| name | study-all-references |
| description | Batch study all repos/tools in .references/. Dispatches parallel subagents to document each, then distills learnings into steering/skills. Use when onboarding to a project with multiple reference repos. |
| metadata | {"type":"process","invocation":"user-only","practice":null} |
Study All References
Analyze every repo/tool in .references/ and extract actionable knowledge.
Step 1: Inventory
List all directories in .references/. For each, note what it appears to be (language, purpose, size).
Step 2: Document (parallel)
For each reference, check if .memory/{name}-reference.md already exists with studied_at frontmatter. Skip those — already studied. Only dispatch subagents for unstudied references.
Dispatch one subagent per unstudied reference. Each doc follows the study-reference skill's schema — same frontmatter (studied_at, source: .references/{name}), same seven analysis dimensions (JTBD, Decisions and tradeoffs, Non-obvious, Prior art, Audience, Conventions, Integration points). This skill is the batch driver; study-reference owns the document structure.
Subagent prompt template:
Explore .references/{name}/ thoroughly. Read key files (README, main entry points, config).
Write a reference doc to .memory/{name}-reference.md following the structure in
.kiro/skills/study-reference/references/exploration-template.md (JTBD, Decisions and
tradeoffs, Non-obvious, Prior art, Audience, Conventions, Integration points), with
frontmatter: studied_at ({ISO 8601 timestamp}) and source (.references/{name}).
Focus on what's relevant to THIS project (read AGENTS.md for context).
Step 3: Synthesize
After all subagents complete, read all .memory/*-reference.md files and produce:
Cross-cutting patterns
Patterns that appear in multiple references (consensus = high confidence).
Steering candidates
Rules that should apply every turn. For each:
- What rule
- Which references support it
- Proposed steering file name
Skill candidates
On-demand knowledge for specific tasks. For each:
- What knowledge
- When it's needed (activation trigger)
- Which references inform it
CONTEXT.md terms
New vocabulary from the references.
Step 4: Apply (with approval)
Present all candidates. After user approves:
- Write steering files to
.kiro/steering/
- Write skills to
.kiro/skills/
- Update
.memory/CONTEXT.md
- Update
AGENTS.md with new tool references
- Commit:
docs: study all references — {summary of learnings}
Rules
- Max 4 subagents per batch (kiro-cli limit). If >4 references, batch in groups.
- Skip references that already have a
.memory/{name}-reference.md (already studied).
- Cross-cutting patterns (found in 2+ repos) are higher confidence than single-source findings.
- Present candidates grouped by confidence before applying.