tap-agent-authoring

name	tap-agent-authoring
title	Agent Manifest Authoring
description	Deep guide for writing Octomind agent manifests: TOML format, required fields, system prompt structure, temperature guidelines, workflow/layer patterns, and the pre-write checklist. Activate when creating or editing agents/<domain>/<spec>.toml files.
license	Apache-2.0
compatibility	Requires: octomind-tap repo. Use alongside tap-capability-authoring for capability creation.
domains	octomind

Overview

This skill encodes everything needed to write a correct, high-quality agents/<domain>/<spec>.toml file for the octomind-tap registry. It covers the exact TOML format, required and forbidden fields, how to write effective system prompts, temperature/top_p guidelines by domain, workflow and layer patterns for multi-step pipelines, and the pre-write checklist.

Use this skill whenever you are creating or editing an agent manifest.

Instructions

Agent Manifest Format

# agents/<domain>/<spec>.toml
# Agent: <domain>:<spec>
# Title: Short Agent Title (5–60 chars)
# Description: What this agent does (20–160 chars).

capabilities = ["core", "filesystem-read", "filesystem-write", "shell", "codesearch-semantic", "codesearch-structural", "codesearch-graph", "programming-python"]

[[roles]]
system = """
<XML-tagged system prompt — see "System Prompt Structure" below>
"""
welcome = "<Emoji> <Short greeting>. Working in {{CWD}}"
temperature = 0.3
top_p = 0.9
top_k = 0

# Optional model override:
# model = "openrouter:anthropic/claude-sonnet-4"

Required Fields

Field	Notes
# Title:	Comment. Short human-readable label. 5–60 chars.
# Description:	Comment. What the agent does. 20–160 chars.
capabilities	Top-level, always first. The ONLY way to wire tools.
system	The system prompt — agent's identity, rules, domain knowledge.
welcome	First message shown to user. Include emoji + {{CWD}}.
temperature	0.1–0.2 for precise tasks, 0.3–0.5 for balanced, 0.6–0.8 for creative.
top_p	Typically 0.2 (precise) to 0.9 (creative).
top_k	0 or 10 for most agents.

Optional Fields

Field	Notes
model	Override model for this agent (e.g. "openrouter:anthropic/claude-sonnet-4").

Forbidden in Agents

Field	Why
name	Injected from tag at runtime.
[deps]	Deps belong in capability files.
[roles.mcp]	Injected from capabilities at runtime.
[[mcp.servers]]	MCP servers belong in capability files.

System Prompt Structure (mandatory — 2026 standard)

System prompts must use XML-tagged blocks in a fixed order. This is grounded in three findings: (1) the U-shape attention curve — beginning and end of the prompt get the most attention, the middle gets "lost"; (2) Anthropic's published guidance that XML tags are the preferred structuring method for Claude; (3) Claude Opus 4.7 follows instructions more literally than 4.6 — implicit gaps don't get bridged anymore, so structure has to be explicit.

The eight-block order, top to bottom:

<identity>          ← primacy: who/what (3–5 lines, role + expertise + style)
<voice>             ← tone, register, formality (omit if technical agent)
<scope>             ← what's owned / what routes elsewhere
<workflow>          ← numbered steps for the main pipeline
<rules>             ← decision rules, tables, domain knowledge
<examples>          ← good/bad pairs (omit if not applicable)
<output_format>     ← exact artifact shape, file location, schema
<interaction>       ← trigger → response patterns
<critical>          ← recency: brief Don't/Do list in plain language; reserve all-caps for one or two genuine safety hard-stops

Why this order:

• <identity> first because primacy: the model commits to role early
• <critical> last because recency: the tail is load-bearing — it's the last thing the model sees before the user message and gets disproportionate attention
• <workflow> and <rules> in the middle have to do their work via clear tagging, since middle-of-prompt content is the "lost" zone — the XML tags act as retrieval anchors

Where {{CWD}}, {{DATE}}, and other dynamic placeholders go (and where they don't):

The system prompt must be STABLE run-to-run. Anything that changes between runs breaks prompt caching, which costs real money and latency on every call.

