Give any agent a shared canonical-data layer — installs /canon-publish (commit this agent's own folder in the fleet's shared canon repo), /canon-consume (read other agents' published data at a cited ref), /canon-reconcile (scheduled freshness pass over the agent's own folder), and /canon-doctor (verify the layer end-to-end — credentials, clone, push permission — from wherever the agent runs). Verifies repo write access before seeding and wires the deployed-credential story (GH_TOKEN in .env). Seeds or adopts the canon repo convention (agents/<name>/ owned folders, protocols/, CONVENTIONS.md, CODEOWNERS) — including relations, per-counterpart collaboration memory (docs/relations/<counterpart>.md) read before acting on a counterpart's ask and appended before closing the interaction. In orchestrator fleets (fleet/system-map.yaml present) also enrolls mapped agents — all or a subset — into the same canon. Convention + skills on plain git — no new platform primitive.
Give any agent a shared canonical-data layer — installs /canon-publish (commit this agent's own folder in the fleet's shared canon repo), /canon-consume (read other agents' published data at a cited ref), /canon-reconcile (scheduled freshness pass over the agent's own folder), and /canon-doctor (verify the layer end-to-end — credentials, clone, push permission — from wherever the agent runs). Verifies repo write access before seeding and wires the deployed-credential story (GH_TOKEN in .env). Seeds or adopts the canon repo convention (agents/<name>/ owned folders, protocols/, CONVENTIONS.md, CODEOWNERS) — including relations, per-counterpart collaboration memory (docs/relations/<counterpart>.md) read before acting on a counterpart's ask and appended before closing the interaction. In orchestrator fleets (fleet/system-map.yaml present) also enrolls mapped agents — all or a subset — into the same canon. Convention + skills on plain git — no new platform primitive.
{"mirror":"abilities@19e8f1f plugins/agent-dev/skills/add-canon","version":"1.6","created":"2026-07-28T00:00:00.000Z","author":"Ability.ai","changelog":["1.6: Relations — per-counterpart collaboration memory (operator direction 2026-08-05): every agent keeps one doc per counterpart it actually works with — docs/relations/<counterpart>.md in its own folder (standard envelope, canonical, linked from profile.md ## Relations — lint-clean under the existing two-zone schema, no linter change) holding working agreements + a capped recent-events log (last 10, older folded into a rolling Earlier: summary) + open threads; the runtime rule the CLAUDE.md section installs is read-before-acting / append-before-closing — an incoming ask from a counterpart is handled in the context of the relationship and the log updates as a side effect of the interaction, never as a chore; each side keeps its own view under own-folder writes, divergence between the pair is a dropped-thread signal, not an error; CONVENTIONS.md template gains § Relations + a fifth what-belongs-here content type; canon-consume 1.3 adds relations mode (<agent> relations serves both sides + names the divergence); canon-publish 1.4 sanctions relational events past the process-state exclusion and enforces cap + profile link at publish; canon-reconcile 1.3 treats relation docs as self-sourced and turns open threads aged >30d into NEEDS-REVIEW rows — the dropped-thread alarm","1.5: Content guidance — the layer now teaches *what's worth publishing*, not just how (field evidence: fleets fill facts.yaml with self-describing registry data while docs/ and protocols/ sit empty): CONVENTIONS.md template gains a 'What belongs here (the publish test)' section — would another agent decide something differently knowing this? — with the four content types that earn their place (stewarded domain facts · settled positions with the why · protocols · open needs as docs/open-needs.md) and the two anti-patterns (self-describing registry data; process state, which belongs in messages/events, not a durable repo); canon-publish 1.3 applies the test as Step 4's first review gate; the seeded facts.yaml stub carries the test inline; Step 10 next-steps reworded from 'mirror the claims others depend on' to 'publish what others would decide differently on'","1.4: Two-zone lintable schema (Eugene decision 