pattern-language-as-agent-skill git:20261018.b2b1b02A

Immutable. This exact content never changes and is served at /api/v1/blob/ab798e856a74003b.

---
name: pattern-language-as-agent-skill
description: |
  Author and improve a Domain Principle Framework (DPF) or Local Practices
  Framework (LPF) directly in Agent-skill form (SKILL.md + references/). Use when
  creating, revising, or maintaining a DPF/LPF as a skill, or when the user mentions
  "pattern language as agent skill".
---

# Pattern Language as Agent Skill (PLAS)

**Depends on:** FPF (governing method `E.4.DPF` + its coordinates; available as the `fpf-core` skill), `agent-skill-builder` (skill carrier mechanics)
**Bounded context:** authoring, using, and evolving a DPF or LPF whose sole carrier is an Agent skill
**Edition carrier = skill:** `references/*.md` are the canonical pattern bodies — an access-facing carrier bearing the edition; there is no monolith and no reader-facing publication form (see `references/PLAS.SkillLayout.md`).

## When to load which pattern

| Situation | Load |
|---|---|
| Deciding whether and what to author as a DPF-skill (cold start) | `references/PLAS.EntryRoute.md` |
| Authoring a DPF-skill with no FPF dependency (self-sufficient variant) | `references/PLAS.SelfSufficient.md` |
| Authoring/evaluating a compacted (minified) runtime projection with episteme-block bodies | `references/PLAS.CompactedProjection.md` |
| Setting up the skill directory layout and the single-surface decision | `references/PLAS.SkillLayout.md` |
| Writing SKILL.md as a routing-only dispatcher | `references/PLAS.Dispatcher.md` |
| Writing one pattern body in references/ | `references/PLAS.PatternBody.md` |
| Recording a card's FPF dependencies (frontmatter) | `references/PLAS.GoverningCues.md` |
| Naming the skill and PatternIDs | `references/PLAS.Naming.md` |
| Evaluating, improving, refreshing a DPF-skill | `references/PLAS.QualityAndRefresh.md` |

## Navigation rule

First load `references/PLAS.EntryRoute.md` — it decides whether a DPF-skill is
the right outcome at all and fixes the authoring scenario (FPF-grounded vs
self-sufficient; from-scratch vs external-standard). The self-sufficient variant
routes to `references/PLAS.SelfSufficient.md`; a deliberately minified carrier routes
to `references/PLAS.CompactedProjection.md` (episteme-block bodies, allow-list/
delete-list, compacted readiness profile). Then `references/PLAS.SkillLayout.md`
for the single-surface decision and directory layout. Only then the mechanics cards
(Dispatcher → PatternBody → GoverningCues → Naming), with QualityAndRefresh
closing the loop.

## Lookup rules

- **Index first, then "no".** Before looking for a pattern, check
  `references/INDEX.md`. If the id is not listed there, the pattern does not
  exist — answer "no"; do not open files searching for it.
- **Read once.** Do not reopen a file you have already read — reuse its
  already-read content from your context.

## Source (single surface)

`references/` IS the canonical source. Both the agent and the human author read
and edit `references/*.md` directly. There is no `assets/` monolith and no
reader-facing publication form to rebuild. A **compacted runtime projection**
(`references/PLAS.CompactedProjection.md`) is a legitimate second body form — cards
render as `episteme` blocks instead of `E.8` bodies — but it remains a projection
that names its canonical source; it never becomes the source of truth. The dependency
graph has one authored home
— each card's frontmatter `dependencies`; `references/relations.md` is a generated
projection of the **intra-LPF Specialization** graph (`scripts/build_relations.py`),
never hand-edited. FPF content edges and governing cues live **only** in the
frontmatter — not repeated in card bodies or in `relations.md`. Carrier mechanics
follow `agent-skill-builder`.

## references/ status

**Status levels** — 9 pattern cards + INDEX + relations. Bodies are `E.8` bodies; a card's
frontmatter `status` carries the **level** (`seed`/`stable`), **not** the readiness mode.
Five bodies carry `stable` (`PLAS.Dispatcher`, `PLAS.PatternBody`, `PLAS.QualityAndRefresh`,
`PLAS.SelfSufficient`, `PLAS.SkillLayout`): each has a per-coordinate `E.21` result and at
least two feedback-driven repairs in the trailing month — the card was repaired because a
real skill applied it. Four stay `seed` with the reason named: `PLAS.EntryRoute`,
`PLAS.GoverningCues`, `PLAS.Naming` (no repair in that window, not an unevaluated card) and
`PLAS.CompactedProjection` (authored after the `E.21` per-coordinate pass, so it has no
`E.21` result yet — repairs alone do not promote it).

