holocron/plugins/kyberforge/skills/agent-author/SKILL.md

name, description, allowed-tools, metadata

name	description	allowed-tools	metadata
agent-author	Use when the user wants to create a new agent definition file from scratch ("write an agent for X", "build a subagent that does Y", "create an agent definition for Z"), or improve an existing one. Handles agent definitions at plugin/APM, project, and user scope. Project and user scope always generate a Claude Code (`.md`) + Copilot CLI (`.agent.md`) file pair in one pass; plugin/APM scope generates a single vendor-neutral `.apm/agents/<name>.agent.md` file instead (no per-target Claude Code / Copilot split). Also use when the user provides inline feedback about an agent's behavior and wants it applied, or when a grill session has produced findings the user wants acted on — even if they don't say "improve" explicitly. Do not use for read-only review — examine agent files manually or run a grill session to generate improvement signals. Do not use to author skills — use /skill-author instead.	Bash Read Write Edit	category source_keys factory context7-websites-code-claude claude-code-plugins-docs claude-code-subagents-docs context7-github-en-copilot github-custom-agents-configuration github-cli-plugin-reference github-plugins-creating

Gotchas

• At plugin/APM scope, bump the resolved package's apm.yml version after every change — minor for a new agent, patch for a fix. Consumers compare this version to detect updates; skipping it hides the change.
• At plugin/APM scope, tools and all Claude-only fields (isolation, maxTurns, effort, memory, permissionMode, disallowedTools, skills, color, initialPrompt, background, hooks, mcpServers) are omitted entirely, not merely restricted (ADR-0016: apm compile copies frontmatter verbatim to both harnesses with no per-target integrator, so a harness-specific value is wrong on at least one). Only project/user scope supports these fields.
• An apm.yml with no top-level type: field is a marketplace-only manifest, not a package root — the walk-up skips it and keeps going.
• AskUserQuestion, EnterPlanMode, ExitPlanMode, ScheduleWakeup, and WaitForMcpServers are never available to any subagent regardless of the tools field. Exception: ExitPlanMode is available when the parent session runs in permissionMode: plan.
• Duplicate name values in the same scope: Claude Code silently discards one without warning. Always verify uniqueness before shipping.
• Plugin agents in subdirectories get scoped identifiers (plugin:folder:name) — keep agents flat in agents/ to avoid this. Applies to project/user-scope Claude Code agents only.
• Copilot CLI agent files must use the .agent.md extension — a plain .md file isn't picked up. The plugin/APM-scope single file also ends in .agent.md by convention, but it's vendor-neutral, not Copilot-only — it compiles to Claude Code too.
• Copilot has no permissionMode, maxTurns, isolation, or memory fields — do not include them in project/user-scope Copilot files.
• model resolution order for Claude Code: CLAUDE_CODE_SUBAGENT_MODEL env var → per-invocation parameter → frontmatter model → main session model. The frontmatter value is a low-priority default, not a guarantee.

Route

If the destination resolves to plugin/APM scope (scope detection in Step 1 finds a type:-bearing apm.yml at or above the root), read references/deployment-modes.md.

Determine which flow before touching the filesystem:

• Neither <name>.md nor <name>.agent.md exist at the target paths → follow Creating a new agent
• At least one file exists + improvement signals present → follow Improving an existing agent
• At least one file exists + no signals → ask: "No improvement signals found. Did you mean to create a new agent, or do you have feedback to apply?"

Signals: grill session output, inline user feedback, session context describing what went wrong.

Creating a new agent

Prerequisites

Before touching the filesystem, confirm you have:

• Agent name (kebab-case, e.g. code-reviewer)
• Root directory (a path inside a package for plugin/APM scope, project root, or ~ for user scope)
• Agent purpose — one sentence describing the task this agent handles
• Trigger condition — when should the runtime delegate to this agent?

