agents

name	Agents
description	Compose CUSTOM agents from Base Traits + Voice + Specialization, and manage predefined functional TEAMS. Traits combine expertise (security, technical, research), personality (skeptical, analytical, enthusiastic), and approach (thorough, rapid, systematic). ComposeAgent.ts merges base + user config, outputs unique prompt + ElevenLabs voice + prosody. Predefined teams: engineering, architecture, marketing, design, security, research, content, strategy — each YAML-configured with roles, tensions, and specialist members. Observer team variant: read-only oversight agents that vote continue/halt/escalate against the tool-activity audit log (high-blast-radius or unattended runs only). USE WHEN create custom agents, spin up agents, specialized agents, agent personalities, available traits, list traits, agent voices, compose agent, spawn parallel agents, launch agents, engineering team, architecture team, marketing team, design team, security team, research team, content team, strategy team, get the team on this, observer team, audit agents. NOT FOR ad-hoc swarms or TeamCreate coordination (use Delegation). NOT FOR single-threaded delegation without unique identities (use Delegation Task).
effort	medium

🚨 SCOPE BOUNDARY — This Skill vs Other Systems

the user Says	Which System	Route
"custom agents", "specialized agents", "spin up agents"	THIS SKILL → CreateCustomAgent workflow	ComposeAgent → Task(general-purpose)
"engineering team", "security team", "[name] team: do X"	THIS SKILL → SpawnTeam workflow	Load YAML config → ComposeAgent per member → parallel Task calls
"just the QA lead and senior engineer on this"	THIS SKILL → SpawnTeam (subset)	Filter team members → compose subset
"swarm", "create an agent team" (ad-hoc coordination)	Built-in TeamCreate (Delegation skill)	Persistent shared task list, messaging

Predefined teams (engineering, architecture, marketing, design, security, research, content, strategy) = THIS SKILL → SpawnTeam workflow. These are predefined specialist groups with YAML configs, not ad-hoc teams.

Ad-hoc agent teams/swarms (no predefined config, custom coordination) = Built-in TeamCreate via Delegation skill.

• Custom agents = one-shot parallel workers with unique ComposeAgent identities
• Predefined teams = YAML-configured specialist groups with roles, tensions, and expertise
• Ad-hoc teams (TeamCreate) = persistent coordinated teams with shared task lists, messaging

---

🚨 MANDATORY: Voice Notification (REQUIRED BEFORE ANY ACTION)

You MUST send this notification BEFORE doing anything else when this skill is invoked.

1. Send voice notification:

   curl -s -X POST http://localhost:31337/notify \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     -d '{"message": "Running the WORKFLOWNAME workflow in the Agents skill to ACTION"}' \
     > /dev/null 2>&1 &
   

2. Output text notification:

   Running the **WorkflowName** workflow in the **Agents** skill to ACTION...
   

This is not optional. Execute this curl command immediately upon skill invocation.

Agents - Custom Agent Composition System

Auto-routes when user mentions custom agents, agent creation, or specialized personalities. Does NOT handle agent teams/swarms — "agent team" or "swarm" = built-in Claude Code TeamCreate tool.

Configuration: Base + User Merge

The Agents skill uses the standard PAI SYSTEM/USER two-tier pattern:

Location	Purpose	Updates With PAI?
Data/Traits.yaml	Base traits, example voices	Yes
USER/SKILLCUSTOMIZATIONS/Agents/Traits.yaml	Your voices, prosody, agents	No

How it works: ComposeAgent.ts loads base traits, then merges user customizations over them. Your customizations are never overwritten by PAI updates.

User Customization Directory

Create your customizations at:

~/.claude/PAI/USER/SKILLCUSTOMIZATIONS/Agents/
├── Traits.yaml       # Your traits, voices, prosody settings
├── NamedAgents.md    # Your named agent backstories (optional)
└── VoiceConfig.json  # Voice server configuration (optional)

Voice Prosody Settings

Each voice can have prosody settings that control how it sounds. These are passed to ElevenLabs API.

Prosody Parameters

Parameter	Range	Default	Effect
stability	0.0-1.0	0.5	Low = expressive/varied, High = consistent/monotone
similarity_boost	0.0-1.0	0.75	Voice identity preservation
style	0.0-1.0	0.0	Style exaggeration (higher = more dramatic)
speed	0.7-1.2	1.0	Speech rate
use_speaker_boost	boolean	true	Enhanced clarity (adds latency)

Example Voice Configuration

In your USER/SKILLCUSTOMIZATIONS/Agents/Traits.yaml:

voice_mappings:
  voice_registry:
    # Add a new voice with full prosody settings
    MyCustomVoice:
      voice_id: "your-elevenlabs-voice-id"
      characteristics: ["energetic", "warm", "professional"]
      description: "Custom voice for enthusiastic agents"
      prosody:
        stability: 0.40
        similarity_boost: 0.75
        style: 0.30
        speed: 1.05
        use_speaker_boost: true

    # Override prosody for an existing base voice
    Baron:
      prosody:
        stability: 0.65
        style: 0.10
        speed: 0.92

