onboard-repository

name

onboard-repository

description

Inspect an unfamiliar or brownfield repository, trace one real operational path, and propose evidence-backed improvements that help future agents work independently. Use when explicitly asked to onboard, map, assess, or backfill agent-facing repository guidance; use again after the user approves exact proposal items. The first pass is read-only and must not edit files, install tools, start services, create state, or infer missing product policy.

Onboard Repository

Turn an unfamiliar repository into a verified map for future work. Treat the repository as the system of record. Separate facts from gaps and suggestions.

Safety Contract

The first pass is always inspection and proposal only, even when the worktree is writable.

• Read every applicable AGENTS.md before inspecting deeper files.
• Capture the initial Git root, revision, branch, status, and worktree list.
• Preserve all pre-existing tracked and untracked changes.
• In the initial boundary capture, before deeper repository inspection, record pre-state existence or safe hashes for relevant ignored state such as .env.local, dependency directories, and managed repository state. Never print secret contents. If an initial baseline was missed, report pre/post equivalence as Unknown; a later sample cannot reconstruct it.
• Treat ignore rules and managed-state manifests as part of the boundary, not deeper inspection. Read them before fixing the baseline, enumerate every relevant ignored database, sidecar, dependency, environment, build, and managed-state path they reveal, and record each one explicitly. For ignored directories, use a content-sensitive per-file hash inventory; a filenames- only hash does not prove that contents stayed unchanged.
• Use only read-only discovery commands. Do not install dependencies, start services, invoke migrations, create caches or state, or edit files.
• Use task-prefixed shell variable names. In zsh, never assign to special names such as path, status, pipestatus, commands, or their uppercase system counterparts; corrupting the inspection shell invalidates later baselines.
• Do not create temporary files inside or outside the repository. Compare via stdout and non-materializing pipelines; if a comparison requires a file, report that limitation instead of creating one.
• Do not use shell heredocs or here-strings; shells may materialize them as temporary files. Use quoted python3 -c/node -e programs, stdin pipes, or ordinary read-only commands instead.
• When a runtime manager is relevant, capture its observable project, service, volume, and process state in the initial boundary batch. If the manager is unavailable, state that runtime pre/post equivalence is Unknown. Proving that no runtime command was issued does not prove runtime state was unchanged.
• Before invoking a repository-local binary, verify that its path exists and is executable. If absent, record the command as unavailable; do not invoke, install, rebuild, or substitute it.
• Do not turn code, tests, configuration, conventions, or guesses into product intent. They can prove present behavior, not missing normative policy.
• Stop when authority is absent or materially different interpretations remain.
• End by comparing Git status and diff with the captured initial state.

An explicit later approval may authorize documentation changes. It never authorizes application-code changes, invented product policy, hooks, databases, or background automation unless the user separately requests them.

First Pass: Inspect And Propose

1. Establish the boundary

Read applicable instructions and the smallest repository map available. Record pre-existing dirt before doing anything else. If instructions conflict, follow the narrower instruction and report the conflict.

When .harness-core/manifest.json exists and an installed managed file conflicts with .harness-core/base/<path>, treat the installed file as active instructions for the current run. For a correction proposal, verify the base file against its manifest checksum and show the conflict. Propose replacing only content inside managed markers and preserve all consumer-owned content outside them. Do not treat the managed base as permission to edit.

A checksum-verified conflict in an active mandatory instruction that caused a failed, unavailable, or unsafe command is the first proposal priority. Preview that correction before proposing additive documentation elsewhere.

2. Find repository authority

Inspect only material needed to understand the requested path, normally:

• root overview and developer documentation;
• product and architecture sources;
• package/build manifests and task runners;
• CI workflows and deployment/runtime configuration;
• focused tests, fixtures, and operational scripts.

For every important claim, cite an exact repository path and classify it:

• Authoritative: an instruction, accepted decision, product contract, or explicitly documented operational procedure states what must happen.
• Observed: code, configuration, or tests show current behavior.
• Derived: a direct operational consequence of verified implementation or configuration. Phrase it as current behavior, not intended or durable policy.
• Decision required: a proposed normative, product, or safety policy has no existing authority and requires an explicit user choice.
• Unknown: the repository does not establish the answer.

Never silently promote Observed, Derived, Decision required, or Unknown to Authoritative.

Treat operational authority as context-specific. A command or flag documented for CI, a container build, release automation, or another runbook proves only that context. Do not transplant it into a local developer procedure unless the local owning document authorizes it or the user chooses it. When two viable commands differ, do not select one as a Derived rule; classify the choice as Decision required.

When evidence comes from a type, schema, or serializer, distinguish required from optional fields. Say that optional fields appear only when present; a field's existence in a schema does not prove that every emitted record has it.

