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refactor(docs): agent-readable zero-to-value onboarding (#1280)#1336

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vybe merged 2 commits into
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feature/1280-agent-readable-onboarding
Jun 24, 2026
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refactor(docs): agent-readable zero-to-value onboarding (#1280)#1336
vybe merged 2 commits into
devfrom
feature/1280-agent-readable-onboarding

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@dolho

@dolho dolho commented Jun 24, 2026

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Summary

Make the repo's canonical entry points machine-first so an autonomous agent landing in the repo (or connecting to an instance) can self-orient and reach a useful result with no human translating context.

Changes

  • AGENTS.md — added a "Using this file" machine-contract header: declares AGENTS.md the authoritative agent entry point, states the AGENTS / CLAUDE / README boundary, explains how to traverse. Rebuilt Route by task with explicit "Done when" zero-to-value signals per persona. Links the new template catalog from the deploy section.
  • CLAUDE.md — cross-link into AGENTS.md; framed CLAUDE.md as the contributor working agreement (auto-loaded by Claude Code), not the agent landing page.
  • README.md — added the missing trinity agents list verify step to the CLI example.
  • docs/CLI.md — leads with pip install trinity-cli (PyPI); marks -e src/cli/ as the from-source/dev variant.
  • config/agent-templates/README.md (new) — machine-readable starter-template catalog: groups the 17 real templates (single-purpose + the dd-* due-diligence suite) with one-line affordances and how-to-use, and explicitly flags the 7 test/canary fixtures as "not starting points". An agent now self-selects a template instead of ls-ing 24 dirs and opening each template.yaml.

Validation (AC#5)

Ran a context-free agent through a real zero-to-value task ("deploy an agent and verify it worked") using only repo files, no human context:

  • Self-oriented in 2 hops (README → AGENTS.md) to a correct deploy + verify answer.
  • Verdict: "the routing itself is excellent and is the model other repos should copy."
  • Its friction log produced four doc fixes (undefined $TOKEN, conflicting CLI install, missing README verify, unstated deploy prerequisite) — folded back in.

Acceptance criteria

  • Audit agent-facing entry points for readability gaps (via the validation run)
  • Define zero-to-value per persona (explicit "Done when" signals)
  • Restructure / annotate entry points so an agent self-orients (task router + boundary + template catalog)
  • Establish AGENTS.md as the authoritative entry point that cross-links the rest
  • Validate with an agent performing a representative task using only repo files

Notes

  • Human docs left intact (agent-first defaults, not removal of human readability).
  • Repo-root AGENTS.md is hand-authored; the CLAUDE.md → AGENTS.md mirror (Codex harness MVP — pluggable agentic execution engine alongside Claude Code #1187) is per-agent-container (startup.sh), so these repo-root edits are conflict-free.
  • The .claude/ skills affordance pass is deliberately not here: skills live in the private trinity-dev submodule and can't land in a public-repo PR — tracked separately.

Related to #1280

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

dolho and others added 2 commits June 24, 2026 12:33
Make the repo's entry points machine-first so an autonomous agent can self-orient and reach a useful result without a human translating context.

- AGENTS.md: add a "Using this file" machine-contract header (declares it the authoritative agent entry point, states the AGENTS/CLAUDE/README boundary, explains how to traverse). Rebuild Route-by-task with an explicit "Done when" zero-to-value signal per persona.
- CLAUDE.md: cross-link to AGENTS.md and frame CLAUDE.md as the contributor working agreement (auto-loaded by Claude Code), not the agent landing page.
- Fixes from a context-free agent onboarding test (AC#5 validation): AGENTS.md deploy verify no longer assumes an undefined $TOKEN (leads with `trinity agents list`, shows token derivation); deploy section states the running-instance prerequisite; README CLI example adds the `trinity agents list` verify step; docs/CLI.md leads with `pip install trinity-cli` (PyPI) and marks `-e src/cli/` as the from-source/dev variant.

Validated by an agent performing a zero-to-value deploy task using only repo files, no human context: self-oriented in 2 hops (README -> AGENTS.md) to a correct deploy+verify answer; friction items above are its findings, folded back in.

Repo-root AGENTS.md is hand-authored; the CLAUDE.md->AGENTS.md mirror (#1187) is per-agent-container (startup.sh), so these edits are conflict-free.

Related to #1280

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Affordance sweep for agent self-selection. Previously an agent had to `ls`
config/agent-templates/ (24 dirs, 7 of them test fixtures) and open each
template.yaml to find a starting point.

- config/agent-templates/README.md: catalog grouping the 17 real templates
  (single-purpose: scout/sage/scribe/demo-*/trinity-system; the dd-* due-
  diligence suite) with one-line affordances, how-to-use, and an explicit
  "not starting points" list for the test/canary fixtures
- AGENTS.md: link the catalog from the Deploy-an-agent section so the
  zero-to-value path is "pick a ready-made template", not "author from scratch"

Related to #1280

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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⚠️ Nightly unit-suite check skipped — merge conflict against dev.

Resolve by running git merge dev locally and pushing the result. The next nightly run will re-test once the conflict is gone.

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Validated via /validate-pr: docs-only, base=dev, conventional commits, security-clean (no secrets/emails/IPs), enterprise-docs guard passed. Approving.

@vybe vybe merged commit 11c93b0 into dev Jun 24, 2026
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2 participants