Personality → Prosody Guidelines

Personality	stability	style	speed	Rationale
Skeptical	0.60	0.10	0.95	Measured, precise
Enthusiastic	0.35	0.40	1.10	High energy
Analytical	0.65	0.08	0.95	Clear, structured
Bold	0.45	0.35	1.05	Confident, dynamic
Cautious	0.70	0.05	0.90	Careful, deliberate

Overview

The Agents skill is a complete agent composition and management system:

• Dynamic agent composition from traits (expertise + personality + approach)
• Voice mappings with full prosody control
• Custom agent creation with unique voices
• Parallel agent orchestration patterns

Workflow Routing

Available Workflows:

• CREATECUSTOMAGENT — Create specialized custom agents → Workflows/CreateCustomAgent.md
• LISTTRAITS — Show available agent traits → Workflows/ListTraits.md
• SPAWNPARALLEL — Launch parallel agents → Workflows/SpawnParallelAgents.md
• SPAWNTEAM — Launch a predefined functional team → Workflows/SpawnTeam.md
• SPAWNOBSERVERS — Launch read-only observer team validating tool calls → Workflows/SpawnObservers.md

Observer Team Archetype

Distinct from functional teams (engineering, design, etc.). An Observer team watches what a primary agent DID — not what it said. Inspired by Mythos-class multi-agent oversight: high-capability primary model produces tool calls, lower-capability aligned observers validate each call against policy and intent in real time.

Shape:

• Read-only — observers never mutate state, never call write tools. Violations of this property = immediate stop.
• Fed the audit log — consume MEMORY/OBSERVABILITY/tool-activity.jsonl (with ground_truth captured by ToolActivityTracker.hook.ts), not chat transcripts.
• Vote: continue / halt / escalate — majority rule, any escalate bubbles to the user via Pulse.
• Cost-justified by catastrophe prevention, not feature velocity. Only spawn when primary model is doing something high-blast-radius (mass file writes, deploys, key rotations, financial ops).

Use ONLY when BOTH conditions hold:

1. Time is not a constraint. Observers add 30-second voting cycles + ~$0.10/primary-hour. They deliberately trade speed for safety — not for interactive work.
2. Auditability is the primary requirement. The goal is a defensible, reviewable trail of what the primary actually did (compliance, post-incident review, catastrophe prevention) — not fast turnaround.

Typical fit:

• Overnight / unattended autonomous runs where the user isn't watching
• Production deploys where post-hoc review matters more than speed
• Credential rotation, permission changes, PATTERNS.yaml or security-hook edits
• Anything where "I want to prove nothing dangerous happened" is the goal

Do NOT use for:

• Interactive sessions with the user watching
• Time-sensitive work of any kind
• Short reactive tasks (<5 tool calls)
• Read-only analysis
• Work already covered by preflight gates A/B/C/D

Route Triggers

User Says	Workflow	What Happens
"custom agents", "specialized agents", "create custom agents"	CreateCustomAgent	ComposeAgent → unique personalities, voices, colors
"agents", "launch agents", "bunch of agents"	SpawnParallel	Same identity, parallel grunt work
"engineering team", "security team", "[name] team: do X"	SpawnTeam	Load YAML config → compose specialist members → parallel launch
"just the QA lead and senior engineer"	SpawnTeam (subset)	Filter to named members from team config
"use [named agent]"	Named agent	Pre-defined personality from USER config

Available Predefined Teams

Team	Trigger	Members
Engineering	"engineering team", "eng team"	Senior Engineer, QA Lead, Performance Engineer, DevOps
Architecture	"architecture team", "architect team"	Systems, Infrastructure, API, Data architects
Marketing	"marketing team"	Growth Strategist, Positioning Expert, Community Manager, Analytics Lead
Design	"design team"	UX Lead, Visual Designer, Interaction Designer, Accessibility Specialist
Security	"security team"	Threat Modeler, AppSec Engineer, Red Teamer, Compliance Analyst
Research	"research team"	Primary Researcher, Contrarian Analyst, Technical Evaluator, Synthesis Writer
Content	"content team"	Editor-in-Chief, Staff Writer, Audience Analyst, Distribution Strategist
Strategy	"strategy team"	Strategist, Operator, Financial Analyst, Risk Assessor, Contrarian

NEVER use static agent types (Architect, Engineer, etc.) for custom agents — always use general-purpose with ComposeAgent prompts.

🚫 ANTI-PATTERN: Using Built-In Types for Custom Work

Built-in agent types (Designer, Architect, Engineer, etc.) are for INTERNAL workflow routing only. They have no unique identity, voice, or personality.