2026-07-29, ent#274) — every agents/<name>/ folder now follows the schema deterministic linting can enforce: facts.yaml (the purely lintable zone — structured claims with key/value/status/updated/review_by/source; keys are lowercase dotted subject.relation with one home across all folders) + docs/ prose with a linted front-matter envelope (owner/status/updated/review_by/tldr; statuses canonical|draft|superseded separate conviction levels — drafts may not be linked from profile.md) + files/ referenced artifacts; Step 4 seeds profile.md with the new envelope and an empty facts.yaml; CONVENTIONS.md template carries the full Lintable structure section (folder schema, restricted flat-YAML grammar, staleness via per-item review_by instead of a blanket 30-day bound); enforcement installs separately via the new sibling /add-canon-lint (deterministic linter + CI + optional required check) — runtime skills 1.2 gate publishes on it locally","1.3: Live-delivery guarantee — repo HEAD is not the running container: the reconcile schedule message now begins with git pull --ff-only, so even a container that never pulled since enrollment fetches the canon skills in the same run that first needs them (Step 8; every enrolled target inherits it); Step 9 delivery ends with an activation offer — run the orchestrator's /sync-fleet-to-head (or, without it, message each running enrolled agent to pull via Trinity MCP) so the fleet carries the skills in minutes instead of waiting for the next session or cron; enrollment summary gains live-delivery and undeliverable lines so agents that cannot receive the rollout (no git sync on Trinity, local-only container HEAD) are named, never silent","1.2: Access verification + deployment credential story — preflight checks gh auth (not just presence); adopting an existing github: canon runs a write probe (gh api permissions.push) and hard-stops before seeding when write access is missing; new /canon-doctor runtime skill (fourth in the set) — nine-check PASS/WARN/FAIL ladder incl. a push --dry-run write probe, context-aware fixes, dispatchable fleet-wide; new Step 6b seeds GH_TOKEN= into .env.example and documents the fine-grained-PAT + inject_credentials path so deployed instances can self-heal the clone and push; runtime skills v1.1 authenticate headlessly via a GH_TOKEN credential helper, add a git-identity fallback, and never prescribe interactive fixes to scheduled runs; fleet enrollment installs the doctor + seeds each target's .env.example, and its summary carries a credentials line","1.1: Fleet enrollment (new Step 9, orchestrator context) — when fleet/system-map.yaml exists, offer to enroll all mapped agents or a subset: install the runtime skills + x-canon: declaration + CLAUDE.md section + gitignore line + reconcile schedule into each target repo (local path → direct commit; repo-only → branch + PR, or authorized direct push), and seed each agents/<name>/ folder in the canon — the one sanctioned cross-folder write (enrollment seeding, now documented in CONVENTIONS.md); no clone created in targets (their runtime skills self-heal it on first use); idempotent — a target already declaring x-canon: is counted as enrolled and untouched","1.0: Initial version — seeds/adopts the shared canon repo (agents/<name>/ owned folders, protocols/, CONVENTIONS.md, CODEOWNERS), installs /canon-publish, /canon-consume, /canon-reconcile into the target agent, declares the layer via x-canon: in template.yaml, and wires the reconcile schedule (template.yaml schedules: + create_agent_schedule when Trinity MCP is present); own-folder-only direct writes, cross-folder changes via branch + PR; the canon lives as a gitignored side clone (not a submodule) that the runtime skills re-clone on fresh deploys"]}
ℹ️ First, set expectations: before anything else, print one short line with this skill's version and its most recent change — the top entry of metadata.changelog above — e.g. add-canon vX.Y — recent: <summary>. Then proceed.
Give an agent a published data layer: a separately-versioned git repository — the canon repo — shared across the fleet, holding each agent's canonical data (the business facts humans and other agents rely on) plus the protocols/ that define inter-agent contracts. Humans and agents co-edit it; each agent is responsible for keeping its own folder true.
