git:20261008.0eaa2f5 to git:20261008.556fa52

---

name: archify-tuning

description: Tune Archify's generation quality from evidence. Generate real diagrams through subagents, read their execution traces, attribute each failure, fix the root cause and prove the change on a fixed benchmark of first drafts. Use when asked to improve how good, accurate or fast generated Archify diagrams are, to run a generation round, or to judge whether a renderer, diagnostic or documentation change made generation better.

metadata:

internal: true

---

# Archify Tuning

Users do not write diagram JSON; they describe a system and an agent authors it. Tune for that path: an agent's **first draft** should render as an accurate, readable diagram with few repairs. When the goals conflict, keep this order:

1. **Accurate**: no node, relationship, lane or condition is dropped or merged to pass a gate.

2. **Readable**: clear reading path, few bends and crossings, legible text.

3. **Fast**: few finalize failures and tool calls.

A change that makes gates pass while the diagram reads worse, or that makes agents delete content more often, is a regression.

## Principles

- **The first draft is the unit of measure.** Bundled examples carry hand-tuned widths and routes, so they hide defects that every fresh draft hits.

- **Deleted content is the accuracy signal.** A pass reached by removing an error state or merging lanes is a failure that looks like a success.

- **Separate route controls from placement.** A draft without route controls can still have authored positions, dimensions or a fixed canvas. Reproduce a failure with valid placement and constraints before attributing it to automatic layout.

- **Early diagnostics must match the browser gate.** A compile-time check stricter than `browser-check` is a false failure; a looser one defers the failure to the most expensive stage.

- **Traces explain more than outcomes.** Read where a diagnostic or document misled the agent, not only whether it passed.

## Measures

| Level | Measure | Source |

|---|---|---|

| Primary | Benchmark first-draft render pass rate, per type | `replay.mjs`; excludes finalize and browser gates |

| Primary | Content changes from first draft to final | `collect.mjs`, "lost" column, then semantic comparison |

| Secondary | Finalize failures and tool calls per diagram | `collect.mjs` on a new round |

| Visual | Crossings, bends, shared corridors and text size, then screenshots | Receipts, `shots.mjs` |

| Guard | No benchmark draft that passed on base fails on head; every changed output inspected | `replay.mjs`, golden, Gallery |

A round on a new project discovers problems; it does not establish improvement or absence of regressions. Compare fixed inputs for renderer changes. Evaluate authoring-instruction changes with comparable new generations on the same project, preserving first attempts, repairs and failures.

## Setup

- **Tuning home**: `$ARCHIFY_TUNING_HOME`, default `~/.local/share/archify-tuning`. It holds `journal.md`, `bench/`, `rounds/` and `replays/`. It stays outside the repository because drafts carry content from source projects, which may be private: never commit it.

- **Journal**: read `<tuning-home>/journal.md` before starting. It records the branch under tuning, the latest benchmark result, the open problems with evidence and the decisions already taken. Update it at the end of every iteration.

- **Head**: the worktree you change, in a durable directory. Follow [Local setup and verification](../../../CONTRIBUTING.md#local-setup-and-verification) for dependencies and test selection.

- **Base**: a separate worktree of the comparison point, usually `dev`: `git worktree add <dir> origin/dev`. Pass its `archify` directory as `--base`.

- **Tools**: Node 22.13 or later and Chrome or Chromium for `shots.mjs` (`ARCHIFY_CHROME` overrides discovery). The collector accepts Devin CLI history or a [normalized trace export](references/trace-export.md) from another agent. It does not read other agents' private history databases.

Run the commands below from the repository root. `round`, `collect` and `replay` print their usage when run without arguments; pass an explicit replay directory to `shots` when retaining an acceptance receipt.

## Loop

1. **Baseline.** `node .agents/skills/archify-tuning/scripts/replay.mjs --base <base>/archify` and record the per-type render pass rate and revision receipt in the journal.

2. **Generate.** Pick a project not used before (see the journal). `node .agents/skills/archify-tuning/scripts/round.mjs <project-path> [--types ...]` creates `<tuning-home>/rounds/<round>/` and `prompts.json`. Start each prompt as its own background subagent, unchanged. The Archify tree they use must stay untouched until every subagent finishes: experiment in a separate worktree meanwhile.

3. **Collect.** `node .agents/skills/archify-tuning/scripts/collect.mjs <round> --dump` reads Devin history; add `--trace-export <file.json>` for another agent's normalized export. It records tool calls, finalize outcomes, authored route controls, content-change signals and diagnostic codes; it also retains traces and first drafts. Cross-check counts with the subagents' reports. Compare labels, conditions, sources and meaning manually: a zero loss count is not proof of semantic preservation.

4. **Attribute** every failure to exactly one cause, using [Trace signals](references/trace-signals.md):

| Cause | Test | Response |

|---|---|---|

| Renderer defect | Valid placement and authored constraints reproduce an automatic layout failure | Fix the renderer |

| Misleading diagnostic | Following the message fails or edits the wrong element | Fix its fix text or evidence |

| Documentation gap | The agent needs a fact found only outside the required reads | Move the fact into a required read, with numbers |

| Authoring error | The required reads already say it | Nothing, or one sentence |

5. **Prioritise** by how many rounds and types show the problem, times its harm to accuracy, over its cost. A problem seen every round needs a systematic fix, not one patch per round. Record the ranking in the journal.

6. **Fix** the root cause once, in the shared path. Preserve authored geometry and pins; when the renderer cannot repair a draft itself, return a verified, actionable fix. Reject a change that only moves a metric, such as trading crossings for shared corridors.

7. **Verify.**

- Add a minimal test that fails before the fix.

- Replay: `node .agents/skills/archify-tuning/scripts/replay.mjs --base <base>/archify`. Any REGRESSED entry blocks the change; investigate every FIXED and changed entry. A render pass does not replace finalization or browser acceptance.

- Find affected tests by searching for the changed functions and message text, not by file name, and run them. Regenerate examples and Gallery when output changes, then run golden.

8. **Record.** Commit code, regenerated outputs and documentation separately. Update the journal: benchmark result, problems closed and opened, approaches rejected. Integrate regularly through [CONTRIBUTING.md](../../../CONTRIBUTING.md) so the full suite and CI run. This skill does not authorise pushing, opening pull requests or installing Archify.

## Diagnostics and documentation

- A diagnostic names the element, the shortfall (target width, character budget or required gap) and one fix that works. It never points at a fix that cannot succeed.

- A compact receipt lists how many diagnostics of each code it omitted.

- Documentation answers questions traces show agents asking, in a required read, with measured numbers. Keep one paragraph per mode and every line under the 2,000-character read limit.

## Anti-patterns

- Counting failures while ignoring deleted content.

- Claiming an improvement from one round on a new project.

- Patching the same problem a little every round.

- Updating a pinned test value without checking that the diagram got better.

- Growing documentation until agents cannot read it whole.