**Readiness mode (declared collectively, per package):** `source-faithful` —
faithful to FPF (`E.4.DPF`, `E.8`, `E.4.PFR`) + `agent-skill-builder`; **not**
`case-validated`. The package passed the per-coordinate `E.21` evaluation and four
heterogeneous applications; `case-validated` is withheld because the bodies still lack a
filled worked case, a counter-case and transfer coverage, one completed `E.8:11`
comparison, and the FPF edition is not yet pinned. This follows FPF: a card's `status`
is the pattern status (`Stable`/`Draft`), while package adequacy is a separate
aggregate result (`E.4.DPF.DA:4.5` `DPFPackageAdequacyStatus`); no per-card
`readiness:` key is used (`PLAS.PatternBody:4` item 6, CC-PB.5).

**Exception — self-sufficient cards.** A self-sufficient DPF
(`references/PLAS.SelfSufficient.md`) has no FPF-governed pattern-status level, so its
card carries the explicit readiness mode in `status` (`status: source-faithful` /
`status: case-validated`) instead — the documented exception to `CC-PB.5`.

**Carrier profile — compacted projection.** A compacted runtime projection
(`references/PLAS.CompactedProjection.md`) is a second legitimate carrier form: its
bodies are `episteme` blocks, not `E.8` bodies. It declares the mode **only
collectively** (the package is integral, so cards cannot diverge), but reads the
`source-faithful` threshold against the **compacted** profile (runtime allow-list
present + LEAK/DROP-free split + complete routing + source/edition citation, plus the
`Grounding (FPF)` slot for a non-self-sufficient carrier) instead of the
full-structure threshold. The `E.8`-section CCs are marked N/A for this carrier; a
compacted card carries **no frontmatter** — identity is the filename stem + body H1,
local links are `Continues`/`Reopen`, and the FPF link is a single in-block
`Grounding (FPF)` slot. A slot renders only where the source speaks — a slot with no
source content is omitted entirely, never placeholder-filled — and on a
framework-root carrier (one that grounds itself in no external FPF) those reference
slots are omitted too, with routing living only as inline claims in the body and the
graph in the canonical `INDEX.md` (`PLAS.CompactedProjection:4` items 5/7). The
dependency graph and provenance live in the canonical
source, not in the projection.

**Provenance of the last passes.** A wording-pass (`PLAS.QualityAndRefresh:4` item 3,
`CC-QR.8`) over every hand-authored body and this file ran on 2026-10-13; it produced the
source-naming rule and the `:5` marker and status actualizations. A second pass on
2026-10-14 removed the mandatory self-sufficient craft-rule line and put behavioral rules
into the imperative. A source-transfer pass (item 8) applied the FPF
machine-compaction pilot feedback — DEC-0042/0044/0045/0047 — to
`PLAS.CompactedProjection` and `PLAS.QualityAndRefresh` (both projections) on
2026-10-18. Before/after evidence for disputed passages stays in the project vault.

**Self-assessment (reflexive):** this framework runs its own loop. Passed: `E.4.PFAD`
outcome + `E.9` DRR (process state held outside the skill), coverage map and representative
application, four heterogeneous applications, and a per-coordinate `E.21` pass. Not passed,
disclosed: `CC-ER.1` — the cold-reader route was run as later probes, not before the first
bodies were drafted; `CC-QR.2` for `PLAS.CompactedProjection` — authored after the `E.21`
pass, so it has no per-coordinate result yet; the FPF edition is not pinned, so
currentness rests on the resolver line rather than a version; and the bodies still lack a
filled worked case with counter-case and transfer coverage.

## Guardrails

When a judgment is ambiguous — dropping or widening source content, placing an
attachment, renaming a marker beyond the language rule of `PLAS.PatternBody:4` item 3
(`CC-PB.9`), or any choice that could diverge from the owner's
intent — **ask the owner before acting**; do not resolve it silently. This applies
both when authoring a new DPF-skill and when revising an existing one.

- **Deployment is owner-owned.** The authoring agent edits only the repo carrier —
  authored at `<project>/skills/<skill-name>/` (full carrier) or
  `<project>/skills-compact/<skill-name>/` (compacted projection); the installed copy
  in the user-level skills directory is read-only and is synced exclusively by the
  owner (`PLAS.SkillLayout:4` item 12).

## Evolution

If the user is dissatisfied with the result or clarifies the process, offer to
update this skill — its `description`, routing table, or a `references/` body.
Evolving the DPF content itself follows `references/PLAS.QualityAndRefresh.md`.