The boundary this installs:
Layer
Where
What lives there
Working memory
the agent's own repo/workspace
drafts, state, scratch, everything in flight — private
Canon
the shared canon repo, agents/<name>/
published facts the fleet may depend on — versioned, stamped, owned
Protocols
the shared canon repo, protocols/
inter-agent contracts (schemas, channels, cadences) — changed via PR
Relations
the shared canon repo, agents/<name>/docs/relations/
per-counterpart collaboration memory — one doc per counterpart, owned like the rest of the folder
Relations — the collaboration-memory convention this installs: protocols say how agents agreed to work together; relations record how the work actually went. Each agent keeps one doc per counterpart it collaborates with — docs/relations/<counterpart>.md: working agreements, a capped recent-events log (last 10, older folded into a rolling Earlier: summary), open threads. The standing rule (carried by the CLAUDE.md section): read the relation doc before acting on a counterpart's message; append the outcome before closing the interaction — so an incoming ask is handled as a continuation, not a first contact, and the log updates as a side effect rather than a chore. Each side keeps its own view under own-folder writes; divergence between the pair is a dropped-thread signal, not an error. The docs are ordinary enveloped docs/ files — lint-clean under the two-zone schema with no linter change. Full spec: CONVENTIONS.md § Relations.
Design invariant (do not violate): the canon layer is convention + skills on plain git — no new platform primitive, no new Trinity surface, no sync service. Git supplies versioning, review, audit trail, and human+agent co-editing; CODEOWNERS supplies per-folder review routing. Trinity involvement stays light and optional: the layer is declared in template.yaml (x-canon:) so /discover-agents can see it, and the reconcile schedule rides the normal schedules: machinery. Write scope is own-folder-only: an agent commits directly only inside agents/<its-name>/; anything else — another agent's folder, protocols/, root files — goes out as a branch + PR, never a direct push. Git history is the audit trail, so no extra approval gate sits in front of own-folder writes.
Sibling layers:/add-canon-lint is the law of this layer — run once per fleet against the canon repo, it seeds a deterministic linter (stdlib Python, no LLM) + CI that mechanically enforce the two-zone schema below: every folder keeps facts.yaml (structured claims — the purely lintable zone, one home per key across the fleet) beside enveloped prose in docs/; the linter proves internal consistency on every push, /canon-reconcile verifies external truth on schedule. /add-orchestrator is the routing layer (its /discover-agents scans x-canon: into a canon: field per map node, and /orchestrate serves authoritative-data reads from the canon repo instead of spending a chat turn — writes still route to the owning agent). /add-git-sync is the working-memory durability layer — its hooks manage the agent's own repo, not the canon clone; the clone is gitignored here and synced by the canon skills at use time.
same artifacts installed into all/subset of mapped agents; their folders seeded
Process
Step 1: Preflight
Run from inside the target agent directory (the agent that should publish to the canon), or ask for the path.
# Must be an agent root (CLAUDE.md present)
[ -f CLAUDE.md ] || ask_user_for_agent_path
# Skills directorymkdir -p .claude/skills
# Tooling used by the installed skillscommand -v git >/dev/null 2>&1 || { echo"git is required"; exit 1; }
command -v gh >/dev/null 2>&1 || warn "gh not installed — creating a new github: canon repo and opening cross-folder PRs will need it. Install: brew install gh (and gh auth login)"command -v gh >/dev/null 2>&1 && ! gh auth status >/dev/null 2>&1 && \
warn "gh installed but not logged in — the write-access probe, repo creation, and PRs will fail. Run: gh auth login"command -v yq >/dev/null 2>&1 || warn "yq not installed — the canon skills parse x-canon: more robustly with it. Install: brew install yq"
Determine AGENT_NAME — name: from template.yaml, else the CLAUDE.md agent name. Trinity MCP is not required: everything here is plain git; only the optional live schedule install (Step 8) uses it.
Step 2: Confirm scope
Use AskUserQuestion:
Q1 — Where is the canon repo?
