feat(agentic-engineering): make simplification a core principle in both roles - #143
Conversation
…th roles Both the Agentic Engineer and the Agent Improver could reach for a bespoke mechanism where an existing capability already delivered the outcome, with nothing in either definition telling them to prefer the simpler option. Adds the principle to each role, framed as a decision rule rather than a preference: where two approaches both deliver the required outcome, ship the one with less machinery; a bespoke, clever or unproven approach has to reach an outcome nothing simpler reaches, stated with its justification. Two boundaries are built in, because they are the ways this principle goes wrong. Simplicity is measured against the outcome and never traded for it — an option that is smaller because it delivers less is a narrower deliverable, not a simpler one. And it never justifies deleting a test, guard, control or measurement, which leaves the system smaller and weaker rather than simpler. Maintainer direction, interactive session 2026-08-17. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
…st marker A two-digit ordered-list marker takes a four-space content indent; the new item carried the three spaces items 1-9 use. It rendered only through CommonMark's lazy-continuation rule, which holds while no blank line appears inside the item and breaks silently if one ever does. Repins the entrypoint digest the desired state carries. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
CI is green at @coderabbitai review |
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✅ Action performedReview finished.
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No actionable comments were generated in the recent review. 🎉 ℹ️ Recent review info⚙️ Run configurationConfiguration used: Organization UI Review profile: ASSERTIVE Plan: Pro Plus Run ID: 📒 Files selected for processing (2)
Included review availability: Your plan includes up to 1 review per rolling hour; 0 remain after this review. 📜 Recent review details🧰 Additional context used🧠 Learnings (1)📚 Learning: 2026-07-25T12:40:46.973ZApplied to files:
🔇 Additional comments (2)
📝 WalkthroughWalkthroughThe plugin adds simplicity requirements to the Agent Improver and Agentic Engineer definitions. The requirements favor existing mechanisms, require justification for bespoke approaches, and preserve controls and measurements. The plugin version changes from 🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 5✅ Passed checks (5 passed)
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Actionable comments posted: 1
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Inline comments:
In `@plugins/agentic-engineering/agents/agentic-engineer.agent.md`:
- Around line 146-149: Update the simplification prohibition in the Agentic
Engineer guidance to explicitly include measurements alongside tests, checks,
guards, validation, and controls, preserving telemetry and other evidence from
removal while keeping the existing rule intact.
ℹ️ Review info
⚙️ Run configuration
Configuration used: Organization UI
Review profile: ASSERTIVE
Plan: Pro Plus
Run ID: 523323e0-44aa-416f-b675-5e348b6c5c71
📒 Files selected for processing (7)
.claude-plugin/marketplace.json.github/plugin/marketplace.jsonplugins/agentic-engineering/.claude-plugin/plugin.jsonplugins/agentic-engineering/agents/agent-improver.agent.mdplugins/agentic-engineering/agents/agentic-engineer.agent.mdplugins/agentic-engineering/plugin.jsonplugins/agentic-engineering/resources/provider-neutral.desired-state.json
Included review availability: Your plan includes up to 1 review per rolling hour; 0 remain after this review.
📜 Review details
🧰 Additional context used
📓 Path-based instructions (2)
**/{.github/workflows,.github/plugin,.claude-plugin}/**/*.json
📄 CodeRabbit inference engine (AGENTS.md)
The two marketplace manifests are the contract
Files:
plugins/agentic-engineering/.claude-plugin/plugin.json.claude-plugin/marketplace.json.github/plugin/marketplace.json
plugins/**/{plugin.json,.claude-plugin/plugin.json}
📄 CodeRabbit inference engine (AGENTS.md)
Keep both normalised JSON documents semantically identical
Files:
plugins/agentic-engineering/.claude-plugin/plugin.jsonplugins/agentic-engineering/plugin.json
🧠 Learnings (2)
📚 Learning: 2026-08-14T19:09:58.232Z
Learnt from: CR
Repo: devantler-tech/agent-plugins PR: 0
File: AGENTS.md:0-0
Timestamp: 2026-08-14T19:09:58.232Z
Learning: Applies to **/marketplace.json : Any change to the plugin set updates both manifests in the same PR
Applied to files:
.github/plugin/marketplace.json
📚 Learning: 2026-07-25T12:40:46.973Z
Learnt from: devantler
Repo: devantler-tech/agent-plugins PR: 89
File: plugins/agentic-engineering/skills/portfolio-maintenance/SKILL.md:0-0
Timestamp: 2026-07-25T12:40:46.973Z
Learning: During code review in this repo: (1) For `plugins/agentic-engineering/agents/*.agent.md` (local agent-entrypoints), do NOT require upstream provenance frontmatter—assume these are authored locally; renames/edits to agent-entrypoints should remain local and not be forced through the upstream sync process. (2) For bundled skill artifacts at `plugins/*/skills/*/SKILL.md`, expect upstream provenance frontmatter to be present; do not make direct “local” edits for skill content—skill changes must originate from the upstream source and be brought in via the repo’s sync workflow.
Applied to files:
plugins/agentic-engineering/agents/agent-improver.agent.mdplugins/agentic-engineering/agents/agentic-engineer.agent.md
🔇 Additional comments (6)
plugins/agentic-engineering/agents/agent-improver.agent.md (1)
208-219: LGTM!plugins/agentic-engineering/.claude-plugin/plugin.json (1)
4-4: LGTM!plugins/agentic-engineering/plugin.json (1)
4-4: LGTM!.claude-plugin/marketplace.json (1)
30-30: LGTM!.github/plugin/marketplace.json (1)
30-30: LGTM!plugins/agentic-engineering/resources/provider-neutral.desired-state.json (1)
20-20: 🗄️ Data Integrity & IntegrationAll four desired-state digests match their corresponding files.
