Agent skill

Agent Startup And Context Ingestion

by mvschwarz in mvschwarz/openrig

A skill your agent uses when designing or auditing how an agent becomes useful after launch — AGENTS.md overlays, role files, skills, rig specs, workflow specs, startup checklists, refocus messages…

Apache-2.0Auto-check passedAgent Workflows

Install Agent Startup And Context Ingestion

skills CLI
$ npx skills add mvschwarz/openrig --skill agent-startup-and-context-ingestion -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install mvschwarz/openrig agent-startup-and-context-ingestion --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/mvschwarz/openrig.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/_canonical/core/agent-startup-and-context-ingestion .claude/skills/agent-startup-and-context-ingestion && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.

Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/

Facts

Skill name
agent-startup-and-context-ingestion
GitHub stars
6.6k
Token cost
~1.7k tokens
SKILL.md length
782 words
Files
1
Skills in repo
49
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
Apache-2.0

At a glance

A skill your agent uses when designing or auditing how an agent becomes useful after launch — AGENTS.md overlays, role files, skills, rig specs, workflow specs, startup checklists, refocus messages…

  • Works in 4 steps: A new agent starts from an old rig spec… → Guidance is written to a file that… → A startup file becomes a dumping ground… → …
  • Auditing how an agent becomes useful after launch — AGENTS.md overlays
  • SKILL.md covers Use this when, Don't use this when, Failure modes (4) and Task-scoped startup, plus 5 more sections
  • Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md

What it does

Agent Startup And Context Ingestion is an agent skill from mvschwarz/openrig. Use when designing or auditing how an agent becomes useful after launch — AGENTS.md overlays, role files, skills, rig specs, workflow specs, startup checklists, refocus messages, "rig context" surface. Covers the 4 failure modes that make startup context fail (old rig spec misses current operating mode; current agents never told about new guidance; startup file as dumping ground; orchestrator transmits implementation without preserving product intent).

Its SKILL.md is about 1.7k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. It is a single SKILL.md file with no bundled scripts.

It sits in Agent Workflows, covering Agent instruction files. The repository describes itself as: Build your own network of agents from Claude Code, Codex and Pi: persistent teams with roles, shared context and owned work. The licence is Apache-2.0.

When your agent uses it

  • Auditing how an agent becomes useful after launch — AGENTS.md overlays
  • Startup checklists
  • Refocus messages
  • Rig context surface

Example prompts

  • “rig context”
  • “/agent-startup-and-context-ingestion”

Workflow steps

4 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.

  1. A new agent starts from an old rig spec and misses the current operating mode. Specs go stale; current state must be visible at startup…
  2. Guidance is written to a file that future agents read, but current agents are never told. File edits don't propagate to running sessions…
  3. A startup file becomes a dumping ground and loses the map-to-canonical-sources role. Startup should point AT canonical sources; it…
  4. The orchestrator transmits implementation instructions without preserving product intent. Instructions decay; intent travels.

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 4b48ca2. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

  • Tool permissions

    Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

    From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

  • Runs code

    No scripts in the folder and no shell commands in SKILL.md.

    From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

  • Network

    No URLs in SKILL.md.

    From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

  • Credentials

    Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

    From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Agent Startup And Context Ingestion loads about 1.7k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 123 tokens; SKILL.md has 782 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~123
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~1.7k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Auto-check passed

The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from mvschwarz/openrig at commit 4b48ca2, republished under its Apache-2.0 licence (© mvschwarz). 782 words, ~1,690 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/agent-startup-and-context-ingestion/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).
name
agent-startup-and-context-ingestion
description
Use when designing or auditing how an agent becomes useful after launch — AGENTS.md overlays, role files, skills, rig specs, workflow specs, startup checklists, refocus messages, "rig context" surface. Covers the 4 failure modes that make startup context fail (old rig spec misses current operating mode; current agents never told about new guidance; startup file as dumping ground; orchestrator transmits implementation without preserving product intent).
metadata.cli_surfaces_referenced
context, whoami

Agent Startup and Context Ingestion

How an agent becomes useful after launch: AGENTS.md overlays, role files, skills, rig specs, workflow specs, startup checklists, refocus messages, and the current rig context retrieval and profile surface.