Existing repo (Recommended when the fleet already has one) — paste the ref: github:Org/repo or a local path. The skill adopts it: clones it and seeds only what's missing.
Create new on GitHub — the skill runs gh repo create <Org>/<name> --private and seeds the full convention. Ask for Org/name (suggest <org>/canon).
Local path (no remote yet) — init a bare-remote-less repo at a path; note that a fleet-shared canon needs a remote eventually.
Q2 — This agent's folder name? Default AGENT_NAME (the folder becomes agents/<name>/). Must be unique in the canon repo — if agents/<name>/ already exists there and is owned by another agent (its files' owner: differ), ask for a different name rather than adopting it silently.
Q3 — Reconcile cadence?
Weekly (Recommended) — cron 0 8 * * 1
Daily — cron 0 8 * * *
Manual only — no schedule; /canon-reconcile runs when invoked
Step 3: Clone (or create) the canon repo
Verify access first (github: refs from Q1 = existing repo — before anything is written). Steps 4 and 9 push; discovering a read-only grant after seeding leaves work stranded in a local commit. Probe now and hard-stop on failure — nothing has been written yet:
case"$CANON_REPO"in github:*)
SLUG="${CANON_REPO#github:}"ifcommand -v gh >/dev/null 2>&1; then
[ "$(gh api "repos/$SLUG" --jq .permissions.push 2>/dev/null)" = "true" ] || \
stop "No write access to $SLUG (or repo unreadable). Fix access first — gh auth status · collaborator/org role · PAT scope — then re-run."else
GIT_TERMINAL_PROMPT=0 git ls-remote "https://github.com/$SLUG" HEAD >/dev/null 2>&1 || \
stop "Cannot read $SLUG and gh is absent, so access can't be verified. Install gh (brew install gh; gh auth login), then re-run."
warn "read OK, but write access can't be verified without gh — Step 4's seed push may fail"fi ;;
esac
(Skip the probe for Create new on GitHub — creation implies admin — and for local paths, where filesystem access is the auth.)
The clone lives at canon/ inside the agent root and is gitignored — it is an independent repo, never committed as a nested directory. A plain side clone, deliberately not a submodule: a submodule pins a commit in the agent repo, forcing a pointer bump in every agent on every canon change — exactly wrong for a layer whose point is always current on pull. The side clone is refreshed by the runtime skills at use time (pull --ff-only), and because the path is gitignored, a freshly-deployed agent arrives without it — the runtime skills self-heal by re-cloning from x-canon.repo, so a redeploy never needs /add-canon re-run:
CANON_REPO="<from Q1>"# github:Org/repo or /local/pathif [ ! -d canon/.git ]; thencase"$CANON_REPO"in
github:*) gh repo clone"${CANON_REPO#github:}" canon \
|| git clone"https://github.com/${CANON_REPO#github:}" canon ;;
*) git clone"$CANON_REPO" canon ;;
esacfi# gitignore the clone in the AGENT repo (grep-guarded)
grep -qxF 'canon/' .gitignore 2>/dev/null || printf'\n# shared canon repo clone — its own repo, never committed here\ncanon/\n' >> .gitignore
For Create new on GitHub: gh repo create first, then clone. For a fresh local path: git init there, then clone.
