lythoskill-arena

name	lythoskill-arena
version	0.17.2
description	Test play for skills and deck configurations. DEFAULT: agent reads config, spawns parallel subagents via native Agent tool, judges outputs. Single-deck test AND multi-deck A/B comparison both run agent-orchestrated (no CLI). Cross-player comparison (kimi vs codex) is the ONLY case that needs the CLI runner. Always restores parent deck. No install, no working-set pollution, no deck overwrite. Subagent-friendly: resumes interrupted runs from saved state. CRITICAL: experiments run in `/tmp`, never in committed directories. Subagent inherits parent CWD — prompt must explicitly set workDir.
when_to_use	TEST a skill before adopting. COMPARE two decks on the same task. BENCHMARK skill performance. CROSS-PLAYER compare kimi vs codex vs claude. Which skill is better, which deck is better, does adding this skill improve my deck, arena single, arena vs, arena compare, test play, Pareto analysis, skill synergy check, security sweep, module audit, try before you buy, quick experiment, A/B test. ALSO trigger when user says "test this skill", "try this deck", "compare A vs B", "audit this package", "sweep for bugs".
allowed-tools	["Bash(bunx @lythos/skill-arena@0.17.2 *)","Bash(bunx @lythos/skill-deck@0.17.2 link *)"]
deck_niche	meta.governance.arena
deck_managed_dirs	["tmp/arena-*/"]

Skill Arena

Test play for skills and deck configurations. Not "which is best" — "which is best for what."

Decision Tree (READ FIRST)

User says: "test/compare/arena/benchmark/A vs B"
    │
    ├── Cross-PLAYER? (kimi vs codex vs claude)
    │   OR user explicitly says useAgent/specific player
    │   OR platform doesn't support Agent tool subagents
    │     → CLI runner REQUIRED (useAgent → Bun.spawn)
    │     → bunx @lythos/skill-arena vs --config arena.toml
    │     → Each side spawns its player CLI process
    │
    └── Same player, different DECKS? (DEFAULT)
          → Agent-orchestrated — NO CLI
          → YOU spawn subagents via Agent tool
          → CLI prepare-workdir + CLI archive + parallel dispatch
          → Judge subagent collects + scores

Default: Agent-Orchestrated (single & cross-deck vs)

This is how arena works 95% of the time. The agent and CLI operate as a two-way control transfer protocol. Agent delegates mechanical invariants to CLI. CLI hands control back via its exit paths (success → next step; error → fix command). Agent stays in its own main loop — the subagent pattern is container spawn, not external RPC.

flowchart TD
    A["🤖 Agent: parse request"] --> B{Cross-PLAYER?}
    B -->|Yes| C[🔧 CLI vs --config]
    B -->|No — DEFAULT| D["🤖 Agent → 🔧 CLI: prepare-workdir"]
    D -->|"✅ workdir ready"| E["🤖 Agent: spawn subagents"]
    E --> F["🤖 Subagents: execute + write artifacts"]
    F --> G["🤖 Agent: collect + spawn judge"]
    G --> H["🤖 Judge: score → report.md"]
    H --> I["🤖 Agent → 🔧 CLI: archive"]
    I -->|"✅ archived"| J["🤖 Agent → 🔧 CLI: deck link restore"]

The protocol in one line: Agent hands to CLI (prepare-workdir, archive, deck link). CLI exits with success (✅ workdir ready → spawn) or HATEOAS error (❌ missing --deck → here's the fix command → retry). Agent reads the exit, decides next move, continues. Three CLI exit points, three handoffs back to agent.

single — test one deck

🤖→🔧 prepare-workdir --out /tmp/arena-xxx --brief "task"
    CLI exits: ✅ Workdir ready → 🤖 spawn subagent
🤖 Agent tool spawn: subagent executes in workdir, writes artifacts + decision-log.jsonl
🤖→🔧 archive --from /tmp/arena-xxx --to ./playground --sides side-a
    CLI exits: ✅ Archive complete → 🤖 done
🤖→🔧 deck link parent deck (restore)

cross-deck vs — compare decks A vs B

🤖→🔧 prepare-workdir × N (each side isolated, each with own deck)
    CLI exits: ✅ Workdir ready × N → 🤖 spawn N subagents in parallel
🤖 Agent tool spawn ×N, run_in_background=true
🤖 Collect artifacts + decision-logs from all sides
🤖 Spawn judge subagent: score per criteria → report.md
🤖→🔧 archive --from /tmp/arena-xxx --to ./playground --sides side-a,side-b
🤖→🔧 deck link parent deck (restore)

Why agent-orchestrated is default: Subagent = container spawn, not external RPC. Agent stays in its own main loop — can read subagent output, fix failures mid-run (switch mirror, adjust timeout, retry), spawn judge. Decision-log.jsonl from each subagent provides full observability. Cross-deck vs IS map-reduce — same agent type, different decks, parallel spawn, judge reduce.