It is the current concrete startup path inside the broader context-engineering-and-retrieval primitive. Startup gets a seat into the right initial shape; context engineering is the larger question of how a seat gets the right context for the work it is doing right now.

Most coordination failures are not tool failures; they are context failures. Agents need to know their role, operating mode, coordination convention, boundaries, and current product intent. If startup context is scattered or stale, agents execute the wrong thing very efficiently.

Use this when

  • Authoring a new agent's startup files (role / culture / startup-context)
  • Refreshing a seat that's been running on stale guidance
  • Auditing whether agents got the current operating mode (not just what's in old files)
  • Designing the orchestrator → next-agent context-transmission shape
  • Building a startup map for OpenRig-building rigs

Don't use this when

  • The agent is being created via Agent Starter — the starter's manifest carries startup context
  • The work is artifact-backed mental-model rebuild from a packet — that's session-compaction-and-restore
  • The intent is to ship reusable startup content as a skill

Failure modes (4)

  1. A new agent starts from an old rig spec and misses the current operating mode. Specs go stale; current state must be visible at startup, not just historical config.
  2. Guidance is written to a file that future agents read, but current agents are never told. File edits don't propagate to running sessions. Cultural rollout (broadcast + fleet-changes-feed) is needed alongside file edits.
  3. A startup file becomes a dumping ground and loses the map-to-canonical-sources role. Startup should point AT canonical sources; it shouldn't TRY to be one.
  4. The orchestrator transmits implementation instructions without preserving product intent. Instructions decay; intent travels.

Task-scoped startup

Run rig whoami --json, then resolve project.yaml -> mission.yaml -> active slice.yaml -> selected component or wave map -> addressed context. The complete lookup and precedence rule is docs/reference/product-journey-sdlc.md#resolve-the-selected-path (installed: $OPENRIG_HOME/reference/product-journey-sdlc.md#resolve-the-selected-path). Read the selected addresses and source needed for this task; skills available in your profile are capabilities, not a mandatory reading list. No composition means light Part A. Role names and idle seats add no gates. Explicit rigor and authored wave boundaries retain their named checks.

Startup files are address maps, not universal reading mandates. Do not preload unrelated planning/review doctrine or require per-file ACKs and quizzes. Skill availability is distinct from loading its full body. An old packet does not choose the current work. Missing selected context is a named gap to resolve.

Proof standard

In a disposable fresh session, observe the actual reads and resulting next action. Test no-selection, explicit rigor, and wave-boundary cases. An edit is not evidence that an already-running seat adopted it; adoption needs an authorized refresh or next-launch observation. Do not clear or re-prime a live seat merely to test prose.

Show full SKILL.md (296 more words)Show less

Cross-runtime startup paths (5; do not collapse)

When a seat's startup is artifact-backed mental-model rebuild (active-work reentry case, distinct from reusable Agent Starters / priming packs):

  • See the cross-runtime restore/reentry packet standard v0
  • Source-trust ranking applies: rig whoami > target rigspec > bounded latest transcript > full transcript > touched-files > restore-summary.json

Memory surfaces consumed at startup

Inventory the selected startup inputs: AGENTS/role/CULTURE overlays, replay context, and any declared restore packet or starter. Record where each comes from, whether it is current, and why this task needs it. An available skill or old packet does not select the work.

Use the task-scoped startup path above to resolve current authority. Permission to read an input is not permission to rewrite its source; writes follow the active project/rig policy and assignment. Load skills/openrig-operating-model/SKILL.md with rig context get when deciding where durable context belongs.

Startup files vs skills (the distinction)

Per agent-startup-guide.md (product reference doc) and the team handbook:

Startup filesSkills
Rig-specific, role-specific identityReusable SOPs / methodology / knowledge
Tell agent WHO it is, WHAT it's working on, HOW this team operatesTell agent HOW to do something (transferable across rigs)
Examples: role.md, CULTURE.md, startup/context.mdExamples: openrig-user, test-driven-development, vault-user
Authored per-rigAuthored once, used everywhere

Don't put skill content in startup files. Don't put identity content in skills. The 7-layer additive startup model (agent / profile / rig / culture / pod / member / operator) handles the layering.