If any are missing, stop and ask before proceeding. Then capture git log --oneline -1 before touching the filesystem — Step 5 needs it to verify a real commit landed.

Verify kyberforge:agent-audit is available — it ships with the kyberforge plugin and is co-installed with this skill. If unavailable, stop and tell the user to install the kyberforge plugin before continuing.

Step 1 — Scaffold

Run the scaffold script with the agent name and root directory:

bash scripts/new-agent.sh <name> <root>

Examples:

bash scripts/new-agent.sh code-reviewer packages/my-package/   # plugin/APM scope if packages/my-package/apm.yml has a type: field
bash scripts/new-agent.sh deploy-assistant .
bash scripts/new-agent.sh security-reviewer ~

Scope detection (script handles this automatically). The script walks up from <root> for a package boundary — same shape agent-audit's validate.sh uses:

• Nearest ancestor apm.yml with a top-level type: field (instructions/skill/hybrid/prompts) → plugin/APM scope → <package-root>/.apm/agents/<name>.agent.md (single vendor-neutral file). A type:-less apm.yml is marketplace-only — skipped, walk continues upward.
• No such apm.yml, <root> is a project directory → project scope (unchanged) → <root>/.claude/agents/<name>.md + <root>/.github/agents/<name>.agent.md
• <root> is exactly ~ (checked directly, no walk-up) → user scope (unchanged) → ~/.claude/agents/<name>.md + ~/.copilot/agents/<name>.agent.md

A bare plugin.json with no apm.yml no longer signals plugin scope — that path is fully replaced, not dual-mode; it falls through to project scope.

The script is file-by-file no-op — it skips any file that already exists.

Step 2 — Fill in the agent file(s)

At plugin/APM scope, there is exactly one file: <package-root>/.apm/agents/<name>.agent.md. Frontmatter carries ONLY name, description, optionally model, and optionally source_keys (provenance metadata, not a runtime field — see the template) — never tools or the other Claude-only fields listed in Gotchas (ADR-0016). Fill in name, description, model, and the system prompt body per the guidance below; the rest of this step's field-by-field guidance (tools, maxTurns, effort, memory, isolation, disallowedTools, skills, color, initialPrompt, background) is project/user scope only. Skip Step 3 and go to Step 4.

At project/user scope, continue below to fill in both provider files — this step covers the Claude Code file (<name>.md); Step 3 covers the Copilot file.

Open the scaffolded Claude Code file. Replace every FILL IN: placeholder. Remove all template documentation comments from the YAML frontmatter after filling in required fields — these are marked with <!-- and --> and must be deleted before shipping.

name — lowercase letters and hyphens only. Must be unique within the scope.

description — the most important field for autonomous delegation:

• Start with an action verb: "Reviews...", "Analyzes...", "Generates..."
• If this agent should trigger without explicit user direction, include "Use proactively" in the description
• Specific about the triggering condition and expertise domain
• Under 300 characters preferred

tools (project/user scope only — never at plugin/APM scope) — restrict to what the agent actually needs. Omit to inherit all tools. Use Agent(type1,type2) to limit which subagent types this agent can spawn; omit Agent entirely to prevent spawning.

Optional fields worth considering (project/user scope only — never at plugin/APM scope):

• model: set when this agent needs a different capability tier (haiku for fast tasks, opus for deep reasoning)
• maxTurns: set a cap to prevent runaway agents on bounded tasks
• effort: set to low for single-lookup tasks, high or above for deep reasoning or multi-file analysis — overrides session effort level; omit to inherit
• memory: user, project, or local — only when cross-session state is genuinely needed
• isolation: worktree — only when the agent modifies files and needs an isolated copy
• disallowedTools: space-separated denylist applied before tools; supports mcp__* glob patterns (e.g. disallowedTools: mcp__filesystem__*)
• skills: list of skill names preloaded at agent startup — different from the source_keys metadata field
• color: UI color for the agent tile (red, blue, green, yellow, purple, orange, pink, cyan)
• initialPrompt: auto-submitted as the first turn when this agent activates as the main session thread; only set when this agent is intended for main-thread activation
• background: set true to force background execution

source_keys — top-level list of research source slugs that informed this agent. Add only when research sources were used (i.e. entries with `extracted` status are in context from a prior /research session). Each slug must match an H2 heading in sources.md — see Step 4 for where that file lives (plugin/APM scope only). Omit entirely when no research was used.