Cross-Player Mode (OPT-IN, CLI only)

Use ONLY when comparing different players (kimi vs codex vs deepseek vs claude). The Agent tool can only spawn the same agent type — it CANNOT simulate another CLI's memory, hooks, or tool-use semantics. This is a hard runtime boundary, not a preference.

# Single deck, explicit player
bunx @lythos/skill-arena@0.17.2 single \
  --deck ./skill-deck.toml \
  --brief "Investigate this repo" \
  --player kimi

# vs mode with arena.toml (each side's player in config)
bunx @lythos/skill-arena@0.17.2 vs --config ./arena.toml

See references/player-setup.md for player discovery, installation, and API key setup.

Standard Posture: Arena as Mindset Validator

Purpose: Verify that a skill's mental model (SOP, behavior pattern, decision chain) actually shapes agent behavior — not just that the skill file is read.

Minimal deck principle: Include ONLY the governance skill (lythoskill-deck) and the target skill under test. Extra skills dilute the signal — you are testing whether the target skill's intent survives when no other skills are there to compensate.

Standard posture (4 steps):

1. Prepare — prepare-workdir with minimal deck

   bunx @lythos/skill-arena@0.17.2 prepare-workdir \
     --deck ./test-deck.toml \
     --out /tmp/arena-$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S) \
     --brief "Execute the target skill's core workflow"
   

2. Dispatch — spawn subagent with decision-log mandate

   • Prompt MUST include: "Your working directory is {workDir}. Deck: {deckPath}. Task: {brief}. MANDATORY: write decision-log.jsonl to your CWD. Each line records a decision you made and why."

3. Observe — collect decision-log, not just artifacts

   • Read decision-log.jsonl from workdir
   • Check: did the subagent follow the skill's declared SOP?
   • Check: did the subagent stop at decision points and ask, or did it guess?
   • Check: are the decisions traceable to the skill's instructions?

4. Judge — score mindset alignment, not output correctness

   • "Did the subagent behave as the skill intended?" > "Was the output correct?"
   • A correct output achieved by guessing is a FAIL — the skill's mental model did not transfer.
   • A wrong output achieved by faithfully following the skill's SOP is valuable feedback — the skill's instructions need refinement.

Why this matters: A skill that declares "MUST FILL" but agents consistently leave empty has a mindset gap — the skill's intent is stated but not enforced by the agent's decision chain. Arena catches this before the skill reaches users.

Agent-Orchestrated Protocol

1. Setup — isolate per side

For EACH side, use prepare-workdir (same behavior as CLI single mode):

# Plan-first: review before executing
bunx @lythos/skill-arena@0.17.2 prepare-workdir \
  --deck ./side-a.toml \
  --out /tmp/arena-$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S)-side-a \
  --brief "task description" \
  --dry-run

# Execute (same command minus --dry-run)
bunx @lythos/skill-arena@0.17.2 prepare-workdir \
  --deck ./side-a.toml \
  --out /tmp/arena-$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S)-side-a \
  --brief "task description"

/tmp is the experiment sandbox. Never run experiments in committed directories. Plan-first (--dry-run) shows skills, workdir path, link needed — review before IO.

2. Preflight self-check (BEFORE dispatch)

pwd && ls .claude/skills/ 2>/dev/null || ls .agents/skills/ 2>/dev/null && touch .arena-write-test && rm .arena-write-test && echo "OK"

If ANY fail → fix before proceeding.

3. Dispatch — parallel spawn

One subagent per side:

subagent prompt:
  "You are an arena cell. Your working directory: {workDir}.
   Deck: {deckPath}.
   Task: {brief}
   MANDATORY: write decision-log.jsonl to your CWD.
   Each line: {"t":<seconds>,"phase":"...","decision":"...","reason":"..."}"

All subagents run in PARALLEL. Each writes to its own isolated workdir. No file conflicts.

Platform note: run_in_background (or your platform's async spawn equivalent) keeps parent unblocked. Subagent inherits parent CWD — include "Your working directory is {workDir}" in the prompt so it cd's to the right place. Subagent skills load from the working set directory in that workdir (default .claude/skills/).

