Host Instruction Drift Checker

Host Instruction Drift Checker

Use this skill when a repo supports multiple coding-agent hosts or when a baseline update may change agent behavior.

Process

• Identify the canonical instruction source for the repo.
• Inventory host surfaces:
  • AGENTS.md
  • CLAUDE.md
  • AGENT_INSTRUCTIONS.md
  • .claude/agents/*
  • .codex/agents/*
  • .agents/skills/*/SKILL.md
  • .claude/skills/*/SKILL.md
  • .codex/skills/*/SKILL.md
  • .cursor/rules/*.mdc
  • .github/copilot-instructions.md
• Compare only the behavioral contract: scope, permissions, stop rules, evidence, generated-file ownership, and profile/installer semantics.
• Treat host-specific syntax as normal, not drift.
• Classify each mismatch as generated drift, overlay drift, stale doctrine, policy conflict, missing host surface, or intentional host specialization.
• Prefer updating canonical source and regenerating derived surfaces over hand-editing generated agent files.

Output

Canonical Source

Surfaces Checked

Drift Findings

Intentional Differences

Regeneration Path

Required Manual Review

Avoid

• forcing every host file to contain identical prose
• editing generated files as if they were canonical
• ignoring Cursor .mdc and Copilot surfaces when the repo advertises those hosts
• treating missing evidence gates as minor wording drift