source_keys:
  - my-source-slug

System prompt body — write as a direct role instruction:

• Open with: "You are a [role]. When invoked, [primary action]."
• Cover: inputs expected, process steps, output format, error handling
• One job per agent

Step 3 — Fill in the Copilot agent file (project/user scope only)

Skip this step entirely at plugin/APM scope — there is no separate Copilot file there. The single .apm/agents/<name>.agent.md file from Step 2 already compiles to both Claude Code and Copilot CLI via apm compile.

Two distinct Copilot agent formats exist, with different paths and field sets. Choose one based on the deployment target:

CLI format (default — what the scaffold creates):

• Path: .github/agents/<name>.agent.md (project) or ~/.copilot/agents/<name>.agent.md (user)
• Extension: must be .agent.md
• Supported fields: name (required), description (required), tools (optional)
• tools uses Copilot aliases: execute (shell), read, edit, search, agent, web
• Body length limit: 30,000 characters — content beyond this is silently truncated

Cloud/IDE format (use when targeting Copilot Chat in VS Code or GitHub.com):

• Path: .github/copilot/agents/<name>.md (note: plain .md, different directory)
• Additional fields available: target (vscode, github-copilot, or omit for both), user-invocable (set false to hide from manual invocation), disable-model-invocation (set true to require explicit user invocation), mcp-servers (MCP server config — processed by cloud runtime, ignored in VS Code)
• Body length limit: 30,000 characters — silently truncated

Do not include Claude Code-only fields in either format: maxTurns, isolation, memory, permissionMode, effort, hooks, mcpServers.

source_keys — add the same top-level list as the CC file when research sources were used. Omit when no research was used.

Remove all template documentation comments from the YAML frontmatter after filling in required fields — these are marked with <!-- and --> and must be deleted before shipping.

The system prompt body should match the Claude Code version — the agent's task definition is the same across providers.

Step 4 — Populate or delete sources.md (plugin/APM scope only)

Skip at project/user scope. The file lives at the package root (alongside apm.yml), not inside .apm/agents/ — otherwise tooling that scans that directory for agent definitions would treat it as an agent needing frontmatter (ADR-0010).

If a research sources.md is present in the conversation context:

1. Filter to entries with `extracted` status only.
2. For each entry, identify which agent file it contributed to.
3. Write sources.md at the package root using the format below. Paths in Contributing files: are relative to the package root.

# Sources

## slug-name

- **URL:** <source URL>
- **Research doc:** <path/to/research/sources.md relative to repo root>
- **Description:** <what this source covers>
- **Contributing files:** .apm/agents/<name>.agent.md
- **Status:** `extracted`

Each slug must match an H2 heading, and each slug must also appear in the source_keys list of the file listed under Contributing files:.

If no research sources are in context, delete sources.md.

Step 5 — Validate and close

Run this checklist before invoking the audit:

Plugin/APM scope — single file (<name>.agent.md):

• name field present, kebab-case, unique in scope
• description field present and action-first
• Frontmatter contains ONLY name, description, and optionally model (plus source_keys if research-sourced) — no tools, isolation, maxTurns, effort, memory, permissionMode, disallowedTools, skills, color, initialPrompt, background, hooks, or mcpServers
• System prompt body present and non-empty
• No FILL IN: placeholders remain
• No <!-- --> template comments remain in frontmatter

Project/user scope — Claude Code file (<name>.md):

