compass-skills
AGENTS.md764 starsChanged 3 months agoMITView on GitHub
This repository contains agent-agnostic SKILL.md skills and an optional Codex session-title plugin. Use this file when your agent does not have native skills support, or when it needs explicit rules for discovering and applying the skills in skills/. The plugin has a separate installation contract in docs/session-titles.md. When a skill applies:
Where files are headingNew AGENTS.md files have more rules about keeping secrets out of the code, and fewer about code style.
Of the AGENTS.md files we read, the 31,542 first seen in the last six months, against the older ones: the kind of rule that gained most share, and the kind that lost most. About files like this in general, not this one, and an estimate, since a kind is a pattern in the words.
In this repository10 other files it gives its agents.
- academic-humanizerSkill
- assess-interview-candidateSkill
- clear-communicationSkill
- pause-and-resumeSkill
- run-history-skill-builderSkill
- run-history-skill-upgraderSkill
- session-handoff-promptSkill
- task-clarifierSkill
- task-forestSkill
- user-profile-keeperSkill
The file
Show its rules and text
We split this AGENTS.md into the rules it gives an agent
16 rules. About 4 are common, 7 are distinctive, and 5 are very specific to this project.
≈4
Common · estimate
Many files like this have a rule of this kind.
≈7
Distinctive · estimate
This author's own choices. Worth a look.
5
Very specific
Tied to their project's names, files or tools. Probably skip.
- Common
- Distinctive
- Very specific
- Very specific: line 8
Read each skill's YAML frontmatter name and description to decide whether it applies.
- Very specific: line 9
Prefer explicit user invocation such as $task-clarifier, $task-forest, $pause-and-resume, $session-handoff-prompt, $user-profile-keeper, …
- Distinctive: line 10
If no skill clearly applies, continue normally.
- Distinctive: line 15
When a skill applies:
- Very specific: line 17
Read the full SKILL.md before acting.
- Very specific: line 19
Read referenced files under references/ only when the skill tells you to or when the current task needs them.
- Very specific: line 20
Run scripts from the skill's own scripts/ directory instead of retyping large logic.
- Distinctive: line 21
Keep generated runtime data out of the repository unless the user explicitly asks to commit it.
- Common: line 53
Do not upload profile data, task data, credentials, cookies, browser sessions, or private local logs.
- Common: line 54
Do not read password managers, keychains, SSH keys, browser cookies, API keys, tokens, or verification codes.
- Common: line 55
Do not save secrets in user profiles or task graphs.
- Distinctive: line 56
Treat resumes and candidate reports as confidential local records.
- Distinctive: line 57
Do not use candidate age, birthplace, hometown, marital status, or other protected or sensitive traits for fit scoring, ranking, hiring, or …
- Common: line 58
Before destructive actions, publishing, remote writes, global configuration changes, credential use, or external side effects, ask for …
- Distinctive: line 59
Treat HTML exports as static offline views.
- Distinctive: line 65
If your agent has no automatic skill router, use this AGENTS.md as the router policy.
≈ “Common” is an estimate: at least 1 in 5 of the 40,246 AGENTS.md files we read have a rule of the same kind, not the same words. “Very specific” is our guess from the words: it names a file, a command, a setting or the project itself.
Files
COMPASS Agent Adapter
This repository contains agent-agnostic SKILL.md skills and an optional Codex session-title plugin. Use this file when your agent does not have native skills support, or when it needs explicit rules for discovering and applying the skills in skills/. The plugin has a separate installation contract in docs/session-titles.md.
Discovery
- Available skills live under
skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md. - Read each skill's YAML frontmatter
nameanddescriptionto decide whether it applies. - Prefer explicit user invocation such as
$task-clarifier,$task-forest,$pause-and-resume,$session-handoff-prompt,$user-profile-keeper,$run-history-skill-builder,$run-history-skill-upgrader,$clear-communication, or$assess-interview-candidate. - If no skill clearly applies, continue normally; do not force a skill.
plugins/clarity-session-titles/skills/manage-title/belongs to the full Codex plugin. Do not copy it into a portable skill root or enable the plugin merely because this repository was opened. Usescripts/title_plugin.pyonly when the user requests installation in a specific scope; hook trust is a separate Codex review step.
