# Developing Wayfinder Strategies

> Best practices for developing, testing, and iterating Wayfinder Paths strategies/adapters in this repo (data sources, manifests, safety rails).

- Skill: `wayfinderfoundation/developing-wayfinder-strategies` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 5 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add wayfinderfoundation/developing-wayfinder-strategies`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/wayfinderfoundation/developing-wayfinder-strategies/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- Author: WayfinderFoundation (https://skillmd.com/u/wayfinderfoundation)
- Updated: 2026-09-10
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/wayfinderfoundation/developing-wayfinder-strategies

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## When to use

Use this skill when you are:
- Designing a new strategy (or major refactor) in `wayfinder_paths/strategies/`
- Exploring adapter capabilities to build strategy logic
- Adding tests, manifests, examples, or debugging strategy behavior

## How to use

Follow the repo-specific workflow and patterns in these rule docs:

- [rules/workflow.md](rules/workflow.md) - Setup, common commands, how to run strategies locally
- [rules/manifests-and-tests.md](rules/manifests-and-tests.md) - Manifest rules, required tests, `examples.json` discipline
- [rules/data-sources.md](rules/data-sources.md) - Where data comes from (clients/adapters), read vs write conventions
- [rules/reference-strategies.md](rules/reference-strategies.md) - **Canonical reference strategies to copy/adapt from** (perps, etc.)

When designing a new strategy, **start from the canonical reference for that style** — see [rules/reference-strategies.md](rules/reference-strategies.md). It shows file layout, signal/decide separation, snapshot conventions, and reconcile-friendly patterns the SDK expects.

## On Shells Instance -- IMPORTANT

Only `.wayfinder_runs/` persists across restarts, you can use `just create-strategy` — but this writes to `wayfinder_paths/strategies/` which won't survive. Move the strategy files under `$WAYFINDER_RUNS_DIR/strategies/<name>/`:


`core_run_strategy`, `core_get_adapters_and_strategies`, and `python -m wayfinder_paths.run_strategy <name>` all auto-resolve runs-dir strategies via the shared loader — no invocation changes.