agent-team-standards

Agent Team Standards

A manifest records which skills and versions a project expects. The shipped script compares a live skills tree with that manifest. It does not install, upgrade, or remove anything.

Procedure

What ships

skills/optional/agent-team-standards/scripts/ats.py (standard library only).

The script scans HERMES_SKILLS_ROOT, which defaults to ~/AppData/Local/hermes/skills on Windows. That root must contain category folders, each holding skill folders with a SKILL.md:

<HERMES_SKILLS_ROOT>/<category>/<skill>/SKILL.md

Commands

python skills/optional/agent-team-standards/scripts/ats.py lock --project-dir=. --output=agent-teams.lock.json
python skills/optional/agent-team-standards/scripts/ats.py validate --manifest=agent-teams.lock.json
python skills/optional/agent-team-standards/scripts/ats.py diff --manifest=agent-teams.lock.json
python skills/optional/agent-team-standards/scripts/ats.py apply --manifest=agent-teams.lock.json

What each command actually does

Command	Behavior
`lock`	Scans the skills root and writes `name`, `category`, `version`, `path`, and `installed` for each skill.
`validate`	Checks manifest shape, required fields, and duplicate names.
`diff`	Lists matching, mismatched, extra, and missing skills.
`apply`	Reports missing and out-of-date skills. It is a dry run and changes nothing.

The config_fragments key is emitted empty. Do not expect it to carry models or AGENTS.md content.

Manifest example

{
  "schema_version": "1.0",
  "project": "my-project",
  "generated_at": "2026-08-13T00:00:00Z",
  "skills": [
    {
      "name": "agent-memory-vault",
      "category": "optional",
      "version": "1.0.0",
      "installed": true,
      "path": "optional/agent-memory-vault"
    }
  ],
  "config_fragments": {}
}

Installation is separate

To make a machine match the manifest, use your package manager or install script, then run diff again. A green apply means "no drift reported", not "installed".

Anti-patterns

Pinning versions without recording where each skill came from.
Editing the manifest by hand instead of regenerating it with lock.
Treating apply as an installer.
Locking every project to one global standard.

Verification Checklist

[ ] lock writes a manifest whose skill count matches the scanned root.
[ ] validate exits 0 on the generated manifest and nonzero on a broken one.
[ ] diff names every intentionally missing skill.
[ ] apply output is understood as a report, not a change.

Install and discovery

Contents