Loading Protocol
When a skill applies:
- Read the full
SKILL.mdbefore acting. - Resolve relative paths from the directory that contains that
SKILL.md. - Read referenced files under
references/only when the skill tells you to or when the current task needs them. - Run scripts from the skill's own
scripts/directory instead of retyping large logic. - Keep generated runtime data out of the repository unless the user explicitly asks to commit it.
Invocation Examples
Use $task-clarifier to align this task before implementation.
Use $task-forest to update the task graph for this workspace.
Use $pause-and-resume to pause this unfinished task in the current conversation; later, continue it from the checkpoint.
Use $session-handoff-prompt to create a continuation prompt for a fresh session.
Use $user-profile-keeper to initialize or update my local profile.
Use $run-history-skill-builder to turn this completed workflow into a new skill package.
Use $run-history-skill-upgrader to plan a safe upgrade for this existing skill from recent run evidence.
Use $clear-communication to explain the supplied material for the current reader while preserving facts, conditions, uncertainty, and verification state.
Use $assess-interview-candidate to turn an authorized resume and job description into an auditable local interview report.Local Paths
task-forestwrites task data under the current workspace:.agent-workbench/task-forest/.pause-and-resumekeeps its checkpoint in the current conversation and creates no files solely for pausing.session-handoff-promptis read-only by default. It may validate local handoffs with real workspace paths or redact shareable handoffs.user-profile-keeperwrites profile data under the local user home:.compass-skills/user-profiles/v1/.run-history-skill-builderwrites new skill packages only to a user-approved local directory.run-history-skill-upgraderis plan-only by default and edits existing skills only after explicit approval.clear-communicationprovides writing instructions and references; it has no runtime script or fixed output directory. Follow the current task's authorization when reading material or writing a document.- The optional title plugin stores installation and title-protection records under the selected project's
.local/or the selected Codex home'sagent-clarity/. Portable mode binds a shared state root inside the deployed package; never commit that generated binding or copy account credentials. assess-interview-candidatewrites case data and reports only below a user-approved local case root; generated candidate records stay outside this repository.- Set
COMPASS_USER_PROFILE_HOMEto override the profile directory. - Set
COMPASS_AGENT_NAMEto label task-forest changes by agent, for examplecodex,claude-code,opencode, oropenclaw.
Safety Rules
- Do not upload profile data, task data, credentials, cookies, browser sessions, or private local logs.
- Do not read password managers, keychains, SSH keys, browser cookies, API keys, tokens, or verification codes.
- Do not save secrets in user profiles or task graphs.
- Treat resumes and candidate reports as confidential local records. Do not upload them or search for private background information without explicit authorization.
- Do not use candidate age, birthplace, hometown, marital status, or other protected or sensitive traits for fit scoring, ranking, hiring, or rejection decisions.
- Before destructive actions, publishing, remote writes, global configuration changes, credential use, or external side effects, ask for explicit user confirmation.
- Treat HTML exports as static offline views; they do not authorize modifying the task graph.
Cross-Agent Notes
- Codex, Claude Code, OpenClaw, OpenCode, and similar local agents may expose different skill directories and invocation syntax.
- The portable contract is the file layout:
SKILL.mdplus optionalreferences/,scripts/,assets/, andagents/. - If your agent has no automatic skill router, use this
AGENTS.mdas the router policy.
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Your trail
Files you open will collect here, so you can find them again.
Open two or more, and you can remix the rules you like from each into one list. Kept in this browser only.
Now do this for your own.
Bring your CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md or skills. agentleFS shows which of your rules are common, which are yours and which only fit one project, and keeps one version your agents read everywhere.

