How does Mend Agent Templates handle missing skills in the skill templates?

If a skill listed in an agent template's frontmatter does not exist in the skill templates, the tool flags it during verification and may skip updating that bullet unless configured to fail the run.

Are skill descriptions required to match exactly with the source templates?

Yes. The descriptions must match exactly to ensure consistency between agent templates and their skill templates.

What if the SKILLS_START and SKILLS_END markers are missing?

The tool can insert the markers and populate the Capabilities section, or report the issue so you can add the markers manually.

mend-agent-templates

npx machina-cli add skill yu-iskw/meta-agent-skills/mend-agent-templates --openclaw

Files (1)

SKILL.md

1.8 KB

Mend Agent Templates

This skill automates the synchronization of agent templates in skills/meta-agent-skills/assets/templates/agents/ with the actual metadata and descriptions of skill templates in skills/meta-agent-skills/assets/templates/skills/.

Purpose

To ensure that agent templates always accurately reflect the current capabilities, names, and descriptions of the skills they reference in their YAML frontmatter.

Instructions

Discovery:
- List all skill templates in skills/meta-agent-skills/assets/templates/skills/*.md.
- List all agent templates in skills/meta-agent-skills/assets/templates/agents/*.md.
Extraction:
- For each skill template, extract:
  - name: From YAML frontmatter.
  - description: From YAML frontmatter.
- For each agent template, extract:
  - skills: The list of skill names from YAML frontmatter.
Synchronization:
- For each agent template:
  - Locate the Capabilities section marked by  and .
  - Generate a bulleted list of the agent's skills.
  - Each bullet should follow the format: - **Skill Title**: description from the skill template.
  - Note: "Skill Title" should be a title-cased version of the skill's machine name or its display name if available.
  - Replace the content between the markers with this generated list.
Verification:
- Ensure that all skills listed in the agent's frontmatter are represented in the Capabilities section.
- Confirm that the descriptions match the source skill templates exactly.

Markers

<!-- SKILLS_START -->
<!-- SKILLS_END -->

Source

git clone https://github.com/yu-iskw/meta-agent-skills/blob/main/.claude/skills/mend-agent-templates/SKILL.mdView on GitHub

Overview

Mend Agent Templates automates keeping agent templates in sync with their linked skill templates. It reads the metadata and descriptions from skill templates and updates the agent templates' Capabilities section between the  and  markers to reflect accurate skills and descriptions.

How This Skill Works

The tool discovers all skill and agent templates, extracts name and description from the skill templates' YAML frontmatter and the list of skills from each agent template's frontmatter, and then rebuilds the Capabilities section as a bulleted list. Each bullet follows the format: - **Skill Title**: description from the skill template. It replaces the content between  and  with the generated list.

When to Use It

When a skill is updated (name or description) and you need agent templates to reflect the change.
When adding or removing skills from a skill template that agents reference.
When you have dozens of agent templates and want to ensure consistency across the board.
During onboarding of new skills to the meta-agent-skills repo.
Before deploying templates to production to guarantee accurate capabilities.

Quick Start

Step 1: Discover all skill templates and agent templates in skills/meta-agent-skills/assets/templates/.
Step 2: Run synchronization to rebuild the Capabilities section between  and .
Step 3: Run verification to ensure ALL agent-listed skills exist in the skill templates and descriptions match exactly.

Best Practices

Maintain exact YAML frontmatter in both skill and agent templates.
Use title-case for Skill Title as per the machine name or display name.
Place the SKILLS_START and SKILLS_END markers consistently in all agent templates.
Run a verification pass to ensure all listed skills appear in Capabilities with matching descriptions.
Test with a small subset before mass synchronization.

Example Use Cases

AgentTemplate: MarketingAssistant referencing skills GenerateOutline and SummarizeContent.
AgentTemplate: ResearchBot referencing FetchData and AnalyzeSentiment.
AgentTemplate: QASupport referencing RespondToUserQuery and ExplainAnswer.
AgentTemplate: BlogWriter referencing DraftBlogPost and SEOChecklist.
AgentTemplate: CodeHelper referencing GenerateTestCase and ReviewPR.

Frequently Asked Questions

Add this skill to your agents