• {{CWD}} and {{DATE}} change every run — they belong in the welcome field ONLY.
• The harness pipes working directory and current date as separate runtime context. Putting them in system duplicates that state AND breaks the cache.
• The rule: if a placeholder's value changes from one session to the next, it does not belong in system. System is identity + rules + structure — all stable. Welcome handles "where am I, when am I" dynamics.
• Static placeholders like {{INPUT:KEY}} and {{ENV:KEY}} typically don't appear in system anyway — they live in MCP server config.

The lint enforces this: {{CWD}} or {{DATE}} anywhere inside system = """...""" is a hard error.

Block-by-block authoring rules:

• <identity> — One paragraph. Role, expertise, style. Don't bury this; the model uses it to pick its register.
• <voice> — Only include if voice/tone matters (content, marketing, video, creative agents). Omit for pure technical agents (developer, devops, security) where voice is uniform.
• <scope> — Two lists: ✅ Own / ❌ Don't own. Required for any agent that sits next to siblings (e.g. seo:audit vs seo:strategist, or content:article vs content:blog). Describe out-of-scope work by what it is, not by routing to a specific other-domain agent — domain isolation applies to agent bodies too.
• <workflow> — Numbered steps (1, 2, 3…). Each step is one sentence + optional sub-bullets. Don't write paragraphs.
• <rules> — Tables and bullet lists win here. Decision matrices, parameter ranges, vocabulary lists. This is the agent's domain knowledge.
• <examples> — Bad → Good pairs are the strongest format. Skip this block if the agent's output is freeform.
• <output_format> — Exact structure of the artifact. If the agent saves files, name the path pattern (./video-out/<slug>/script.md). If the agent returns markdown blocks, show the schema.
• <interaction> — Trigger patterns. "When user says X → do Y". Especially "Ambiguous → ask ONE clarifying question."
• <critical> — Brief Don't/Do list in plain language: things the model could plausibly get wrong if not warned, and the corresponding correct action. Reserve all-caps NEVER/ALWAYS for one or two genuine safety hard-stops (e.g. Never force-push to main); stacking more dilutes attention on Claude 4.6+ (see "Tone calibration"). No CWD/DATE placeholders, no preamble, no 🚨 HARD RULES theatre.

Token discipline (Claude 4.7 / 2026):

• Target: 200–1000 words for the full system prompt is the production sweet spot
• Soft warning at 1500 words (SYSTEM_LENGTH_WARN) — context rot risk
• Hard cap: 3000 words. Above this, lint-manifests.sh fails with SYSTEM_TOO_LONG — extract documentation/reference content into skills.
• Be explicit — Claude 4.7 doesn't bridge implicit gaps the way 4.6 did
• Static content first for prompt caching (saves up to 90% cost on repeat sessions)
• No decorative prose — every line must do work; if you can cut it without losing meaning, cut it

Authoring patterns that work:

• Specific over generic — "Use uv run pytest for testing" beats "Run the tests"
• Tool commands inline — actual CLI commands for the domain (cargo, kubectl, npm, etc.)
• Set boundaries explicitly — "Fix X" means fix X only, not refactor the neighborhood
• Reference example agents — study developer:general for execution protocol; agents/content/article.toml for content-style structure

Anti-patterns that break the structure:

• Free-form markdown sections without <tag> wrappers — defeats the U-shape strategy
• IDENTITY / WORKFLOW as plain ## headers — Claude treats them as content, not structural anchors
• Long preambles before <identity> (e.g. "Welcome to this agent...") — wastes the primacy slot
• Critical rules buried in the middle — they get "lost"
• <critical> block with paragraphs of explanation — keep it tight: brief Don't/Do bullets, that's it
• Stacked theatrical emphasis — 🚨 HARD RULES, CRITICAL: YOU MUST, ten bullets all starting NEVER or ALWAYS. On Claude 4.5+ this over-triggers and dilutes signal. See "Tone calibration" below.
• Embedding reference documentation (CLI commands, config schema, API listings) inside the system prompt — this ships to the model on every activation, even for unrelated questions. Reference content belongs in skills loaded on demand, not in system. The agent's system prompt is identity + behaviour + scope; everything that's "the user might ask about" goes in skills.

Tone calibration (Claude 4.6+ over-emphasis, mandatory awareness):

Claude 4.5+ is far more responsive to the system prompt than 3.x. Aggressive language written to defeat under-triggering on older models now over-triggers. Substance stays; theatre goes.

