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Add setup-matt-pocock-skills; rename github-triage to triage; migrate engineering skills to vague prose
Engineering skills no longer hard-code GitHub or specific label strings. A new setup skill scaffolds an `## Agent skills` block in AGENTS.md/CLAUDE.md plus `docs/agents/` so each repo can declare its own backlog backend, triage label vocabulary, and domain doc layout. Skills that need the mapping (to-issues, to-prd, triage) point at the setup skill; skills that only soften with it (diagnose, tdd, improve-codebase-architecture, zoom-out) stay vague. ADR-0001 records the split. Closes #88, #89. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
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# Writing Agent Briefs
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An agent brief is a structured comment posted on a GitHub issue when it moves to `ready-for-agent`. It is the authoritative specification that an AFK agent will work from. The original issue body and discussion are context — the agent brief is the contract.
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## Principles
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### Durability over precision
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The issue may sit in `ready-for-agent` for days or weeks. The codebase will change in the meantime. Write the brief so it stays useful even as files are renamed, moved, or refactored.
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- **Do** describe interfaces, types, and behavioral contracts
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- **Do** name specific types, function signatures, or config shapes that the agent should look for or modify
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- **Don't** reference file paths — they go stale
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- **Don't** reference line numbers
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- **Don't** assume the current implementation structure will remain the same
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### Behavioral, not procedural
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Describe **what** the system should do, not **how** to implement it. The agent will explore the codebase fresh and make its own implementation decisions.
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- **Good:** "The `SkillConfig` type should accept an optional `schedule` field of type `CronExpression`"
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- **Bad:** "Open src/types/skill.ts and add a schedule field on line 42"
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- **Good:** "When a user runs `/triage` with no arguments, they should see a summary of issues needing attention"
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- **Bad:** "Add a switch statement in the main handler function"
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### Complete acceptance criteria
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The agent needs to know when it's done. Every agent brief must have concrete, testable acceptance criteria. Each criterion should be independently verifiable.
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- **Good:** "Running `gh issue list --label needs-triage` returns issues that have been through initial classification"
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- **Bad:** "Triage should work correctly"
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### Explicit scope boundaries
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State what is out of scope. This prevents the agent from gold-plating or making assumptions about adjacent features.
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## Template
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```markdown
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## Agent Brief
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**Category:** bug / enhancement
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**Summary:** one-line description of what needs to happen
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**Current behavior:**
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Describe what happens now. For bugs, this is the broken behavior.
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For enhancements, this is the status quo the feature builds on.
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**Desired behavior:**
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Describe what should happen after the agent's work is complete.
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Be specific about edge cases and error conditions.
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**Key interfaces:**
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- `TypeName` — what needs to change and why
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- `functionName()` return type — what it currently returns vs what it should return
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- Config shape — any new configuration options needed
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**Acceptance criteria:**
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- [ ] Specific, testable criterion 1
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- [ ] Specific, testable criterion 2
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- [ ] Specific, testable criterion 3
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**Out of scope:**
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- Thing that should NOT be changed or addressed in this issue
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- Adjacent feature that might seem related but is separate
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```
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## Examples
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### Good agent brief (bug)
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```markdown
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## Agent Brief
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**Category:** bug
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**Summary:** Skill description truncation drops mid-word, producing broken output
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**Current behavior:**
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When a skill description exceeds 1024 characters, it is truncated at exactly
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1024 characters regardless of word boundaries. This produces descriptions
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that end mid-word (e.g. "Use when the user wants to confi").
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**Desired behavior:**
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Truncation should break at the last word boundary before 1024 characters
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and append "..." to indicate truncation.
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**Key interfaces:**
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- The `SkillMetadata` type's `description` field — no type change needed,
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but the validation/processing logic that populates it needs to respect
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word boundaries
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- Any function that reads SKILL.md frontmatter and extracts the description
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**Acceptance criteria:**
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- [ ] Descriptions under 1024 chars are unchanged
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- [ ] Descriptions over 1024 chars are truncated at the last word boundary
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before 1024 chars
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- [ ] Truncated descriptions end with "..."
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- [ ] The total length including "..." does not exceed 1024 chars
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**Out of scope:**
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- Changing the 1024 char limit itself
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- Multi-line description support
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```
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### Good agent brief (enhancement)
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```markdown
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## Agent Brief
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**Category:** enhancement
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**Summary:** Add `.out-of-scope/` directory support for tracking rejected feature requests
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**Current behavior:**
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When a feature request is rejected, the issue is closed with a `wontfix` label
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and a comment. There is no persistent record of the decision or reasoning.
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Future similar requests require the maintainer to recall or search for the
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prior discussion.
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**Desired behavior:**
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Rejected feature requests should be documented in `.out-of-scope/<concept>.md`
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files that capture the decision, reasoning, and links to all issues that
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requested the feature. When triaging new issues, these files should be
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checked for matches.
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**Key interfaces:**
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- Markdown file format in `.out-of-scope/` — each file should have a
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`# Concept Name` heading, a `**Decision:**` line, a `**Reason:**` line,
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and a `**Prior requests:**` list with issue links
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- The triage workflow should read all `.out-of-scope/*.md` files early
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and match incoming issues against them by concept similarity
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**Acceptance criteria:**
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- [ ] Closing a feature as wontfix creates/updates a file in `.out-of-scope/`
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- [ ] The file includes the decision, reasoning, and link to the closed issue
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- [ ] If a matching `.out-of-scope/` file already exists, the new issue is
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appended to its "Prior requests" list rather than creating a duplicate
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- [ ] During triage, existing `.out-of-scope/` files are checked and surfaced
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when a new issue matches a prior rejection
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**Out of scope:**
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- Automated matching (human confirms the match)
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- Reopening previously rejected features
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- Bug reports (only enhancement rejections go to `.out-of-scope/`)
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```
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### Bad agent brief
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```markdown
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## Agent Brief
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**Summary:** Fix the triage bug
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**What to do:**
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The triage thing is broken. Look at the main file and fix it.
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The function around line 150 has the issue.
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**Files to change:**
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- src/triage/handler.ts (line 150)
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- src/types.ts (line 42)
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```
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This is bad because:
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- No category
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- Vague description ("the triage thing is broken")
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- References file paths and line numbers that will go stale
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- No acceptance criteria
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- No scope boundaries
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- No description of current vs desired behavior
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