Agent Init: Modular Guidelines & Persona Governance

This skill analyzes a workspace and establishes or updates a modular documentation structure with a lean agents.md entrypoint.

It manages user directives, strict precautions, and agent persona while keeping agents.md lightweight to minimize system prompt context bloat.

For how LibrAgent loads agents.md / SOUL.md, tool naming, and session isolation, use libragent-harness-reference instead of baking that into agents.md.

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💡 Core Principles

1. Lean Entrypoint (agents.md):
   • agents.md serves as a quick-reference index and command cheat sheet (<200 lines).
   • Contains high-level project summary, critical user directives, desired persona, cheat sheet commands, and pointers to detailed guide files.
2. Modular Guide Architecture (docs/guidelines/):
   • Detailed specifications are split into dedicated files inside docs/guidelines/:
     • architecture-and-files.md: System layout, key file map, module boundaries.
     • coding-standards.md: Style, type safety, error handling, logging, testing, validation commands.
     • persona-and-rules.md: User instructions, desired persona/vibe, strict prohibitions, user preferences.
     • workflows.md: Dev workflows, CI/CD pipelines, release procedures.
3. Selective Reading (Progressive Disclosure):
   • Agents read agents.md on startup and selectively load relevant docs/guidelines/*.md files on demand based on current task scope.
4. Self-Healing & Immediate Updates:
   • When an agent discovers changed file paths, refactored modules, new build scripts, or updated user instructions, it immediately updates the relevant guide file and syncs agents.md.
5. Governance of User Directives & Persona:
   • User instructions, prohibitions, and desired persona are preserved across sessions and strictly governed.

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📋 Step-by-Step Execution Workflow

Step 1: Explore Workspace & Discover Information

Scan the workspace root to collect facts:

• Build & Language Configs: Check package.json, Cargo.toml, pyproject.toml, go.mod, etc.
• Directory Structure: Inspect depth-2 tree (src/, src-tauri/, docs/, lib/, tests/).
• Commands: Extract scripts for dev, build, test, lint, and validation.
• User Directives & Persona: Extract existing user instructions, persona files (SOUL.md), or explicit chat instructions.

Step 2: Create Modular Guide Files in docs/guidelines/

Ensure docs/guidelines/ exists and generate the modular files using templates from references/templates/:

1. docs/guidelines/persona-and-rules.md:
   • Fill using references/templates/persona-and-rules-template.md.
   • Record desired agent persona/vibe, user directives, strict prohibitions, and language preferences.
2. docs/guidelines/architecture-and-files.md:
   • Fill using references/templates/architecture-template.md.
   • Record system architecture diagram, key directory map, key file locations, and layering rules.
3. docs/guidelines/coding-standards.md:
   • Fill using references/templates/coding-standards-template.md.
   • Record formatting/linting rules, type safety rules, error handling conventions, and validation commands.
4. docs/guidelines/workflows.md:
   • Record dev workflow steps, CI/CD pipeline triggers, and PR requirements.

Step 3: Generate or Update Lean agents.md Entrypoint

Create or update agents.md at the workspace root using references/templates/agents-md-template.md:

• Keep agents.md concise (<200 lines).
• Fill project overview, high-level persona & user directives, command cheat sheet, and guide file index.
• Ensure all pointer links to docs/guidelines/*.md are valid relative paths.

Step 4: Apply On-Demand Reading & Immediate Update Protocols

When executing future agent tasks in this workspace:

📖 Selective Reading Protocol

• Read agents.md for overall routing.
• Read docs/guidelines/architecture-and-files.md before refactoring or locating code.
• Read docs/guidelines/coding-standards.md before writing/testing code.
• Read docs/guidelines/persona-and-rules.md when verifying tone, user preferences, or compliance.

🔄 Immediate Update Protocol (Self-Healing)

• If code structure, file paths, commands, or user directives change during work, immediately update the target guide file in docs/guidelines/ using workspace__strReplace.
• Sync agents.md if high-level cheat sheets or summaries changed.
• See references/update-protocol.md for details.

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🛠️ Resources & Templates

• Entrypoint Template: references/templates/agents-md-template.md
• Persona & Rules Template: references/templates/persona-and-rules-template.md
• Architecture Template: references/templates/architecture-template.md
• Coding Standards Template: references/templates/coding-standards-template.md
• Update Protocol Guide: references/update-protocol.md
• Merge Policy Guide: references/merge-policy.md