create-meridian-artifact

name	create-meridian-artifact
description	Maintainer procedure to add or change Meridian kit artifacts — skill, agent, workflow, routing, and every registry surface. Use when extending the harness, creating /investigate, or onboarding a new slash command.
allowed-tools	Read, Glob, Grep, Bash, Edit, Write

Create Meridian artifact (maintainer)

Canonical map: .agent/references/instruction-surfaces.md
This skill: step-by-step procedure + per-artifact checklists in references/.

Use when adding or changing anything in .agent/ that agents or managers invoke: skill, agent, workflow (slash command), or delivery template.

Do not edit .cursor/, .claude/, or .agents/skills/ directly — run sync_cursor_kit.sh after .agent/ changes.

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Selective reading

File	When to read
references/registry-checklist.md	Mandatory — full surface list by artifact type
references/skill-template.md	Creating a new skill
references/agent-template.md	Creating a new agent
references/workflow-template.md	Creating a new slash workflow
.agent/references/instruction-surfaces.md	Protocol-level changes, EPIC-13, validator
.agent/ARCHITECTURE.md	Agent/skill/workflow tables
.agent/skills/meridian-routing/SKILL.md	New intent → agent routing row

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When to trigger

• "Create a new skill / agent / workflow for Meridian"
• "Register /foo in the kit"
• "What files do I update when adding an agent?"
• Extending the harness (code-investigator, new operator, new pass/review)
• After creating artifacts — verify nothing was missed

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Decision: what are you adding?

You need	Create	Also register
Repeatable procedure	.agent/skills/{name}/SKILL.md (+ references/)	Agent frontmatter if agent-owned; ARCHITECTURE.md skills table
Persona + gates + output	.agent/agents/{name}.md	Skills list; routing matrix; agents-help.md group
Human slash command	.agent/workflows/{name}.md	meridian.mdc table; agents-help.md; optional usage-guide.md
Delivery file shape	.agent/references/templates/ + INDEX.md	TEMPLATE_SOURCES.md; agent template protocol
Routing only	meridian-routing matrix row	agents-help.md intent lookup

Order of work (recommended): skill → agent → workflow → registries → sync → validate.

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Procedure

Phase 0 — scope

1. Name in kebab-case (investigate-codebase, code-investigator, investigate).
2. Classify: read-only report | doc pass | delivery authoring | implementation.
3. Pick owning agent (existing or new).
4. Read references/registry-checklist.md for the artifact type — print the checklist in output.

Phase 1 — skill (if needed)

1. Copy structure from references/skill-template.md.
2. Create .agent/skills/{skill-name}/SKILL.md.
3. Add references/*.md for long checklists (keep SKILL.md as index).
4. name in frontmatter must match folder name.
5. description must include triggers ("Use when…").

Phase 2 — agent (if needed)

1. Copy references/agent-template.md.
2. Create .agent/agents/{agent-name}.md.
3. List skills in frontmatter (including meridian-routing unless read-only sub-call).
4. Define: Phase 0, mission, forbidden, delegation, output block.

Phase 3 — workflow (if needed)

1. Copy references/workflow-template.md.
2. Create .agent/workflows/{command}.md (filename = slash without /).
3. Wire: agent + @[skills/skill-name].
4. Modes via $ARGUMENTS table when applicable.
5. No product code unless workflow is /implement-us.

Phase 4 — registries (mandatory)

Walk every applicable row in references/registry-checklist.md:

Priority	Surface	Typical
P0	meridian-routing	New intent keywords
P0	agents-help.md	Agent group + slash row + intent lookup
P0	meridian.mdc	Slash commands table
P1	ARCHITECTURE.md	Agents / skills / workflows tables
P1	usage-guide.md	New situation recipe
P1	instruction-surfaces.md	Quick lookup row if new pattern
P2	README.md	One line if user-facing
P2	app-visual-studio/src/command-catalog.ts	Only extension palette commands — not chat slash
P2	create-meridian-artifact → registry-checklist.md § K	New extension view (SQLite-backed tab)

Auto-sync (no manual edit): .cursor/commands/, .cursor/skills/, .cursor/agents/, .agents/skills/workflow-*, .codex/agents/*.toml — via sync script.

Phase 5 — sync and validate

./.agent/scripts/sync_cursor_kit.sh
python3 .agent/scripts/validate_meridian.py . --sqlite-only --strict-kit-md

Phase 6 — dogfood decision (kit protocol changes)

If behavior of the Meridian protocol changed (not just a new optional operator):

1. date +"%Y-%m-%d" and date +"%H:%M"
2. meridian_delivery.py prepend-decision with rationale and files touched.

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Anti-patterns

Wrong	Right
Edit .cursor/commands/foo.md	Edit .agent/workflows/foo.md + sync
Skill body with 500-line checklist	references/checklist.md + "when to read" table
Agent without forbidden section	Explicit forbidden + delegate table
Workflow without output block	Copy pattern from /security-review
New slash only in workflow file	Also meridian.mdc + agents-help.md
name: mismatch with folder	Folder foo/ → name: foo

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Output

Artifact type: skill | agent | workflow | template | routing
Names: skill=… agent=… workflow=/…
Files created:
Registries updated:
Sync: done | pending
Validate: pass | fail (…)
Checklist gaps:
Next: test /command in chat | prepend-decision | PR