Step 4: Seed the canon convention (only what's missing — never clobber)
SKILL_DIR="<this add-canon skill's own directory>"cd canon
# Shared rules — seed once; an existing CONVENTIONS.md is live fleet configurationif [ ! -f CONVENTIONS.md ]; then
sed -e "s/{{FLEET_NAME}}/$FLEET_NAME/g" -e "s/{{DATE}}/$(date -u +%Y-%m-%d)/g" \
"$SKILL_DIR/templates/conventions.md.template" > CONVENTIONS.md
fi
[ -f CODEOWNERS ] || cp"$SKILL_DIR/templates/codeowners.template" CODEOWNERS
mkdir -p agents protocols
[ -f protocols/.gitkeep ] || touch protocols/.gitkeep
# This agent's owned folder — two-zone schema: profile envelope + empty lintable zone
TODAY="$(date -u +%Y-%m-%d)"
REVIEW_BY="$(date -u -v+30d +%Y-%m-%d 2>/dev/null || date -u -d '+30 days' +%Y-%m-%d)"# BSD then GNUif [ ! -d "agents/$FOLDER_NAME" ]; thenmkdir -p "agents/$FOLDER_NAME"printf -- '---\nowner: %s\nstatus: canonical\nupdated: %s\nreview_by: %s\ntldr: "<one line — what this agent publishes and what others may rely on>"\n---\n\n# %s — published profile\n\n<what this agent is, what it publishes here, and what other agents may rely on;\nlink every canonical doc in docs/ from here — this file is the reachability root>\n' \
"$FOLDER_NAME""$TODAY""$REVIEW_BY""$FOLDER_NAME" \
> "agents/$FOLDER_NAME/profile.md"fi
[ -f "agents/$FOLDER_NAME/facts.yaml" ] || \
printf'# purely lintable zone — the claims other agents may rely on (see CONVENTIONS.md)\n# publish test: would another agent decide something differently knowing this?\n# if it only describes this agent (version, schedule counts), keep it out of canon\nfacts: []\n' \
> "agents/$FOLDER_NAME/facts.yaml"# CODEOWNERS: add the folder line as a comment until a human handle is known — never fabricate a reviewer
grep -q "agents/$FOLDER_NAME/" CODEOWNERS || \
printf'# /agents/%s/ @<github-handle of the human counterpart — fill in>\n'"$FOLDER_NAME" >> CODEOWNERS
git add -A && git commit -m "canon($FOLDER_NAME): join the canon — seed folder + conventions" \
&& git push 2>/dev/null || echo"ℹ️ No remote push (local-only canon or push failed) — seed is committed locally."cd ..
FLEET_NAME = system_name from fleet/sources.yaml if the agent has one (an /add-orchestrator install), else <agent>-fleet.
Step 5: Copy the runtime skills
The templates are ready as-is — no placeholder substitution (they read template.yaml's x-canon: at runtime). If a target skill directory already exists, ask per-skill: overwrite / skip / cancel — never silently overwrite:
for skill in canon-publish canon-consume canon-reconcile canon-doctor; domkdir -p ".claude/skills/$skill"cp"$SKILL_DIR/templates/$skill.md"".claude/skills/$skill/SKILL.md"done
Step 6: Declare the layer in template.yaml
Append the x-canon: block (grep-guard on x-canon:; the x- prefix keeps it clear of Trinity's native keys, same convention as /add-orchestrator's x-capabilities:). Fill from templates/canon-block.template.yaml:
x-canon:repo:"<from Q1>"# github:Org/repo or local path — the shared canon repoclone_path:"canon/"# where the clone lives inside this agent (gitignored)folder:"agents/<from Q2>/"# the one folder this agent owns and keeps currentwrites:own-folder-only# anything outside the folder goes via branch + PRreconcile_cron:"<from Q3 or empty>"
If template.yaml is absent, warn: the canon skills still work (they fall back to asking / a canon/ probe), but the layer is invisible to /discover-agents until the agent has a template with x-canon:.
Locally the canon skills ride your gh login. A deployed instance has neither that login nor the clone (gitignored, and excluded from the deploy archive) — the runtime skills self-heal the clone and push only if the instance can authenticate. For a github: canon repo:
Seed .env.example (grep-guarded; this installer never writes .env itself):
grep -q '^GH_TOKEN=' .env.example 2>/dev/null || printf'\n# Canon repo access for deployed instances — fine-grained PAT, canon repo ONLY, Contents: Read and write\n# (add Pull requests: Read and write if this agent opens cross-folder PRs)\nGH_TOKEN=\n' >> .env.example
Tell the user how the token travels: create the fine-grained PAT (scoped to the canon repo alone), put it in .env as GH_TOKEN=…; /trinity:onboard Step 5e injects .env into the deployed workspace via inject_credentials. The runtime skills wire a git credential helper that reads the env var at use time — the token itself never lands on disk.