Verify every clause and qualifier in a proposed sentence independently. Do not generalize configurability, defaults, optionality, ownership, or lifecycle from one field or resource to an adjacent one merely because they appear together.

For environment-derived behavior, trace each claimed key from every source to its final consumer. Distinguish same-key merge precedence, fallback between different keys, checked-in values that make later fallbacks unreachable on the default path, and assignments performed after a merge. Never summarize this as "the environment overrides the files" unless that is true for every named key.

List related identifiers separately and label each one fixed, defaulted, or configurable, with its own source. Apply the same rule to ports, paths, and resource names: state both configurability and fallback when either exists. Assign each write to the stage where it actually occurs rather than grouping later interface writes into setup or readiness.

The current task or frozen evaluation prompt defines run scope, not durable repository authority. A new rule supported only by that prompt is Decision required unless the user explicitly adopts it as repository policy.

3. Trace one complete operational path

Prefer one already-documented local happy path over a broad architecture summary. Trace cause and effect through:

prerequisites
-> start
-> readiness
-> deterministic setup
-> real interface exercise
-> evidence and correlation boundary
-> stop and cleanup

Use this exact operational-path table schema; do not merge columns:

Stage or branch	Command/interface and expected result	Classification and source	Write at this stage	Process/container owner	Host and container ports	Evidence/log boundary and correlation	Cleanup at this stage	Unknowns

Include a value or N/A/Unknown in every cell. An omitted or implicit cell fails the operational-path gate; prose elsewhere does not replace it.

Trace lifecycle flags as separate table rows. At minimum, include default startup, each no-start mode, cleanup requested after success, and failure after startup. For a no-start mode, continue tracing later schema, probe, interface, and write behavior rather than assuming the flag makes the whole run read-only. Verify whether cleanup is unconditional, after assertions, or in a finally/trap path. "No teardown command is invoked" does not prove that every service remains running, and a cleanup flag must not be described as guaranteed when earlier failure bypasses it.

Classify cleanup mechanics separately from cleanup obligations. Existing code or an authorized command may prove how cleanup can be performed; it does not create a new instruction that an operator must perform cleanup after a specific failure. Put that obligation in Decision required unless repository authority already states it.

If a read-only inspection contacts a runtime manager such as Docker, capture the relevant project/container identifiers and pre/post state. Never describe logs as instance-local merely because they are container logs; identify the actual project/container boundary and correlation identifiers.

Before the path table, add a resource-and-identifier ledger:

Item	Kind	Exact behavior or value	Classification and source

Use one row per identifier, port, project, service, volume, state path, and log boundary. Kind must distinguish fixed, defaulted, configurable, generated, logical configuration name, and observed runtime name. For port mappings, list host and container sides separately. Never report a logical Compose volume key as an observed engine-level volume name.

One row means one item: do not combine two identifiers or resources in a single row even when their classification is identical. Record checked-in values that make later fallbacks unreachable on the documented default path. For logs, state which fields are guaranteed and which are optional; optional identity or warning fields make evidence request-correlatable only when present. Keep process-wide metrics separate from request- or instance-correlated evidence.

Source the entire causal chain for each effect. An HTTP controller does not by itself prove persistence, and a runner call does not by itself prove provider, logging, database, or runtime-manager consequences. Mark direct implementation facts Observed and consequences of a called tool or protocol Derived. Pre-existing resources under a no-start mode have Unknown creator/owner unless the repository or runtime observation identifies it.

Do not execute the path during the first pass. The goal is to learn whether a fresh agent could execute it without undocumented human help.

4. Propose the smallest useful backfill

Return a proposal; do not write it. Each item must include:

1. the concrete agent failure it prevents;
2. evidence and exact source paths;
3. the exact destination file or existing section;
4. the factual content to add or correct;
5. what remains unknown and must not be claimed;
6. how a fresh agent replay would prove improvement.

Show all six headings for every proposal, including Unknowns: none when no unresolved factual claim affects that proposal. Do not infer completion of a field from prose in another section.

Prepare an exact patch preview. Classify and cite every proposed sentence, not merely the proposal containing it. The approval unit is the machine-emitted hunk ID, destination, and patch digest, not a proposal number or an ambiguous alternative.

Never handwrite unified-diff headers, line ranges, context, or patch hashes. Construct the complete proposed destination image in memory from the pinned destination, preserving every byte outside the intended edit. Pipe those complete bytes to the bundled renderer:

<non-materializing command that prints the complete after image> |
  python3 .agents/skills/onboard-repository/scripts/render_patch.py \
    --repository <tested-root> \
    --revision <full-tested-revision> \
    --destination <repository-relative-path> \
    --hunk-id H1

Use the standalone renderer only as a preflight when needed. Do not copy its output into the final answer or manually repair it. Correct the complete after image and rerun it. The final bundle emitter invokes the same renderer and produces the canonical marked diff and digests. A renderer failure excludes that proposal from the approval bundle. Rendering is read-only and creates no draft file.

