name	ai-agent-maintenance
description	Use when: updating AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md, compatibility shims, Agent Skills, source indexes, or cross-tool AI configuration for hiredis-happ.

AI agent maintenance skill

Use this skill for repository AI instructions, skills, prompt files, compatibility shims, and source-index maintenance.

Design policy

AGENTS.md is the canonical root instruction file.
CLAUDE.md is a thin compatibility shim importing AGENTS.md and, when helpful, .agents/skills/README.md.
.agents/skills/<name>/SKILL.md is the standard project skill location.
Tool-specific files may exist only as thin shims or when an official source shows a concrete benefit.
When AGENTS.md and .agents/skills/ already cover the same rules, remove duplicate .github/copilot-instructions.md and .github/copilot/skills/ copies instead of maintaining parallel text.
Do not copy long initialization prompts wholesale. Distill repo-specific rules, commands, gotchas, and source-backed decisions.

Source-backed workflow

Inventory relevant files, if present: AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md, .agents/skills/, .agents/skills/README.md, .github/copilot-instructions.md, .github/copilot/skills/, .github/instructions/, .github/prompts/, .github/agents/.
Check doc/ai/source-index.md before making tool-compatibility claims.
Fetch official docs for any new URL or tool behavior before relying on it.
Mark failed or ambiguous sources as unverified. Do not encode unsupported claims into always-on instructions.
Update last_checked, next_review, and update triggers in the source index when sources are revisited.

Skill frontmatter rules

Frontmatter is YAML between --- markers.
Required fields: name, description.
name must match the parent directory exactly.
Use lowercase letters, digits, and hyphens; no spaces, underscores, leading/trailing hyphens, or consecutive hyphens.
Quote descriptions containing colons.
Descriptions should use trigger language such as Use when: and stay under 1024 characters.

Progressive disclosure

Keep AGENTS.md short enough to be always loaded.
Put multi-step workflows in skills.
Put long references in doc/ and link them.
Avoid duplicating identical instructions across AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md, compatibility shims, and skills.

Validation

Run git diff --check.
Manually verify every SKILL.md frontmatter block.
For docs-only changes, do not run a full CMake build unless build/test commands or generated files changed.
Summarize any tool-specific support as verified, compatibility shim, or unverified.

AI agent maintenance skill

Use this skill for repository AI instructions, skills, prompt files, compatibility shims, and source-index maintenance.

Design policy

AGENTS.md is the canonical root instruction file.

CLAUDE.md is a thin compatibility shim importing AGENTS.md and, when helpful, .agents/skills/README.md.

.agents/skills/<name>/SKILL.md is the standard project skill location.

Tool-specific files may exist only as thin shims or when an official source shows a concrete benefit.

When AGENTS.md and .agents/skills/ already cover the same rules, remove duplicate .github/copilot-instructions.md and .github/copilot/skills/ copies instead of maintaining parallel text.

Do not copy long initialization prompts wholesale. Distill repo-specific rules, commands, gotchas, and source-backed decisions.

Source-backed workflow

Inventory relevant files, if present: AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md, .agents/skills/, .agents/skills/README.md, .github/copilot-instructions.md, .github/copilot/skills/, .github/instructions/, .github/prompts/, .github/agents/.

Check doc/ai/source-index.md before making tool-compatibility claims.

Fetch official docs for any new URL or tool behavior before relying on it.

Mark failed or ambiguous sources as unverified. Do not encode unsupported claims into always-on instructions.

Update last_checked, next_review, and update triggers in the source index when sources are revisited.

Skill frontmatter rules

Frontmatter is YAML between --- markers.

Required fields: name, description.

name must match the parent directory exactly.

Use lowercase letters, digits, and hyphens; no spaces, underscores, leading/trailing hyphens, or consecutive hyphens.

Quote descriptions containing colons.

Descriptions should use trigger language such as Use when: and stay under 1024 characters.

Progressive disclosure

Keep AGENTS.md short enough to be always loaded.

Put multi-step workflows in skills.

Put long references in doc/ and link them.

Avoid duplicating identical instructions across AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md, compatibility shims, and skills.

Validation

Run git diff --check.

Manually verify every SKILL.md frontmatter block.

For docs-only changes, do not run a full CMake build unless build/test commands or generated files changed.

Summarize any tool-specific support as verified, compatibility shim, or unverified.

ai-agent-maintenance