Public canon repo: reads work tokenless; publish/reconcile pushes still need the token. Local-path canon: skip this step, but note that a fleet-shared canon needs a remote (and this step) before any member deploys.
Verify:/canon-doctor — run it here now, and on the instance right after onboarding: its push --dry-run probe catches a missing or read-only token before the first scheduled /canon-reconcile fails unattended.
Step 7: Wire CLAUDE.md
Append the ## Canonical Data (Canon) section from templates/claude-section.md (grep-guard on ## Canonical Data). Add a one-line pointer per installed skill to the agent's Core Capabilities table if one exists.
Step 8: Reconcile schedule (skip if Q3 = manual)
Same durable-then-live pattern as /add-orchestrator's steward schedule:
Record in template.yamlschedules: (grep-guard on canon-reconcile so re-runs never duplicate). Platform caveat: Trinity never reads this block at agent creation — only /trinity:onboard / /trinity:sync materialize it onto a live instance.
-id:canon-reconcilename:Canonfreshnesspasscron:"<from Q3>"message:"First run git pull --ff-only in the agent repo (delivers any pending skill updates; report if it fails), then run /canon-reconcile"purpose:Verifythisagent'spublishedcanonicaldataisstilltrue—stamp,update,pushenabled:true
The pull-first message makes the schedule self-delivering: a deployed container keeps whatever it last pulled, so without it the first scheduled run can fire on an instance that doesn't have the skill yet. With it, a stale container fetches the canon skills in the same run that first needs them; a non-fast-forward pull (local-only commits) fails loudly and gets reported instead of silently running nothing.
If Trinity MCP is available, install live via create_agent_schedule with its real params: agent_name, name: "canon-reconcile", cron_expression: "<from Q3>", message: the same pull-first prompt as above, optional description. (No schedule_name/cron/skill params exist — the message is the prompt, so it names the skill.) Otherwise print that the pass runs manually until /trinity:onboard / /trinity:sync reconciles the schedule.
If template.yaml is absent, warn: the schedule would exist live-only — invisible to /trinity:sync and fleet discovery.
Step 9: Enroll the fleet (orchestrator context — opt-in)
If this agent is an orchestrator (fleet/system-map.yaml exists), installing the layer into itself is only half the job — the canon stays one-sided until the members join. Offer enrollment; skip this step silently when there is no fleet map (plain single-agent install).
Q4 — Enroll fleet agents into the canon now?
All mapped agents — every map node not already enrolled
Pick a subset — list the nodes (name · role · summary), multi-select
Skip — enroll later by re-running /add-canon here (this step is idempotent)
Q5 — Delivery for repo-only targets (no local path — only asked if any):
Branch + PR (Recommended) — reviewable, lands via each repo's owner
Direct commit to the default branch — only for fleets where this orchestrator is explicitly authorized to write member repos
For each selected target — skipping any whose template.yaml already declares x-canon: (already enrolled; count it, touch nothing):
Resolve a working copy. Map ref local:<path> → operate on that directory directly. github:Org/repo → shallow-clone to a temp dir.
Install the layer into the target repo — the same artifacts as Steps 5–8, target-adjusted: copy the four runtime skills into its .claude/skills/ (respect existing dirs — skip, don't overwrite, and note it); append its x-canon: block (folder: "agents/<target-name>/", same repo, same cadence default from Q3); append the CLAUDE.md section; add the canon/ gitignore line; seed its .env.exampleGH_TOKEN= line (Step 6b's guard — each member's deployed instance needs its own token); add the canon-reconcileschedules: entry with Step 8's pull-first message (all grep-guarded). Do not clone the canon repo inside the target — its runtime skills self-heal the clone on first use.