…lification boundary The boundary named tests, checks, guards and validation steps but not measurements, while the sibling Agent Improver rule names them explicitly. That asymmetry left instrumentation as the one thing the Engineer could remove and still claim the rule allowed it — and losing the signal is how a regression goes unnoticed rather than merely unfixed. Names measurements alongside controls, and says plainly that the machinery around a control may be simplified but never the measurement that shows whether the control works. Addresses the CodeRabbit finding at e206959. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Fixed the measurement gap in @coderabbitai review |
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CodeRabbit refused this head with CI is green at this head (0 failing) and the one earlier finding is fixed and resolved. @codex review |
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You have reached your Codex usage limits for code reviews. You can see your limits in the Codex usage dashboard. |
Codex answered this head with a usage-limit refusal, so it produced no gate-satisfying artifact either: Advancing to the third and last lane. CI is green at this head and the one earlier finding is fixed and resolved; the trigger follows in its own comment, because Bugbot exact-matches the whole comment body and any extra line silently voids the request. |
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@cursor review |
Bugbot couldn't run - usage limit reachedBugbot is counted against Cursor usage for this user or team, and this run hit a usage or spend limit. A user or team admin can review and increase usage limits in the Cursor dashboard. (requestId: serverGenReqId_c484083d-dbdb-407d-8481-12a4fe2afb74) |
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Self-review (fallback — CodeRabbit, Codex and Cursor Bugbot unavailable)
Reviewed commit: c2516410f8dcb0f02839d2b3f793d3aab00c20ba
All three external lanes were tried at this exact head and none will deliver. Each was checked directly on its own surface, not inferred from a summary:
| Lane | Evidence at this head |
|---|---|
| CodeRabbit | head commit status Review rate limited (requested 11:31Z) |
| Codex | issue comment 11:18:04Z — You have reached your Codex usage limits for code reviews |
| Cursor Bugbot | check-run Cursor Bugbot conclusion=neutral + output.title=Error (the run did not execute), with cursor[bot] comment 11:55:01Z — Bugbot couldn't run - usage limit reached |
Codex and Bugbot are usage/spend limits stating no retry window, and both are admin-only to lift; CodeRabbit is a rolling rate limit. These are provider quota states, not verdicts on this change.
What I checked
Prose-and-config change across two agent definitions, one desired-state document and four version locations. No executable code path, so the review is correctness-of-content plus the repo's own structural contracts:
- Both manifests in parity and all four version locations moved together (4.3.7 → 4.4.0, minor — additive principle).
validate-manifests.shpasses: exit 0, zero errors. - Digest integrity — both pinned agent digests recomputed after the final edit and verified by the validator, which is the gate that would otherwise let a definition drift from its declared state.
- Cross-reference accuracy — the Improver's new item points at its own
## Non-negotiables, which does contain the measurement rule it cites. Verified, not assumed. - Markdown structure — item 10 uses the four-space content indent its two-digit marker requires; the Improver's single-digit item 7 correctly uses three, matching items 1–6.
- Internal consistency — checked the new rules against the existing ones for conflict. The Engineer's rule 9 (
never weaken a guardrail) and the Improver's obligation 3 (a loosening carries a higher bar) are both reinforced rather than undercut, since the new text forbids using simplification to remove a control.
Verdict: 1 finding (P0: 0, P1: 1)
The finding is a portability defect, raised below.
…r decision The new rule named the PR body as where a bespoke approach must be justified — the only line in either agent definition that pins content to a specific artifact, while everything else delegates that to the consumer contract. It also clashed in practice: a consumer whose PR bodies are deliberately PM-level would have its engineer writing technical rationale exactly where its own contract says not to. Keeps the obligation to justify and drops the placement, which is the portable half. Addresses the P1 from the local review round at c251641. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
New head Restarting at CodeRabbit rather than carrying forward its earlier refusal: that rate limit was observed at the previous head from that round's own request, and nothing has been asked at this one. CI is green here (0 failing). @coderabbitai review |
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✅ Action performedReview finished.
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Readiness at
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| Round | Finding | Fix |
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CodeRabbit @ e206959a |
🟠 the Engineer's boundary protected tests/checks/guards but not measurements, while the Improver's named them | c251641 |
Local round @ c251641 |
P1 — the rule pinned justification to "the PR body", the only line in either definition binding content to a consumer-owned artifact | 3313f62 |
The local round ran only after all three lanes were confirmed down at that head on their own surfaces: CodeRabbit Review rate limited, Codex usage limits for code reviews, Bugbot check-run neutral/Error plus its usage limit reached comment.
Promoting and merging.
…le (#2872) Moves the gitlink to the merged upstream revision that adds simplification as a core principle to the Agentic Engineer and the Agent Improver, and syncs the copied desired state so its pinned agent digests match those definitions. Until this lands the principle exists upstream and is absent from every running agent, because the roles load from the pinned revision. Part of devantler-tech/agent-plugins#143 Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
1 participant
Why
Neither agent was told to prefer the simpler option. Both could reach for a custom mechanism where something that already exists would have delivered the same outcome, and nothing in either definition pushed back. That is how an agent-run system quietly accumulates bespoke machinery that every future run then has to load, understand and maintain.
What
Adds simplification as a core principle to both roles — the Agentic Engineer's operating principles and the Agent Improver's obligations — as a decision rule rather than a preference: where two approaches both deliver the required outcome, ship the one with less machinery, and make a bespoke or unproven approach earn its place by reaching something nothing simpler reaches.
Two boundaries are built in, because they are how this principle goes wrong in practice:
Ships the plugin version bump the content change requires (4.3.7 → 4.4.0) and the desired-state digests that pin both agent definitions.