Skill Evolve (Optional Sidecar)

This is an OPTIONAL sidecar capability, NOT part of the default pipeline.

What This Skill Is

Skill Evolve is a controlled, opt-in framework for turning real user feedback into skill improvements over time.

It is designed to:

• Collect and normalize user feedback
• Generate minimal patch proposals
• Require manual review/refinement of generated patch proposals before real patch application
• Test reviewed patches in isolated workspaces
• Run regression gates
• Promote verified patches to new stable versions
• Preserve the default .cursor/skills/ tree unchanged unless a human later chooses to merge approved changes manually

What This Skill Is NOT

This skill must NOT:

• Run automatically during normal report generation
• Modify stable skills without explicit evolve flow
• Replace human judgment with automated decisions
• Make the default pipeline behave differently

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when:

• User explicitly requests "skill evolution" or "feedback-driven improvement"
• User provides feedback that should be tracked and potentially addressed
• User wants to analyze and improve the skill framework

Do NOT use this skill when:

• Generating reports (use one-report instead)
• Running normal pipeline operations
• User has not explicitly requested skill evolution

Controlled Evolve Loop Flow

When explicitly invoked, follow this controlled flow:

Step 1: Collect Feedback

Use collect_feedback.py to ingest raw user feedback:

python .cursor/skills/skill-evolve/scripts/collect_feedback.py --interactive
# OR
python .cursor/skills/skill-evolve/scripts/collect_feedback.py --text "feedback text"
# OR
python .cursor/skills/skill-evolve/scripts/collect_feedback.py --file /path/to/feedback.txt

Raw feedback preserves user language and is saved to: {WORKSPACE}/.skill-evolve-data/feedback/raw/

Step 2: Normalize Feedback

Convert raw feedback to structured format:

python .cursor/skills/skill-evolve/scripts/normalize_feedback.py \
    --feedback-id FB-XXXXXX \
    --stage <grounding|research|summary|review|export> \
    --skill <skill-name>

Normalized feedback is saved to: {WORKSPACE}/.skill-evolve-data/feedback/normalized/

Step 3: Propose Minimal Patch

Generate a patch proposal from normalized feedback:

python .cursor/skills/skill-evolve/scripts/propose_skill_patch.py \
    --feedback-id FB-XXXXXX,FB-YYYYYY

Patch proposals are saved to: {WORKSPACE}/.skill-evolve-data/patch_proposals/proposed/

Change Unit

A patch proposal is not just a single modified skill file, but a complete change unit containing:

1. Main File: The skill being modified
2. Dependency References: All other skills/agent configs that reference this skill
3. Auto-generated Assertions: For regression gate verification

Dependency Reference Scanning

When generating a proposal, the agent must:

1. Identify Main File: Determine which skill is the modification target
2. Scan Dependencies: Search all skills and agent configs to find references to the main file
   • Check other skills' "What This Skill Is" or invocation chain descriptions
   • Check agent configs for skill references
   • Check prompting templates for skill paths
3. Declare Reference Points: List all locations requiring sync updates in the proposal
4. Analyze Impact Scope: Distinguish between "description update only" and "behavior sync required" references

Example: If the modification target is grounded-review:

• Main File: .cursor/skills/grounded-review/SKILL.md
• Dependency References:
  • .cursor/skills/one-report/SKILL.md (as sub-process reference)
  • .cursor/agents/reviewer.md (agent config)

Auto-generated Assertions

The proposal script should auto-generate assertions rather than relying on manual creation:

1. Analyze planned_changes:
   • If before content exists → generate not_contains assertion to verify old content removed
   • If after content exists → generate contains assertion to verify new content added
   • Numeric changes (90→95) → generate regex_match assertion
2. Minimal Assertion Set:
   • Core semantic changes must be covered by assertions
   • Avoid redundant assertions (one contains can verify content without splitting)
   • Empty tests cannot pass vacuously (reject if no changes)
3. Cross-file Assertions:
   • If dependency references also need updates, those points should have corresponding assertions
   • Ensure consistency between main file and reference points

Auto-generated Assertion Example (threshold 90→95):

{
  "assertions": [
    {
      "name": "threshold_updated_to_95",
      "type": "contains",
      "file": "grounded-review/SKILL.md",
      "pattern": "weighted total >= 95"
    },
    {
      "name": "old_threshold_90_removed",
      "type": "not_contains",
      "file": "grounded-review/SKILL.md",
      "pattern": "weighted total >= 90"
    },
    {
      "name": "one_report_sync",
      "type": "contains",
      "file": "one-report/SKILL.md",
      "pattern": "review threshold"
    }
  ]
}

Step 4: Review and Refine Patch Proposal

Before applying any changes, review and refine the proposed planned_changes so they contain concrete, safe edits.

Do not treat an auto-generated proposal as ready-to-apply by default.

Step 5: Apply Patch Candidate

Apply the reviewed patch to an isolated workspace for testing:

python .cursor/skills/skill-evolve/scripts/apply_patch_to_workspace.py \
    --proposal-id PP-XXXXXX \
    --apply-changes

This creates a candidate workspace without modifying stable skills.

