# Evograph > Deprecated agent-mode algorithm (evo-graph port): a weakness-graph search that dispatched one solver agent per failure cluster and reverted a whole round on regression. Do not start new runs with it — its per-weakness fan-out is already `agent-optimize`'s sibling fan-out, done behind the honest val significance gate that evograph never applied, and everything else it did (failure clustering, rejected-edit memory, budget-aware fan-out, free-text stop condition) lives in `agent-optimize` + `phases/diagnose`. Use when reading or repairing an existing evograph run dir, or when writing the run-dir `wiki/` format the dashboard's Weakness-graph tab reads — and to see what to select instead: `agent-optimize` for agent-mode search, `hill-climb`, `gepa`, or `skillopt` for a deterministic loop. - Skill: `skillberry-ai/evograph` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 10 files) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add skillberry-ai/evograph` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/skillberry-ai/evograph/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: AI & ML - Author: skillberry-ai (https://skillmd.com/u/skillberry-ai) - Updated: 2026-09-17 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/skillberry-ai/evograph --- # evograph — DEPRECATED **Do not select `algorithm_skill: evograph` for a new run.** Use `agent-optimize` (agent mode) or `hill-climb` / `gepa` / `skillopt` (deterministic) with `memory_skill: wiki` if you want THIS run's weakness-graph format. This file stays so an existing evograph run dir is still readable. ## Why it is deprecated evograph advertised one distinctive capability — a collaborative weakness graph with one solver agent per weakness, merged into a shared candidate each round. Measured against its four siblings, that capability is not distinctive and the part that *was* distinctive was a defect: - **The fan-out already exists, gated properly.** `agent-optimize` fans out N sibling candidates from the same parent, one diagnosed failure cluster each, every sibling in its own working copy (a git worktree when the capability is in git), gated **one at a time with a re-gate after each accept** so several fixes accumulate into one lineage honestly. That is evograph's round, minus the flaws below. The clustering itself is `phases/diagnose`'s job in both cases. - **Acceptance was never held out.** evograph kept a merge on a raw delta over a frozen 3-task subset of *train*, self-reported by the solver subagent that made the edit — no val split, no standard error, no `Δ > k·SE`. Between `baseline` and `finalize` an evograph run took no held-out measurement at all, so the sealed test number was the first honest signal anyone saw. Whole-round revert existed only as a one-round-late substitute for the gate it lacked; wire the real gate and there is nothing left for it to catch. - **What remains unique is an output format, not a search strategy.** The run-dir `wiki/` is genuinely useful, but the dashboard renders the Weakness-graph tab from `wiki/` presence alone, for any algorithm that writes the format (`core/cap_evolve/dashboard.py`). An output contract does not earn a second agent-mode algorithm that users must choose between — it has since moved to `skills/memory/wiki/SKILL.md`, a standalone `memory_skill` any algorithm can select (#400, #404), so it no longer needs evograph to stay alive. ## There is no deterministic engine There never was one, and `scripts/run.py` is a tombstone, not a stub: invoked deterministically it exits 2 with an `agent-mode only` payload rather than faking a loop. So evograph is also the one algorithm that could not be routed through the shared per-iteration record — see the `hill-climb` skill's `references/run-step.md`, which owns the shared iteration mechanics (parent selection, val gate, commit, iteration record) every other algorithm routes through. Read it if you are reconstructing what an evograph round *should* have done. ## Reading an existing evograph run The run dir is authoritative. `/wiki/` holds the weakness nodes, solution cards and per-round results; `/runs/round-/agents/.log` holds solver progress. The formats are in [references/dashboard.md](references/dashboard.md) — load it if you need to write or parse that wiki. Treat any per-weakness "kept / new record" number in it as a train-subset self-report, not a gated result; only `finalize`'s sealed test number and any `gate` decision recorded in `events.jsonl` are honest. `scripts/now.py` is the one-clock timestamp stamper those formats require; it is correct and still used by anything writing the wiki. ## Removal is a separate decision Deprecation is reversible; removal is not. The wiki format contract now has a real owner (`skills/memory/wiki/SKILL.md`), so what's left to decide (maintainer): stop `dashboard.py` inferring `algorithm = "evograph"` from `wiki/` presence alone (any `memory_skill: wiki` run now writes it too), then delete this directory. ## References - [skills/memory/wiki/SKILL.md](../../memory/wiki/SKILL.md) — the wiki format contract's current home: weakness-node/solution-card schemas, generalized for any algorithm via `memory_skill: wiki`. - [references/dashboard.md](references/dashboard.md) — the same file formats, kept here for reading an existing evograph run dir's branch/round-revert specifics the generalized skill dropped. - [references/clustering.md](references/clustering.md) — weakness-node schema and the `affected_tasks` freeze rule, kept for reading historical run dirs. - [references/graph.md](references/graph.md) — solution-card schema, branch layout, whole-round revert, kept for the same reason.