4. Collect + Judge + Report + Archive

After ALL complete:

1. Collect

• Gather artifacts + decision-log.jsonl from each side's workdir

2. Judge

• Spawn judge subagent with all artifacts as context
• Score per criteria → write report.md

3. Archive (same behavior as CLI --out)

Use archive command (same copy logic as CLI single mode). Plan-first: dry-run to review what will be copied, then execute.

# Plan-first
bunx @lythos/skill-arena@0.17.2 archive \
  --from /tmp/arena-$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S) \
  --to playground/arena-$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S) \
  --sides side-a,side-b \
  --report ./report.md \
  --dry-run

# Execute (same minus --dry-run)
bunx @lythos/skill-arena@0.17.2 archive \
  --from /tmp/arena-$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S) \
  --to playground/arena-$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S) \
  --sides side-a,side-b \
  --report ./report.md

Archive contract (same skipSet as CLI --out: skips .claude, skill-deck.toml, skill-deck.lock, AGENTS.md) (same as CLI default):

File	Required	Purpose
report.md	YES	Comparative analysis + verdict
README.md	YES	Deck configs, task brief, run metadata
{side}/decision-log.jsonl	YES	Agent reasoning per side
{side}/artifacts/*	YES	HTML, docx, pdf, etc.
reproduce.sh	NO	Shell script recording prepare-workdir + archive commands (agent spawn is manual, CLI commands are reproducible)

4. Restore

• deck link --deck ./skill-deck.toml

Reference passing (don't inline large context)

If task context is large (cortex cards, research notes), pass file REFERENCES, not inline text:

TASK: Review the API design.
Read: docs/adr/ADR-xxx.md, docs/patterns/xxx.md
Then implement in src/.

Subagent has the same Read capability — shorter prompt, lower cost, can re-read. Use inlining only for small, self-contained tasks.

CLI Quick Reference

# single — most common
bunx @lythos/skill-arena@0.17.2 single \
  --deck ./deck.toml --brief "task" --out ./output

# vs — declarative config
bunx @lythos/skill-arena@0.17.2 vs --config ./arena.toml

# Parameters
# --brief "<prompt>"    Inline task (primary input for single)
# --deck <path|url>     Deck for single subagent (URL auto-fetched)
# --player <name>       Only for cross-player: kimi|codex|deepseek|claude
# --timeout <ms>        Complex tasks need 300000-600000
# --out <dir>           All artifacts copy here after run
# --config <path>       arena.toml for vs mode
# --dry-run             Print execution plan without running

Constraints

• max 5 sides per arena run
• RESTORE parent deck after every run: deck link --deck ./skill-deck.toml
• deny-by-default: skills not in the arena deck are invisible to subagents

Gotchas

CLI scaffolds, agent executes: The CLI only creates directories + deck files. It does NOT dispatch subagents or score outputs.

Agent tool CANNOT cross-player: Only Bun.spawn can call different CLI binaries. Agent tool spawn is same-agent only.

Judge is not a script: Semantic comparison ("which better fits the scenario") requires LLM inference. Token counting is scriptable; judgment is not.

vs does not pick a winner: Pareto frontier analysis — a cheap-medium-quality deck and expensive-high-quality deck can both be non-dominated.

Subagent spawn parameters (Claude Code baseline — adapt to your platform):

Parameter	What it does	What it does NOT do
run_in_background	Async spawn. Parent continues. Completion triggers notification.	Does NOT change subagent CWD. Must set via prompt.
prompt	Initial instructions to subagent.	Does NOT auto-load skills. Skills load from subagent's actual workdir.
subagent_type	Which agent implementation (claude, general-purpose, etc.) handles the task.	Does NOT set cross-player mode. Cross-player requires CLI runner with --player.

Supporting References

When you need to…	Read
Set up players, API keys, discovery	references/player-setup.md
Look up arena.toml or player config schema	references/configuration-schemas.md
Understand Pareto frontier scoring	references/pareto-analysis.md
Map arena operations to card game test play	references/test-play-model.md
Detect deck synergy and combos	references/combo-and-synergy.md
Set up continuous monitoring	references/continuous-monitoring.md
Let agent self-initiate arena runs	references/agent-autonomous-arena.md
Review design principles	references/design-principles.md
Write or run reproduce.sh BDD scenarios	references/reproduce-sh-bdd-contract.md