# Plugin-scope agent provenance file moves to `<plugin-root>/sources.md`

**Partially supersedes:** ADR-0005 (agent-author dual-provider scaffold) — specifically the
claim that "both files share a single `agents/sources.md` for provenance." The rest of
ADR-0005 (dual-provider generation, scope detection, single-root script interface) is
unaffected and remains in force.

**Path update per ADR-0016:** at plugin scope, agent files no longer live at
`<plugin-root>/agents/<name>.md`. The authoring source is now
`<plugin-root>/.apm/agents/<name>.agent.md` — a single vendor-neutral file (no dual Claude/
Copilot pair) compiled to both targets via `apm pack`. See ADR-0016 for why (the field-dropping
rationale, `tools:` incompatibility, the compiled-output mechanics) — not restated here. This
ADR's own conclusion is unaffected by that move: the provenance file still belongs at
`<plugin-root>/sources.md`, outside any directory `claude plugin validate --strict`
auto-scans, and `.apm/agents/` is, if anything, further removed from plugin-root than the old
flat `agents/` directory was, so the reasoning below still holds. References below to
`<plugin-root>/agents/` describe the pre-APM layout in effect when this decision was made.
**Scope boundary (per ADR-0016):** this path change is plugin scope only. Project scope
(`.claude/agents/` + `.github/agents/`) and user scope (`~/.claude/agents/` +
`~/.copilot/agents/`) are unaffected — they are not APM packages and keep the dual-file
Claude+Copilot pair model this ADR originally described.

`claude plugin validate --strict` auto-discovers every `.md` file directly under a plugin's
`agents/` directory and treats it as an agent definition requiring YAML frontmatter (`name`,
`description`, etc.). A flat provenance file at `agents/sources.md` — no frontmatter, by
design, since it is not an agent — fails validation with a missing-frontmatter warning that
`--strict` promotes to an error.

This was first hit in `plugins/git/agents/sources.md` (added by the git-plugin skill suite).
It failed the `validate-plugins` pre-push hook. The stopgap in commit `0239b00` added
throwaway agent frontmatter to unblock the push:

```yaml
---
name: git-agents-sources
description: Provenance record for the git plugin's agents, not an invokable agent. Do not invoke.
tools: none
---
```

That workaround is now reverted — the file no longer lives where it needs to impersonate an
agent to pass validation.

## Considered options

**Exclude via an explicit `agents` manifest array (rejected)** — `plugin.json` supports
`"agents": ["./agents/reviewer.md"]` as an alternative to `"agents": "agents/"`. The
hypothesis was that listing only real agent files would stop the validator from also
discovering `sources.md` in the same directory. Tested empirically on a scratch copy of the
git plugin: `claude plugin validate --strict` still auto-discovered and failed on the
unlisted `sources.md`, regardless of the explicit array. The manifest field controls what
Claude Code loads as agents at runtime; it does not control what the validator scans on
disk. There is no manifest-level or CLI-flag mechanism to exclude a file from `agents/`
auto-discovery.

**Keep the frontmatter workaround permanently (rejected)** — cheapest fix, already applied,
but semantically wrong: it makes a plain provenance record indistinguishable from a real
invokable agent to any tooling or UI that lists available agents (e.g. it could appear as a
callable agent in the `/agents` picker), which is confusing and incorrect.

## Consequences

- The provenance file moves to `<plugin-root>/sources.md` — a flat file, plugin-root
  relative, sitting outside any directory that Claude Code or its validator auto-scans. No
  frontmatter is needed or added.
- `agent-author`'s `new-agent.sh` now writes `<root>/sources.md` instead of
  `<root>/agents/sources.md` at plugin scope.
- `agent-audit`'s `validate-provenance.sh` now looks for `<plugin-root>/sources.md` when
  checking `source_keys` provenance chains.
- All doc and template references to `agents/sources.md` (agent-author `SKILL.md`,
  agent-audit `SKILL.md`/`README.md`, both provider templates) are updated to `sources.md`.
- `plugins/git/agents/sources.md` is relocated to `plugins/git/sources.md` and the
  `0239b00` frontmatter workaround is removed.