• CRITICAL: YOU MUST use tool X when … → Use tool X when …
• 🚨 HARD RULES + 10 stacked NEVER bullets → <critical> with plain Don't … / Do … lines
• MANDATORY: Run validation → Run validation after edits.
• NEVER assert X you haven't verified → Don't assert X you haven't verified.
• DEFAULT TO using web search → Use web search when it would enhance your understanding.
• After every 3 tool calls, summarize progress → drop on 4.7 (internalised)

Reserve all-caps and "must" for one or two genuine safety hard-stops (e.g. Never force-push to main). The substance test: delete the NEVER/ALWAYS/MUST and lowercase the line. Does the rule still make sense? Soften it. Does it read as filler once softened? Cut it.

Full reference (verbatim Anthropic guidance, parallel-tool-calls block, message-history rules): skills/prompt-engineering/reference/claude-4-emphasis-and-tools.md.

Markdown discipline inside XML blocks (token economy — mandatory):

The XML tag IS the structural anchor. Markdown decoration that duplicates that role is pure token waste — every ** and ### ships to the model on every call. Strip the noise:

• No ### subsection heading at the top of an XML block. The opening tag already names the section. <voice> followed immediately by ### Voice & Tone is redundant — drop the H3.
• ### subsection is fine only when an XML block has 2+ genuinely distinct sub-areas (e.g. <workflow> containing ### Research protocol + ### Memory protocol + numbered steps). Single-subsection blocks should flow as plain prose under the tag.
• No bold on bullet leads. - Active voice — "Studies show X" becomes - Active voice — "Studies show X". The em-dash already separates lead from explanation. Bold adds tokens, not meaning.
• No bold on inline emphasis unless the emphasis is genuinely load-bearing (a hard rule, a critical warning). Default: drop it.
• Keep tables. |---|---| markdown tables are real structure — they carry decision matrices and stay.
• Keep code fences. Triple-backtick blocks are essential for output schemas, command examples.
• Keep numbered lists. 1. Step becomes 1. Step — but the numbering stays.
• No --- separators between content inside an XML block. Use blank lines.

The test: would removing this markdown change the model's understanding of the rule? If no, drop it.

Temperature Guidelines by Domain

Domain	Temperature	top_p	Why
Developer	0.1	0.9	Precision, deterministic code
DevOps	0.15	0.9	Reliable infrastructure
Security	0.15	0.9	Conservative, no guessing
Medical/Legal	0.15–0.2	0.9	Evidence-based, cautious
Content/Creative	0.4–0.8	0.9	Voice, creativity, variation
General assistant	0.3	0.9	Balanced

Required Disclaimers

Medical, legal, and financial agents MUST include prominent disclaimers in the system prompt:

• Medical: "NOT a doctor, CANNOT diagnose or prescribe"
• Legal: "NOT a licensed attorney, legal information only"
• Financial: "NOT financial advice"

Placeholder Variables

Placeholder	Use for
{{CWD}}	Current working directory — always include in welcome and system
{{DATE}}	Current date
{{INPUT:KEY}}	Secret, user-global (e.g. API keys)
{{ENV:KEY}}	Non-secret or project-scoped env var

Naming and Metadata Rules

• File path matches tag: developer:rust → agents/developer/rust.toml
• Sub-specs use hyphens: developer:rust-nightly
• One [[roles]] per file
• # Title: — 5–60 chars. Example: "Rust Developer", "Blood Test Interpreter"
• # Description: — 20–160 chars. Concise and scannable, like an SEO meta description

Multi-Step Pipelines (external)

Agents are capabilities + one [[roles]]. They do not define multi-step pipelines — the old workflow = "..." field and [[workflows]] block were removed from Octomind. Multi-step orchestration is now the external octomind workflow <file.toml> CLI: a portable TOML that chains octomind run steps (sequential / parallel / loop / conditional) and references installed role tags. Load the octomind-workflow skill for that syntax.

[[layers]] still exist in Octomind config (not in tap manifests): they back the [[commands]] slash-command system (/run <name>) and delegate to a role via command = "octomind acp <role>". Model, system prompt, and MCP config live in the referenced [[roles]] entry, not in the layer.

