arbor-merge-discipline SKILL.md skillA
arbor-merge-discipline from invergent-ai/surogates is an agent skill: a SKILL.md folder an AI agent loads when a task calls for it.
mdr add invergent-ai/surogates/arbor-merge-discipline@v1.0.0Pins v1.0.0 in mdr.lock. Pin the fingerprint instead.
- Audit grade
- A, 17 of 17 checks passed
- Kind
- SKILL.md skill
- Repository
- invergent-ai/surogates
- Path
skills/research/arbor-merge-discipline/SKILL.md- Versions recorded
- 2
- Latest version
- v1.0.0, committed Oct 12, 2026
- First version recorded
- Jun 13, 2026
- Size
- 2,248 bytes
- Repository stars
- 28
- License
- AGPL-3.0
DECIDE-phase doctrine for an Arbor research run: when to merge, prune, combine, or finalize; how the held-out merge gate works; and the rule that the final report uses TEST scores. Load before deciding what to do with completed experiments.
Collected from public GitHub. Every version is saved exactly as it was and never changes. Install it at an exact version with the mdr tool, and every file is checked before it reaches your agent. The main file is checked against the SHA-256 fingerprint recorded here, and the others against the fingerprints GitHub keeps for its source commit. The automatic checks below grade the latest version, and the same checks always give the same file the same grade.
What the file says
# Arbor Merge Discipline — DECIDE Doctrine
## When to merge
Call `merge_experiment(action=start, node_key=...)` for a `done` node whose dev
score beats trunk. The tool re-runs the held-out test eval ITSELF (you cannot
pass a score); poll `merge_experiment(action=status, node_key=...)` on a later
turn. A successful merge writes `test_trunk_score` and advances trunk — later
experiments branch from the new HEAD automatically. A refusal (no improvement,
protected-path hit, conflict) is tree evidence, not an error to retry blindly.
## When to prune
`idea_tree(action=prune, node_key=..., reason=<the lesson>)` for dead ends. The
reason is backpropagated up the ancestor chain, so write the transferable lesson
("lr schedules don't help this objective"), not "didn't work".
## Combine (ensemble)
When several diverse nodes each help a different failure class, propose a child
hypothesis that ensembles/blends them. Once single ideas plateau this is often
the highest-leverage move — it is exactly the "Combine" the convergence
intervention suggests.
## Search-scout (related work)
Before merging a validated winner, optionally `delegate_task` a short web search
…Read the whole file at its exact version.
How to install
mdr add invergent-ai/surogates/arbor-merge-discipline@sha256:a509a51d49fe926fThe line at the top of this page pins the label v1.0.0, which is what most people want. This one pins the sha256 fingerprint of the contents instead, so it survives a label being moved. Either way the exact version is written to mdr.lock, and mdr install downloads and checks those contents again, so it installs them exactly or stops with an error.
[](https://markdownregistry.com/a/art_u3snsfgrpcvfroky)
4 badge image fetches in 30 days. What the badge shows.
Versions
The registry has recorded 2 versions of this file, between Jun 13, 2026 and Oct 12, 2026, about one every 121 days.
| version | committed | commit | size | audit | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| v1.0.0 latest | 2026-10-12 | f6e8148 | 2,248 B | A | view · diff |
| v1.0.0 | 2026-06-13 | 582c8a0 | 2,212 B | A | view |
Audit of the latest version
- pass: Frontmatter block present
- pass: Frontmatter declares a name
- pass: Frontmatter declares a description
- pass: Size between 200 bytes and 200 KB (2248 bytes)
- pass: No zero-width or bidi control characters
- pass: No instruction hidden inside an HTML comment
- pass: No link to an exfiltration or paste host
- pass: No credential-shaped string
- pass: No instruction to send local credentials anywhere
- pass: No text hidden with inline styles
- pass: No prompt-injection phrasing
- pass: No curl or wget piped into a shell
- pass: No recursive delete of root, home or parent
- pass: No instruction to read or print local credentials
- pass: No base64 blob over 200 characters
- pass: No link to a raw IP address
- pass: No script tag
Source
invergent-ai/surogates · 28 stars · license AGPL-3.0 · pushed 2026-11-05 · branch master
API
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_u3snsfgrpcvfroky GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=invergent-ai/surogates/arbor-merge-discipline GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/a509a51d49fe926ff6bd9859186a81943671b208b14537a7139ac49320c3f689
Your AI assistant does the legwork. You hear about the deals worth your word. Hand yours the standing instructions at modelranch.com and it joins the network that reads files like this one.
Guides: the SKILL.md format and its required fields · what to check before you install a skill · how to pin a skill to an exact version · where to find agent skills · keeping a team on the same skills · which agent file does what.