Seed the target's folder in the canon repo — agents/<target-name>/profile.md stub + empty facts.yaml + CODEOWNERS comment line, exactly as Step 4 did for this agent, one commit for the whole enrollment batch. This is the one sanctioned cross-folder write: enrollment seeding by the installer (documented in CONVENTIONS.md). Everything after belongs to the owner.
Deliver. Local target → commit in its repo: canon: join the fleet canon (enrolled by <orchestrator>); its own git-sync hooks or /sync-fleet-to-head carry it from there. Repo-only target → per Q5: push a canon/enroll-<name> branch and open a PR (gh pr create), or commit to the default branch directly.
Activate live containers — repo HEAD is not the running fleet. Delivery lands the enrollment at each repo's HEAD, but a deployed instance keeps whatever it last pulled — fleets go weeks between pulls, so without this step every container stays enrolled-on-paper (declaration visible to /discover-agents, skills absent live). After the batch lands, offer to activate now: if the orchestrator has /sync-fleet-to-head (an /add-orchestrator install), run it — it pulls every fleet agent to HEAD non-destructively; without it, if Trinity MCP is present, message each running enrolled agent to git pull --ff-only (or use git_pull directly). If the user defers, say explicitly how the fleet converges anyway: next session/redeploy (SessionStart rebase in git-sync fleets), any scheduled fleet sync, and — the failsafe — Step 8's pull-first reconcile message, which fetches the skills in the same run that first needs them. Name the exceptions instead of letting them fail silently: an agent with no git sync on Trinity cannot receive the rollout at all until initialize_github_sync (or a redeploy); a container sitting on a local-only commit will fail the ff-only pull and needs a manual rebase.
Schedules stay the member's own. Materializing an enrolled agent's reconcile schedule on Trinity is that agent's own /trinity:onboard / /trinity:sync — never done from here; until then the durable schedules: entry (with its pull-first message) is the record.
Fold the outcome into Step 10's summary:
### Fleet enrollment
enrolled now: <n> (<names>) — local commit | PR <urls> | direct push
already enrolled: <n> (x-canon: present — untouched)
skipped: <n> (<names — no repo ref | unreachable | declined>)
live delivery: <synced now via /sync-fleet-to-head | pull messaged to <n> running agents |
deferred — converges via next session, scheduled fleet sync, or the
pull-first reconcile run (Step 8 failsafe)>
undeliverable: <names — no git sync on Trinity (needs initialize_github_sync) |
local-only container HEAD (needs manual rebase)> — or none
credentials: GH_TOKEN= seeded in each target's .env.example — the operator fills it per
deployed instance (a token cannot be verified from here); each member proves
its own setup with /canon-doctor (dispatchable via /orchestrate)
note: first canon-skill use on each instance re-clones canon/
Step 10: Summary
Print:
## Canon layer installed into <agent name>
### Skills added
- /canon-publish → commit own-folder changes; cross-folder → branch + PR
- /canon-consume → read another agent's published data / a protocol, cited at canon@<sha>
(<agent> relations = both sides of a collaboration record, divergence named)
- /canon-reconcile → freshness pass over agents/<name>/ — verify, stamp, push [schedule: <cron | manual>]
- /canon-doctor → verify the layer end-to-end (credentials, clone, pull, push --dry-run) — run after every deploy
### Canon repo: <repo ref>
- canon/ (local clone — gitignored in this agent)
- agents/<name>/profile.md (owned folder — seeded; the index every canonical doc links from)
- agents/<name>/facts.yaml (the purely lintable zone — empty until you declare facts)
- CONVENTIONS.md · CODEOWNERS · protocols/ (<seeded | already present>; two-zone schema documented)
### Declared
- template.yaml x-canon: (repo, folder, own-folder-only writes, reconcile cadence)
- CLAUDE.md (Canonical Data section added)
- .env.example GH_TOKEN= (deployment credential placeholder — fine-grained PAT, canon repo only)
### Next steps
1. Fill agents/<name>/profile.md — what this agent publishes and what others may rely on.
2. Publish what others would decide differently on (CONVENTIONS.md § What belongs here):
stewarded domain facts, settled decisions with the why, protocols, open needs — as
facts.yaml entries (key/value/status/updated/review_by/source) backed by docs/ prose,
then /canon-publish. Registry data about yourself (version, schedule counts) stays out.
