goal-cli-template-author

name	goal-cli-template-author
description	Use when adding or maintaining reusable goal-cli templates, artifact recipes, tik oracle scripts, example goal.toml files, or project-type setup guidance.
version	1.0.0

goal-cli Template Author

Use this skill when maintaining reusable goal-cli setup material rather than configuring one user's project. The audience is future agents and advanced users who need a reliable recipe for a project family.

Do not use this skill to connect an ordinary target project to goal-cli. For that job, use goal-cli-project-setup. This skill only maintains the reusable material that llms.txt and goal-cli-project-setup point agents toward.

Template work includes:

• new example goal.toml files;
• project-type setup docs;
• deterministic tik oracle scripts;
• producer wrapper templates;
• reusable prompts;
• updates to llms.txt, docs/skills.md, README links, or skill content.

Design Principles

• The artifact is the control point. Each template must name one canonical artifact shape.
• Producer first. A template is incomplete unless it explains how the artifact is rebuilt from source.
• Tik and tok stay separated. Tik reviews the artifact; tok success is measured by runtime-audited source changes.
• Defaults should be safe for non-experts: narrow write scopes, protected generated dirs, dry-run validation before real heartbeats.
• One-prompt setup material must be usable by an agent that has never seen the target project and by a user who cannot debug goal.toml by hand.
• Templates must include install/verification steps and a failure path for missing commands, failed producers, missing artifacts, and failed doctor checks.
• Deterministic checks beat model review when they can reject failures clearly.
• Examples should be runnable from a clean checkout or should state exactly which target project files they expect.

Template Workflow

1. Define the Project Family

Write down:

• artifact kind: PDF, site, workbook, report, benchmark, package, model metric;
• expected source directories;
• generated directories;
• likely build tools;
• whether a deterministic tik oracle is possible;
• what the user can inspect directly.

Do not create a generic "agent task" template. Every template must be tied to an artifact family.

2. Specify Producer Discovery

Each template must tell agents how to find or create the producer:

• check Makefile, justfile, package.json, pyproject.toml, README, CI workflows, and scripts/;
• prefer an existing stable command;
• otherwise create a wrapper such as scripts/goal_producer.sh;
• require the wrapper to verify artifact existence, size, and optionally sha256.

Include one minimal producer wrapper when useful.

3. Specify Tik

For oracle templates, provide or describe a script that returns a parseable goal-cli verdict. The script should check the artifact and print a JSON object with:

{
  "artifact_ready": false
}

For checklist templates, use the same command-backed contract as oracle, but reserve the provider name for checklist-style reviews that should show up as checklist in tik ledgers and state.

For codex_file and claude_code_file templates, write a concise artifact-only prompt. If a slash skill is required, it must be the first line of the prompt.

For api templates, state the OpenAI package plus Packy/OpenAI-compatible API key requirements. The default model is claude-fable-5 through PackyAPI, and credentials may come from PACKYAPI_API_KEY, PACKYCODE_CODEX_KEY, OPENAI_API_KEY, or ~/.config/goal-cli/api.env. Keep store = false unless the template explicitly requires stored API responses. If a local skill is required, set tik.skill instead of putting a slash command in the prompt.

4. Specify Tok Boundaries

Every template must include:

• recommended audited source write_dirs;
• generated dirs to protect;
• source dirs that look tempting but should stay read-only;
• a tok prompt template that references {tik_review_path} as the standard to meet;
• explicit language requiring tok to make source changes so the next rebuilt artifact answers tik's blocking objections;
• a note that tok cannot declare the artifact complete.

5. Provide Validation Commands

Every template must include:

goal-cli validate
goal-cli doctor
goal-cli run --dry-run

Add smoke checks when relevant:

goal-cli doctor --smoke-codex-goal
goal-cli doctor --smoke-codex-app-server
goal-cli doctor --smoke-codex-goal --smoke-codex-file-tik
goal-cli doctor --smoke-codex-app-server --smoke-codex-file-tik

If a template includes a tik oracle script, include a direct oracle command and the expected verdict shape. If it includes a checklist runner, use provider = "checklist" and document that goal-cli doctor checks the command statically.

If a template recommends unattended progress, include the system-level heartbeat command and state that each tick still runs exactly one heartbeat. Omit --every-minutes unless the template needs a fixed timer; goal-cli defaults to a 5-minute wake-up for perpetual goals and a 30-minute wake-up for legacy goals:

goal-cli heartbeat install --max-minutes 600
goal-cli heartbeat status

File Locations

Use these repository locations unless a future repository convention replaces them:

skills/goal-cli-project-setup/SKILL.md
skills/goal-cli-template-author/SKILL.md
docs/skills.md
examples/<project-family>/goal.toml
examples/<project-family>/README.md
scripts/ (only for repository-level tooling)
llms.txt

Project-specific producer wrappers should be described in templates, not added to this repository unless they are examples.

Example Template Shape

name = "research-pdf-ready"
state_dir = ".goal"
runs_dir = ".goal/runs"

[artifact]
path = "output/full_paper.pdf"
copy_as = "full_paper.pdf"

[producer]
command = "scripts/goal_producer.sh"

[tik]
provider = "codex_file"
timeout_seconds = 1800
max_file_size_bytes = 25000000
max_output_tokens = 4096

[tik.verdict]
ready_field = "artifact_ready"
required_fields = ["artifact_ready"]

[tok]
provider = "codex_goal"
sandbox = "workspace-write"
write_dirs = ["writing", "src"]
codex_features = ["goals"]

# Use provider = "codex_app_server" for Codex app-server stdio instead of
# codex exec, or provider = "claude_code_goal" for Claude Code.

[safety]
generated_dirs = ["output", "build", "cache"]
max_blocker_repeats = 3

Review Checklist

Before finishing template work, verify:

• frontmatter name, description, and version are present for every skill;
• docs link to new skills from README or docs/skills.md;
• llms.txt lists the current agent entrypoints;
• one-prompt setup docs explain how to install or verify goal-cli;
• non-expert setup docs include exact validation commands and recovery behavior when those commands fail;
• no template tells tok to edit generated outputs;
• no runtime prompt asks a human to approve or clarify during the loop;
• examples use current public config fields from docs/config-schema.md;
• validation commands are included;
• repository tests still pass or any failure is reported with exact output.

Definition of Done

• The reusable recipe can be followed by an agent that has never seen the project before.
• The recipe explains artifact choice, producer synthesis, tik choice, tok write scopes, validation, and first heartbeat.
• Documentation points users to the correct skill for their role.
• The change is committed with the docs and examples needed to use it.