• name field present, kebab-case, unique in scope
• description field present and action-first
• System prompt body present and non-empty
• No FILL IN: placeholders remain
• No <!-- --> template comments remain in frontmatter

Project/user scope — Copilot CLI file (<name>.agent.md):

• File extension is .agent.md (not .md)
• name field matches the filename stem (e.g. name: my-agent in my-agent.agent.md)
• description field present
• No Claude Code-only fields (maxTurns, isolation, memory, permissionMode, effort, hooks, mcpServers)
• System prompt body present and non-empty
• Body does not exceed 30,000 characters
• No <!-- --> template comments remain in frontmatter

At plugin/APM scope, apply a minor bump to the resolved package's apm.yml version (single manifest, e.g. 1.0.4 → 1.1.0).

Invoke kyberforge:agent-audit on the created file(s) before closing — validates the pair at project/user scope, the single file at plugin/APM scope.

Commit verification. Capture git log --oneline -1 before Step 1 and keep it. Once the audit is clean, run git add and git commit for the new agent files — do not stop at staging. Then run git log --oneline -1 again and confirm the hash changed from the one you captured at the start. A non-empty git diff --stat is not sufficient proof of completion: staged-but-uncommitted work isn't part of any commit and can be silently lost if the working tree is cleaned up before a commit lands. Only report the agent as done once the hash has actually changed.

Improving an existing agent

Step 1 — Verify inputs

Confirm the agent files exist and at least one improvement signal is present in the conversation or a referenced file.

If no signals: "This skill applies existing signals to an agent. For a blind review, examine the files manually or run a grill session first."

Verify kyberforge:agent-audit is available — it ships with the kyberforge plugin and is co-installed with this skill. If unavailable, stop and tell the user to install the kyberforge plugin before continuing.

Capture git log --oneline -1 now, before making any edits — Step 5 needs it to verify a real commit landed.

Partial state (project/user scope only) — if one provider file exists but not the other, scaffold the missing one (bash scripts/new-agent.sh <name> <root>, file-by-file no-op) then continue. Doesn't apply at plugin/APM scope — single file, no partial-pair state.

Step 2 — Gather and group signals

Read the current agent file(s). Collect all signals from the conversation.

Group by root cause, not symptom. One root cause → one fix.

Example:
- User feedback: agent keeps trying to push to remote
- Session context: no scope boundary in system prompt
→ Root cause: system prompt lacks git scope constraint → fix: add explicit boundary

Step 3 — Announce planned changes

Before editing, state which root causes were identified, what evidence supports each, and which files will change. Then proceed — edits are reversible via git.

Step 4 — Apply changes

Edit any file the signals point to. Generalize the fix — find the underlying gap, not the specific example that failed. For every sentence you add, ask: "Would the agent get this wrong without it?" A shorter, focused definition consistently outperforms an exhaustive one. For Copilot files, verify no Claude Code-only fields are introduced. For a plugin/APM-scope single file, verify no field beyond name, description, model, and source_keys is introduced.

If the edit adds or removes research-sourced content, update source_keys in the edited file(s) and the corresponding entry in sources.md per Create flow's Step 4.

Step 5 — Validate and close

Re-run the validation checklist from the create flow's Step 5 on any edited file.

At plugin/APM scope, apply a patch bump to the resolved package's apm.yml version (e.g. 1.0.4 → 1.0.5).

Invoke kyberforge:agent-audit on the edited file(s) to confirm no regressions — the pair at project/user scope, the single file at plugin/APM scope.

Commit verification. Capture git log --oneline -1 at the start of Step 1 and keep it. Once the audit is clean, run git add and git commit for the changed files — do not stop at staging. Then run git log --oneline -1 again and confirm the hash changed from the one you captured at the start. A non-empty git diff --stat is not sufficient proof of completion: staged-but-uncommitted work isn't part of any commit and can be silently lost if the working tree is cleaned up before a commit lands. Only report the improvement as done once the hash has actually changed.