2b. On the first real interaction with another agent, start docs/relations/<counterpart>.md
(CONVENTIONS.md § Relations) and link it from profile.md ## Relations — then the standing
rule applies: read it before acting on that counterpart's asks, append before closing.
3. Fill the CODEOWNERS line with the human counterpart's GitHub handle.
3b. Once per fleet: run /add-canon-lint against the canon repo — deterministic linting on
every push (internal consistency), leaving /canon-reconcile the external-truth residual.
4. Before /trinity:onboard: put the canon PAT in .env as GH_TOKEN= (Step 6b); after deploy,
run /canon-doctor ON the instance — it proves clone + push work before the schedule fires.
5. Other agents join via Step 9 fleet enrollment (re-run /add-canon here any time), or by
running /add-canon themselves pointing at the same repo; they read you via /canon-consume <name>.
6. (Orchestrator fleets) re-run /discover-agents — the map picks up x-canon: (with a canon
coverage line) and /orchestrate starts serving authoritative reads from the canon.
Error handling
Situation
Action
Not in an agent dir (no CLAUDE.md)
Ask for path or refuse
gh missing and Q1 = create-new github
Offer local-path mode or stop with install instructions
Write probe fails (no or read-only access to an existing github: canon)
Hard-stop before seeding — fix access (collaborator / org role / PAT scope) and re-run; nothing has been written
Clone fails (auth, no access)
Stop with the exact remote + context-appropriate fix (workstation: gh auth login · deployed: GH_TOKEN per Step 6b); nothing else is written
Deployed instance can't clone/push
/canon-doctor on the instance diagnoses; fix = GH_TOKEN into .env + inject_credentials (Step 6b) — never interactive gh auth login there
agents/<name>/ exists, owned by another agent
Ask for a different folder name — never adopt someone else's folder
canon/ exists but points at a different remote
Stop and show both remotes — never silently switch a clone
A target skill dir already exists
Ask per-skill: overwrite / skip / cancel
template.yaml absent
Install anyway; warn the layer is undiscoverable and the schedule can't be recorded durably
Seed push fails (no remote / rejected)
Commit stays local; say so — the layer works, sharing waits for a remote
Enrollment target unreachable (no repo ref, clone failed)
Count as skipped with the reason; never block the rest of the batch
Enrollment landed at repo HEAD but running containers are stale
Expected, not broken — offer activation now (Step 9.5: /sync-fleet-to-head or per-agent pull via Trinity MCP); the pull-first reconcile message self-delivers on the first scheduled run regardless
Enrollment target has no git sync on Trinity
Undeliverable to its live instance — name it in the summary; it receives the rollout only after initialize_github_sync or a redeploy
Enrollment target already declares x-canon:
Already enrolled — skip idempotently, count it
Enrollment target has no template.yaml
Install the repo artifacts anyway; warn its declaration can't be recorded (same caveat as Step 6)
Idempotency
Re-running is safe: the clone, CONVENTIONS.md, CODEOWNERS, the owned folder, the .gitignore line, the x-canon: block, the .env.exampleGH_TOKEN= line, the CLAUDE.md section, and the schedules: entry are each seeded only when absent (grep-guarded where textual); skill copies prompt before overwrite. Fleet enrollment (Step 9) is idempotent the same way — a target already declaring x-canon: is counted and untouched, so re-running enrolls only the not-yet-aligned remainder. Nothing in the canon repo is ever overwritten by this installer — it only adds what's missing.
