_context with your batch of events. Each event is returned with a tidal key showing the phase, progress percentage, and reference station at the time of retrieval. All your original fields (catch_count, species, bait_type, etc.) pass through unchanged.
{ "events": [ { "timestamp": "2026-02-18T10:30:00Z", "latitude": 48.3928, "longitude": -122.6775, "catch_count": 14, "species": "dungeness" }, { "timestamp": "2026-02-19T16:15:00Z", "latitude": 48.3895, "longitude": -122.6810, "catch_count": 22, "species": "dungeness" } ]}{ "timestamp": "2026-02-19T16:15:00Z", "catch_count": 22, "species": "dungeness", "tidal": { "station_id": "9448576", "phase": "flood", "progress_pct": 62.4, "previous": { "type": "low", "time": "2026-02-19 12:30", "level_ft": 0.81 }, "next": { "type": "high", "time": "2026-02-19 18:48", "level_ft": 10.12 } }}The orchestrated workflow
Section titled “The orchestrated workflow”For a complete deployment assessment in one shot, ask your assistant to use the smartpot_deployment prompt. It ties together station discovery, tidal phase, deployment briefing, and anomaly detection into a single guided workflow — producing an overall recommendation with optimal timing, expected tidal cycles, safety concerns, and a suggested recovery window.
The smartpot_deployment prompt accepts latitude, longitude, and soak_hours as parameters. It walks through each assessment step and synthesizes the results into a deployment plan.
{ "latitude": "48.3928", "longitude": "-122.6775", "soak_hours": "48"}