Scenario	❌ WRONG	✅ RIGHT
"Specialized agents to brainstorm UI ideas"	Task(subagent_type="Designer"), Task(subagent_type="Architect")	ComposeAgent with traits like "ux,enthusiastic,exploratory" and "design,analytical,systematic"
"Custom agents to review code"	Task(subagent_type="Engineer")	ComposeAgent with "technical,skeptical,thorough" and "technical,creative,rapid"
"Agents with different perspectives"	Multiple built-in types	Multiple ComposeAgent calls with DIFFERENT trait combinations

Components

Data

Traits.yaml (Data/Traits.yaml) - Base configuration:

• Core expertise areas: security, technical, research
• Core personalities: skeptical, analytical, enthusiastic
• Core approaches: thorough, rapid, systematic
• Example voice mappings with prosody

Tools

ComposeAgent.ts (Tools/ComposeAgent.ts)

• Dynamic agent composition engine
• Merges base + user configurations
• Outputs complete agent prompt with voice settings
• Supports persistent custom agents via --save / --load / --delete

# Compose and use immediately
bun run ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/Tools/ComposeAgent.ts --task "Review security"
bun run ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/Tools/ComposeAgent.ts --traits "security,skeptical,thorough"

# Persistent custom agents
bun run ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/Tools/ComposeAgent.ts --task "Security review" --save
bun run ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/Tools/ComposeAgent.ts --list-saved
bun run ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/Tools/ComposeAgent.ts --load "security-expert-skeptical-thorough"
bun run ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/Tools/ComposeAgent.ts --delete "security-expert-skeptical-thorough"

# Other options
bun run ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/Tools/ComposeAgent.ts --list
bun run ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/Tools/ComposeAgent.ts --output json

JSON output includes:

{
  "name": "Security Expert Skeptical Thorough",
  "voice": "Baron",
  "voice_id": "onwK4e9ZLuTAKqWW03F9",
  "voice_settings": {
    "stability": 0.70,
    "similarity_boost": 0.85,
    "style": 0.05,
    "speed": 0.95,
    "use_speaker_boost": true
  },
  "prompt": "..."
}

Templates

DynamicAgent.hbs (Templates/DynamicAgent.hbs)

• Handlebars template for dynamic agent prompts
• Composes: expertise + personality + approach + voice assignment
• Includes operational guidelines and response format

Architecture

Hybrid Agent Model

Type	Definition	Best For
Named Agents	Persistent identities defined in USER config	Recurring work, relationships
Dynamic Agents	Task-specific specialists composed from traits	One-off tasks, parallel work

The Agent Spectrum

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│   NAMED AGENTS          HYBRID USE          DYNAMIC AGENTS          │
│   (Relationship)        (Best of Both)      (Task-Specific)         │
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Defined in USER     "Security expert       Ephemeral specialist     │
│ NamedAgents.md      with [named agent]'s   composed from traits     │
│                      skepticism"                                     │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Examples

Example 1: Create custom agents

User: "Spin up 3 custom security agents"
→ Invokes CREATECUSTOMAGENT workflow
→ Runs ComposeAgent 3 times with DIFFERENT trait combinations
→ Each agent gets unique personality + matched voice + prosody
→ Launches agents in parallel

Example 2: List available traits

User: "What agent personalities can you create?"
→ Invokes LISTTRAITS workflow
→ Shows merged base + user traits
→ Displays voices with prosody settings

Extending the Skill

Adding Your Own Traits

In USER/SKILLCUSTOMIZATIONS/Agents/Traits.yaml:

# Add new expertise areas
expertise:
  marketing:
    name: "Marketing Expert"
    description: "Brand strategy, campaigns, market positioning"
    keywords:
      - marketing
      - brand
      - campaign
      - positioning

# Add new personalities
personality:
  visionary:
    name: "Visionary"
    description: "Forward-thinking, sees the big picture"
    prompt_fragment: |
      You think in terms of future possibilities and long-term vision.
      Connect today's work to tomorrow's potential.

Adding Named Agents

In USER/SKILLCUSTOMIZATIONS/Agents/NamedAgents.md:

## Alex - The Strategist

**Voice ID:** your-voice-id
**Prosody:** stability: 0.55, style: 0.20, speed: 0.95

Alex is a strategic thinker who sees patterns others miss...

Model Selection

Task Type	Model	Speed
Grunt work, simple checks	haiku	10-20x faster
Standard analysis, research	sonnet	Balanced
Deep reasoning, architecture	opus	Maximum quality

Version History

• v2.0.0 (2026-01): Restructured to base + user merge pattern, added prosody support
• v1.0.0 (2025-12): Initial creation

Gotchas

• Agents skill (custom agents) ≠ Agent tool (Claude Code subagents) ≠ TeamCreate (agent teams). Three different systems. "Custom agents" → this skill. "Agent team"/"swarm" → TeamCreate. One-off subagents → Agent tool.
• Don't spawn agents when direct work is faster. If the task is depth-focused (one file, deep understanding), do it yourself. Agents are for breadth (multiple independent threads).
• Don't spawn redundant agents for work already in context. Multiple past failures from re-researching what was already known.
• Provide raw source material to agents, not summaries. Agents work better with primary sources.

Execution Log

After completing any workflow, append a single JSONL entry:

echo '{"ts":"'$(date -u +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ)'","skill":"Agents","workflow":"WORKFLOW_USED","input":"8_WORD_SUMMARY","status":"ok|error","duration_s":SECONDS}' >> ~/.claude/PAI/MEMORY/SKILLS/execution.jsonl

Replace WORKFLOW_USED with the workflow executed, 8_WORD_SUMMARY with a brief input description, and SECONDS with approximate wall-clock time. Log status: "error" if the workflow failed.