Manage Agent Config

Managing Claude <-> Codex skills and subagents in this repo

This repo is dual-tool. Before you create or edit anything under .claude/, .agents/, or .codex/, read this and the detailed rule at .claude/rules/codex-claude-sync.md.

Decision tree

Creating a new skill?

1. Does it need Claude-only features (allowed-tools, argument substitutions, shell preprocessing, or Claude-specific interpolations)?
   • Yes -> .claude/skills/<name>/SKILL.md (real directory, no symlink). Claude-only.
   • No -> .agents/skills/<name>/SKILL.md. Shared; make sync-agent-config creates the .claude/skills/<name> symlink.

Creating a new subagent?

• Always edit .claude/agents/<name>.md (markdown + YAML frontmatter). That is the source of truth.
• .codex/agents/<name>.toml is generated - never hand-edit.
• Run make sync-agent-config - the TOML appears.

Creating a new path-scoped rule?

• .claude/rules/<name>.md is the source of truth. Use globs: frontmatter (not paths:).
• .agents/rules/<name>.md is a symlink mirror, created by make sync-agent-config.
• Read the new-agent-rule skill before writing your first rule.

Renaming or deleting?

• Rename or delete the source file (under .agents/skills/, .claude/agents/, or .claude/rules/).
• Run make sync-agent-config - stale symlinks and orphaned TOMLs are pruned automatically.

Frontmatter rules for shared skills

.agents/skills/<name>/SKILL.md must only use:

• name (required, lowercase-hyphens, <=64 chars)
• description (required, <=250 chars - Codex and Claude use this for implicit matching)
• Plain markdown body

Do not use any of these in a shared skill:

• allowed-tools, disable-model-invocation, user-invocable, context, agent, model, effort, hooks, paths, shell, argument-hint
• $ARGUMENTS, $1...$N, ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}, ${CLAUDE_SESSION_ID} substitutions
• Backtick-bang shell preprocessing or fenced shell-preprocessing blocks

All of those are Claude-only. In Codex they pass through literally and confuse the model. If you need them, make the skill Claude-only (see decision tree above).

Subagent format notes

Claude .md frontmatter keys that don't exist in Codex (tools, model, color) are preserved as TOML comments in the generated .codex/agents/<name>.toml for human reference. They do not affect Codex behavior. If tool restrictions matter to the agent's job, describe them in the prose body so both tools read them.

After any change

Always run make sync-agent-config. The prek pre-commit hook will block the commit otherwise. The script is idempotent and silent when there's nothing to do.