Give every emitted diff hunk a stable H1, H2, ... identifier. The emitter wraps it exactly as follows:

<!-- ONBOARDING_PATCH:H1:BEGIN -->
```diff
<one complete diff hunk>
```
<!-- ONBOARDING_PATCH:H1:END -->

The hunk digest is SHA-256 over the exact UTF-8 bytes inside the diff fence, including one final newline and excluding the fence lines. Do not reuse an identifier or place two hunks inside one marker pair.

For control-flow wording, cite every branch needed to prove the whole clause: flag parsing, startup, checks, failure handling, and teardown as applicable. A single line that initializes a flag or collection does not prove later lifecycle behavior.

Treat temporal words as causal claims. Before writing before, after, successful, complete, or finally, locate the exact success/failure signal and every awaited operation around it. If teardown runs before the success signal and can itself fail, say after all preceding checks succeed, the runner attempts teardown; do not call it teardown after a successful run.

Do not promote a sentinel or partial probe into an aggregate claim. Wording such as the schema, the configuration, all required resources, or the system is ready requires an enumerated membership boundary and evidence for every member. Otherwise name the exact object checked, such as checks whether processed_webhook_events exists. One table probe does not prove that a multi-table schema is present.

Phrase negative lifecycle evidence narrowly. Skipping or bypassing a teardown call proves only that this runner does not invoke that teardown; it does not prove resources remain running. Prefer the runner does not invoke Compose down over the runner leaves the stack running unless runtime evidence proves the stronger state.

Before displaying a command as new runbook guidance, require authority from the same operational context. Code may prove that dependencies are required, but a CI install command does not determine the approved local install command or flags.

Order proposals by causal leverage:

1. correct a false, stale, or conflicting active instruction;
2. link to existing authoritative guidance;
3. add narrowly missing current operational mechanics;
4. request a new normative decision only when the observed task requires it.

Use the existing file that already owns the operational procedure. Do not add current runbook guidance to a generic, historical, or future-contract document when a maintained operations guide exists. Never put an Unknown sentence in a patch preview; keep it in the gap report until authority or a user decision exists.

Prefer a correction to an existing repository-owned document over a new framework. Do not propose generic adapters, hooks, state markers, databases, or generated architecture unless the observed failure requires them.

5. Emit a machine-authenticated evidence bundle

Read references/evidence-capsule-v2.md completely before constructing the capsule. Follow its exact field names, vocabularies, and hash definitions.

Do not manually copy source, patch, producer, or destination hashes into the final answer. Build one compact JSON spec in memory and pipe it to scripts/emit_evidence_bundle.py. The spec contains boundary rows, atomic claims with unhashed source ranges, complete proposed destination images, unknowns, and limitations. The emitter reads every pinned blob, computes every digest, renders each patch, and writes one authenticated bundle to stdout without creating a draft file.

<non-materializing command that prints the JSON spec> |
  python3 .agents/skills/onboard-repository/scripts/emit_evidence_bundle.py \
    --repository <tested-root> \
    --revision <full-tested-revision> \
    --branch <tested-branch>

Run the emitter as the final tool call with an output budget large enough to retain the complete result. Do not rerun it unless it fails. Do not reproduce its patch or capsule bytes in the assistant message. The raw tool result is the auditable artifact; the final answer reports its bundle digest, hunk IDs, destinations, classifications, gate result, and exact approval instruction.

Use schema onboarding-evidence-capsule/v2. The emitted capsule is an authenticated index, not authority. It contains exactly:

• tested_repository: absolute root, full 40-character revision, and branch;
• producer_skill: repository-relative skill path and file SHA-256;
• boundary: separate rows covering git, ignored_or_managed, runtime, and temporary_paths, with normalized initial/final evidence hashes and a Pass, Fail, or Unknown result;
• claims: one atomic, single-line proposed clause per ID, its hunk ID, Authoritative/Observed/Derived classification, and every exact source;
• hunks: destination, whole-file destination hashes before and after in-memory patch application, displayed patch hash, claim IDs, and unresolved unknowns;
• limitations: remaining audit or environment limitations.

For each source spec record the repository-relative path, inclusive start/end lines, and role. Set revision only when it differs from the tested revision. The emitter adds the pinned revision and SHA-256 of the exact LF-terminated range. Never cite a working-tree line without a pinned revision. Split conjunctions into atomic claim records even when they remain one natural-language sentence.

Repeat each claim's complete causal chain inside its capsule sources; prose citations elsewhere do not satisfy the capsule. For a command-controlled effect, include the package/entry command mapping, flag-to-branch mapping, branch ordering, and the called implementation that performs the effect.