See also

  • mission-slice-sop — load when starting assigned mission/slice work; the light artifact and handoff procedure for SPEC.md, NOTES.md, PROGRESS.md and proof. It does not choose the SDLC for the task.
  • forming-an-openrig-mental-model skill — orientation for new agents
  • session-compaction-and-restore skill — restore-time startup ingestion
  • agent-starters skill — reusable starter manifests that compose startup context
  • openrig-operating-model skill — placement and authority of durable context
  • openrig/docs/reference/agent-startup-guide.md (product reference doc; not a skill) — the 7-layer additive startup model + delivery hints

© mvschwarz, Apache-2.0. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

Just SKILL.md in skills/_canonical/core/agent-startup-and-context-ingestion of mvschwarz/openrig.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 4b48ca2

Compare with similar skills

Agent Startup And Context Ingestion next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.

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Task Observerrebelytics/one-skill-to-rule-them-all3.2k1 repos~11kAutomated safety check: PassCC-BY-4.0

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Categories

Questions about Agent Startup And Context Ingestion

What does Agent Startup And Context Ingestion do?

A skill your agent uses when designing or auditing how an agent becomes useful after launch — AGENTS.md overlays, role files, skills, rig specs, workflow specs, startup checklists, refocus messages…. Agent Startup And Context Ingestion is an agent skill from mvschwarz/openrig.md overlays, role files, skills, rig specs, workflow specs, startup checklists, refocus messages, "rig context" surface.

When should I use Agent Startup And Context Ingestion?

Agent Startup And Context Ingestion fits situations like: auditing how an agent becomes useful after launch — AGENTS.md overlays; startup checklists; refocus messages; rig context surface.

How do I install Agent Startup And Context Ingestion in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add mvschwarz/openrig --skill agent-startup-and-context-ingestion -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/_canonical/core/agent-startup-and-context-ingestion in mvschwarz/openrig) into .claude/skills/agent-startup-and-context-ingestion in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Agent Startup And Context Ingestion in Codex?

Run `npx skills add mvschwarz/openrig --skill agent-startup-and-context-ingestion -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/_canonical/core/agent-startup-and-context-ingestion in mvschwarz/openrig) into .agents/skills/agent-startup-and-context-ingestion in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Agent Startup And Context Ingestion in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?

Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add mvschwarz/openrig --skill agent-startup-and-context-ingestion -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/agent-startup-and-context-ingestion, .gemini/skills/agent-startup-and-context-ingestion, .github/skills/agent-startup-and-context-ingestion and .opencode/skills/agent-startup-and-context-ingestion in your project.

What does Agent Startup And Context Ingestion need to run?

SKILL.md names no scripts, command-line tools or credentials: Agent Startup And Context Ingestion is instructions for the agent only.

Does Agent Startup And Context Ingestion access the network?

SKILL.md contains no URLs. Any network use would come from the scripts or tools the agent runs. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Agent Startup And Context Ingestion safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.

What licence does Agent Startup And Context Ingestion use?

Agent Startup And Context Ingestion is published under the Apache-2.0 licence (the repository's licence). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Agent Startup And Context Ingestion use?

About 1.7k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 6.8k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full.

What are the alternatives to Agent Startup And Context Ingestion?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Agent Startup And Context Ingestion: Using Agent Skills (addyosmani/agent-skills, 104k stars), Claude Reflect (BayramAnnakov/claude-reflect, 1.8k stars), Neat-Freak Knowledge Closeout (KKKKhazix/khazix-skills, 21k stars) and Writing For Agents (bestofjs/bestofjs, 3.1k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Agent Startup And Context Ingestion?

mvschwarz (a GitHub user) maintains it in mvschwarz/openrig, which has 6,551 GitHub stars. The repository holds 49 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 10, 2026.

Source: mvschwarz/openrig on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.