intent-framed-agent

name	intent-framed-agent
description	Frames coding-agent work sessions with explicit intent capture and drift monitoring. Use when a session transitions from planning/Q&A to implementation for coding tasks, refactors, feature builds, bug fixes, or other multi-step execution where scope drift is a risk.

Intent Framed Agent

Install

npx skills add pskoett/pskoett-ai-skills

npx skills add pskoett/pskoett-ai-skills/skills/intent-framed-agent

Purpose

This skill turns implicit intent into an explicit, trackable artifact at the moment execution starts. It creates a lightweight intent contract, watches for scope drift while work is in progress, and closes each intent with a short resolution record.

Scope (Important)

Use this skill for coding tasks only. It is designed for implementation work that changes executable code.

Do not use it for general-agent activities such as:

• broad research
• planning-only conversations
• documentation-only work
• operational/admin tasks with no coding implementation

For trivial edits (for example, simple renames or typo fixes), skip the full intent frame.

Trigger

Activate at the planning-to-execution transition for non-trivial coding work.

Common cues:

• User says: "go ahead", "implement this", "let's start building"
• Agent is about to move from discussion into code changes

Workflow

Phase 1: Intent Capture

At execution start, emit:

## Intent Frame #N

**Outcome:** [One sentence. What does done look like?]
**Approach:** [How we will implement it. Key decisions.]
**Constraints:** [Out-of-scope boundaries.]
**Success criteria:** [How we verify completion.]
**Estimated complexity:** [Small / Medium / Large]

Rules:

• Keep each field to 1-2 sentences.
• Ask for confirmation before coding:
  • Does this capture what we are doing? Anything to adjust before I start?
• Do not proceed until the user confirms or adjusts.

Phase 2: Intent Monitor

During execution, monitor for drift at natural boundaries:

• before touching a new area/file
• before starting a new logical work unit
• when current action feels tangential

Drift examples:

• work outside stated scope
• approach changes with no explicit pivot
• new features/refactors outside constraints
• solving a different problem than the stated outcome

When detected, emit:

## Intent Check #N

This looks like it may be moving outside the stated intent.

**Stated outcome:** [From active frame]
**Current action:** [What is happening]
**Question:** Is this a deliberate pivot or accidental scope creep?

If pivot is intentional, update the active intent frame and continue. If not, return to the original scope.

Phase 3: Intent Resolution

When work under the active intent ends, emit:

## Intent Resolution #N

**Outcome:** [Fulfilled / Partially fulfilled / Pivoted / Abandoned]
**What was delivered:** [Brief actual output]
**Pivots:** [Any acknowledged changes, or None]
**Open items:** [Remaining in-scope items, or None]

Resolution is preferred but optional if the session ends abruptly.

Multi-Intent Sessions

One session can contain multiple intent frames.

Rules:

1. Resolve current intent before opening the next.
2. If user changes direction mid-task, resolve current intent as Abandoned or Pivoted, then open a new frame.
3. Drift checks always target the currently active frame.
4. Number frames sequentially within the session (#1, #2, ...).
5. Constraints do not carry forward unless explicitly restated.

Entire CLI Integration

Entire CLI: https://github.com/entireio/cli

When tool access is available, detect Entire at activation:

entire status 2>/dev/null

• If it succeeds, mention that intent records will be captured in the session transcript on the checkpoint branch.
• If unavailable/failing, continue silently. Do not block execution and do not nag about installation.

Copilot/chat fallback:

• If command execution is unavailable, skip detection and continue with the same intent workflow in chat output.

Guardrails

• Keep it lightweight; avoid long prose.
• Do not over-trigger on trivial tasks.
• Do not interrupt on every small step.
• Treat acknowledged pivots as valid.
• Preserve exact structured block headers/fields for parseability.

Interoperability with Other Skills

Use this skill as the front-door alignment layer for non-trivial coding work:

1. plan-interview (optional, for requirement shaping)
2. intent-framed-agent (execution contract + scope drift monitoring)
3. context-surfing (context quality monitoring — runs concurrently with intent-framed-agent during execution)
4. simplify-and-harden (post-completion quality/security pass)
5. self-improvement (capture recurring patterns and promote durable rules)

Relationship with context-surfing

Both skills are live during execution. They monitor different failure modes:

• intent-framed-agent monitors scope drift — is the agent doing the right thing? It fires structured Intent Checks when work moves outside the stated outcome.
• context-surfing monitors context quality drift — is the agent still capable of doing it well? It fires when the agent's own coherence degrades (hallucination, contradiction, hedging).

They are complementary, not redundant. An agent can be perfectly on-scope while its context quality degrades. Conversely, scope drift can happen with perfect context quality. Intent Checks continue firing alongside context-surfing's wave monitoring.

Precedence rule: If both skills fire simultaneously (an Intent Check and a context-surfing drift exit at the same time), the drift exit takes precedence. Degraded context makes scope checks unreliable — resolve the context issue first, then resume scope monitoring in the next session.

What this skill produces

• Intent frame artifact — consumed by context-surfing as part of the wave anchor and copied verbatim into handoff files on drift exit.
• Intent resolution — signals task completion, which triggers simplify-and-harden.
• Drift observations — scope drift patterns can be logged to self-improvement as learnings if they recur.