Make each capsule claim one subject-condition-effect fact. Split sentinel lookup, branch selection, named path, file read, subprocess call, failure propagation, and cleanup absence into separate claims even when the patch uses one natural-language sentence. When a claim names an exact constant, path, or fallback, cite both its definition and its use. When a claim says a failure bypasses later work, cite the awaited call, the callee or assertion that rejects/throws, and the top-level handler; the callsite alone does not prove propagation.

For a boundary row, Pass requires equal non-null initial and final hashes; Fail requires two different hashes; use Unknown when either observation is missing or cannot prove equivalence. Hash stable normalized observation output, not terminal decoration or timestamps. The capsule must reflect Unknowns from the prose gate rather than silently upgrading them.

When the sibling audit skill is installed, its read-only validator is:

python3 .agents/skills/audit-onboarding-proposal/scripts/validate_evidence_capsule.py --transcript <raw-session.jsonl> --expected-transcript-sha256 <sha256> --repository <tested-worktree>

The validator can run only after the transcript exists. For new runs it extracts the last complete machine bundle emitted before task completion and verifies its bundle digest, pinned producer and source blobs, and whole-file patch application. Legacy transcripts with capsules in the completed assistant message remain readable. Do not create a local draft merely to prevalidate the final answer.

6. Report the gate

End the first pass with:

• pinned revision and initial dirty state;
• operational-path table with evidence classifications;
• ranked proposal items;
• exact machine-emitted patch preview with a classification and source for each added or changed claim;
• the verified managed-marker replacement diff when active managed guidance is stale;
• one machine-emitted v2 evidence bundle whose marked patches, identifiers, and computed hashes cover every proposed clause;
• blockers and unsupported claims avoided;
• final Git status/diff comparison;
• pre/post ignored-state and runtime-ownership comparison where relevant, explicitly marking any missed or unobservable baseline Unknown;
• the exact patch wording that must be approved for any change.

The gate passes only when repository authority was read, the complete path table contains every required field, every patch sentence passes clause-level evidence review, the run stopped at suggestions, and all required no-mutation comparisons are proven. Git cleanliness alone cannot satisfy the last gate.

Compute the no-mutation gate conjunctively. Git state, every relevant ignored or managed path, runtime ownership, and every task-owned prohibited temporary path must each have proven pre/post equivalence; any required Unknown makes this gate fail. Do not convert an unknown into a pass because no mutating command was observed. A discovered repository gap does not by itself fail a methodological gate; score the five gate conditions, not repository readiness.

Before assigning scores, perform a contradiction scan:

• each resource/identifier has exactly one ledger row;
• every checked-in default and fallback-reachability qualifier is present;
• guaranteed and optional log fields are separated;
• process-wide evidence is not called instance-local;
• every write is in the stage where it occurs and cites its full causal chain;
• absence of cleanup is not promoted to runtime liveness;
• every Unknown is reflected in the conjunctive gate result; and
• intermediate mistakes corrected during inspection do not remain in the final map, patch, evidence ledger, or score.

If the final state differs from the initial state, disclose every difference and treat the pass as failed. Do not repair or erase user-owned changes.

Later Pass: Apply Approved Items

Apply only when the user approves the exact displayed patch wording.

1. Re-read applicable instructions and capture current Git state.
2. Recheck target-file hashes and recompute the proposal if they changed.
3. For normative product claims, require existing authority or an explicit user decision. For current operational mechanics, require direct observed evidence, preserve the evidence classification, and phrase them as current behavior. Keep unknowns explicit.
4. For verified managed-file drift, replace only approved managed-marker content and preserve consumer-owned content outside the markers.
5. Edit only the approved agent-facing documentation or knowledge files.
6. Match existing repository structure and terminology; keep the patch small.
7. Run relevant documentation checks and any repository-prescribed validation.
8. Inspect the complete diff for invented policy or unrelated changes.
9. Rerun this skill's inspection logic. It must not propose duplicate content.
10. Produce a documentation-only replay patch that can be applied to the baseline commit without carrying this skill or other experimental files.
11. Report changed files, validation evidence, remaining gaps, and the frozen prompt for a separate fresh-agent replay.

When new choices appear during application, stop and return them for approval.

Concrete Example

Suppose a repository documents pnpm local:e2e, its test runner observes /health and /chat, and the root onboarding guide points to a nonexistent binary. A verified managed base contains newer instructions without that binary.

The first pass follows the active root instructions, reports the unavailable binary, verifies the managed-base checksum, and leaves Git unchanged. Its patch preview replaces only the stale managed block and links the existing E2E procedure. Any new cleanup rule is classified Decision required. It must not claim a new chat contract or add a universal startup script. After the user approves exact patch wording, the later pass applies it and produces a skill-free documentation patch for a fresh replay. Success is fewer undocumented hints and safer command ordering, not merely more documentation.