Step 6: Run Regression Gate

Test the patch against evaluation cases:

python .cursor/skills/skill-evolve/scripts/run_regression_gate.py \
    --proposal-id PP-XXXXXX

Results are saved to: {WORKSPACE}/.skill-evolve-data/evaluations/results/

Regression Gate for Change Units

Regression gate must verify the complete change unit:

1. Main File Assertions: Verify core changes in the main skill file
2. Dependency Reference Assertions: Verify sync updates for all dependency reference points
3. Consistency Checks: Ensure descriptions/behaviors match between main file and references

Assertion File Path Resolution

The file field in assertions is resolved relative to workspace root:

• grounded-review/SKILL.md → {workspace}/grounded-review/SKILL.md
• one-report/SKILL.md → {workspace}/one-report/SKILL.md
• .cursor/agents/reviewer.md → {workspace}/.cursor/agents/reviewer.md

Failure Handling

If any assertion fails (main file or dependency reference), gate result is reject:

{
  "decision": "reject",
  "reason": "Dependency reference out of sync: one-report/SKILL.md missing review threshold update"
}

Step 7: Promote or Reject

If gate passes, promote the candidate:

Standard promotion (creates versioned directory only):

python .cursor/skills/skill-evolve/scripts/promote_skill_version.py \
    --gate-id GR-XXXXXX \
    --notes "Description of changes"

Sync promotion (also updates stable skills/):

python .cursor/skills/skill-evolve/scripts/promote_skill_version.py \
    --gate-id GR-XXXXXX \
    --notes "Description of changes" \
    --sync

Result (standard):

• Original .cursor/skills/ remains untouched
• New .skill-evolve-data/skills-versions/v002/ created with patches applied

Result (--sync):

• Versioned directory created as above
• Additionally: stable .cursor/skills/ is updated with approved patches
• Consistency checks run to ensure no old patterns remain

Consistency Check Feature: The promote script now runs full line-by-line checks on patched files to ensure:

• No remaining old patterns (e.g., weighted_total >= 90 when it should be >= 95)
• Cross-file consistency (all related files updated together)
• Report any missed updates before finalizing

If gate fails, the patch is rejected and stable version remains unchanged.

Version Management

Stable Version Pointer

Located at: {WORKSPACE}/.skill-evolve-data/stable/current_version.json

Contains:

• Current stable version ID
• Path to version manifest
• Last update timestamp

Version Manifests

Located at: {WORKSPACE}/.skill-evolve-data/versions/vXXX/version_manifest.json

Contains:

• Version ID
• Based-on version
• Accepted patch IDs
• Passed gate IDs
• Rollback information

Safety Principles

1. Opt-in Only: Nothing runs automatically
2. Isolation: Patches are tested in isolated workspaces
3. Human Approval: Promotion requires successful gate + explicit promotion call
4. Rollback Ready: Every stable version knows its rollback target
5. No Overwrite: Stable skills are never modified without explicit promotion

Directory Layout

Skill Code (in .cursor/skills/skill-evolve/)

.cursor/
  skills/
    skill-evolve/
      SKILL.md          # This file
      scripts/          # Evolution workflow scripts
      schemas/          # JSON schemas

Data Directory (in {WORKSPACE}/.skill-evolve-data/)

{WORKSPACE}/
  .skill-evolve-data/
    stable/
      current_version.json
    versions/
      v001/
        version_manifest.json
      vXXX/
    skills-versions/      # Versioned skill+agent snapshots (created on promotion)
      v001/
        agents/           # copy of .cursor/agents/
        skills/           # copy of .cursor/skills/
      v002/
        agents/
        skills/
    feedback/
      raw/              # Original user feedback
      normalized/       # Structured feedback
    patch_proposals/
      proposed/        # Generated proposals
      accepted/        # Successfully promoted
      rejected/        # Failed or rejected
    evaluations/
      cases/           # Evaluation case definitions
      results/         # Gate execution results

Key Design Principle

• Skill code stays in .cursor/skills/skill-evolve/ (git-managed)
• Versioned snapshots go to .skill-evolve-data/skills-versions/ (each version contains both agents/ and skills/ sub-dirs)
• Runtime data goes to {WORKSPACE}/.skill-evolve-data/ (local, git-ignored)

Example Invocation

User explicitly requests skill evolution:

Use the skill-evolve framework to analyze my feedback and propose improvements.

My feedback: The grounded-research-lit skill sometimes opens fewer papers than the `MIN_OPENED_PAPERS` threshold set by `research_mode`. The cursor backend should ensure the configured minimum number of unique papers are opened before proceeding to summary.

Feedback ID reference: FB-280408 (collected earlier)

Agent would then:

1. Normalize the feedback with appropriate stage and skill
2. Propose a minimal patch
3. Apply to candidate workspace
4. Run regression gate
5. Report results for human decision

Summary

Important Activation Rule

Promotion updates the Skill Evolve stable pointer and creates a new versioned snapshot such as .skill-evolve-data/skills-versions/v002/, which contains both agents/ and skills/ sub-directories. This ensures every version is self-contained and reproducible.

It does not automatically rewrite ordinary prompts or make the default .cursor/skills/ or .cursor/agents/ trees behave differently.

If a user wants to use a promoted version in a future chat, they must explicitly point the prompt at that versioned snapshot path or manually merge the approved changes back into .cursor/skills/ and .cursor/agents/.

Rejection Path

If a proposal is not suitable or fails the regression gate, archive it explicitly using:

python .cursor/skills/skill-evolve/scripts/reject_patch_proposal.py \
    --proposal-id PP-XXXXXX \
    --reason "Why this proposal is rejected"

Do not leave failed proposals ambiguous if you already know they should not be promoted.