Pre-Write Checklist

Before writing any agent manifest, verify:

• # Title: comment present? (5–60 chars)
• # Description: comment present? (20–160 chars)
• Is there a similar agent to reference for prompt structure?
• Do all needed capabilities exist? If not, use tap-capability-authoring skill first.
• System prompt uses XML-tagged blocks in the canonical order? (<identity> → <voice> → <scope> → <workflow> → <rules> → <examples> → <output_format> → <interaction> → <critical>)
• <identity> is the first thing the model sees? (no preamble before it)
• <critical> is last and contains a brief Don't/Do list in plain language? (no 🚨 HARD RULES theatre, no CWD/DATE placeholders, no stacked all-caps NEVER/ALWAYS — reserve those for one or two genuine safety hard-stops)
• Tone calibrated for Claude 4.6+: Use X when ... rather than Default to X / CRITICAL: YOU MUST X?
• {{CWD}} and {{DATE}} appear in the welcome field, NOT in system?
• Total system prompt under ~1500 words? (context rot threshold)
• Is the system prompt specific enough? (domain knowledge, tools, patterns)
• Are temperature/top_p appropriate for the domain?
• Does the welcome message include an emoji + {{CWD}}?
• No [deps], [roles.mcp], or [[mcp.servers]] in the agent file?
• Run bash scripts/lint-manifests.sh agents/<domain>/<spec>.toml — passes clean?
• Run bin/load <domain>:<spec> — resolves without errors?

Examples

Example 1: Minimal correct agent (2026 XML structure)

# agents/developer/rust.toml
# Agent: developer:rust
# Title: Rust Developer
# Description: Expert Rust developer. Writes idiomatic, safe, performant Rust code.

capabilities = ["core", "filesystem-read", "filesystem-write", "shell", "codesearch-semantic", "codesearch-structural", "codesearch-graph", "programming-rust"]

[[roles]]
system = """
<identity>
Expert Rust developer. You write idiomatic, safe, performant Rust — borrow checker–friendly, zero-cost abstractions, no unsafe unless justified in a comment.
</identity>

<scope>
✅ Own: Rust code, Cargo workflows, async with tokio, error handling with thiserror/anyhow, no_std embedded, FFI bindings.
❌ Don't own: cross-language glue beyond FFI signatures (route to language-specific agent), infra/deployment (route to devops:*).
</scope>

<workflow>
1. Read context — `cargo metadata`, `Cargo.toml`, surrounding modules.
2. Plan — for non-trivial changes, present an outline before writing.
3. Write — idiomatic Rust, prefer iterators over loops, `Result` over panic.
4. Verify — `cargo check`, `cargo clippy`, `cargo test`.
</workflow>

<rules>
- Errors: `thiserror` for libraries, `anyhow` for binaries. Never `unwrap()` outside tests/examples.
- Async: tokio is the default runtime. Don't mix runtimes.
- Lints: `cargo clippy -- -D warnings` must pass clean.
- No `unsafe` blocks without a SAFETY comment naming the invariant.
</rules>

<output_format>
Code edits via Edit/Write tools. After non-trivial changes, run `cargo check` and report the result.
</output_format>

<interaction>
- New task → confirm the scope before editing if files >3 will change.
- Ambiguous spec → ask ONE clarifying question, then proceed.
</interaction>

<critical>
- Don't add `unsafe` without a SAFETY comment naming the invariant.
- Don't use `unwrap()` in production code paths.
- Don't disable clippy lints to silence warnings — fix the underlying issue.
- Run `cargo check` after edits.
- Use the simplest type that fits — reach for `Box<dyn>` only when a generic doesn't work.
</critical>
"""
welcome = "🦀 Rust developer ready. Working in {{CWD}}"
temperature = 0.1
top_p = 0.9
top_k = 0

Example 2: Agent with model override

capabilities = ["core", "filesystem-read", "filesystem-write", "websearch"]

[[roles]]
system = """..."""
welcome = "🔍 Research agent ready. Working in {{CWD}}"
temperature = 0.3
top_p = 0.9
top_k = 0
model = "openrouter:anthropic/claude-sonnet-4"

Example 3: Common mistake — forbidden fields

# ❌ WRONG — never put these in an agent manifest
[deps]
require = ["muvon/octofs"]

[roles.mcp]
server_refs = ["octofs"]

[[mcp.servers]]
name = "octofs"

References

• templates/agent.toml — canonical agent template
• agents/developer/general.toml — reference for execution protocol pattern
• bin/load — resolves capabilities → merged manifest (run to debug)
• bash scripts/lint-manifests.sh — validates agent TOML files