SkillAdam Optimize

Use the skilladam_* MCP tools when available. Otherwise invoke the equivalent skilladam-product commands and parse their JSON output.

Build the task manifest

For a new run, research and construct the task signal in the current host session before calling SkillAdam. Do not start a nested agent or external task generator solely for this step.

1. Read the complete target SKILL.md and the user's usage intent.
2. Local history discovery is supported on Codex, Claude Code, and GitHub Copilot only. On Cursor, skip this entire step, including the CLI fallback: neither interface supports Cursor history. Continue with the task sources below; do not invent local_history provenance or a discovery report. On a supported platform: Call skilladam_discover_history exactly once with skill_path, intent, and the durable output_dir. It automatically scans the current host's known local history formats, keeps only real user messages, redacts likely secrets and personal data, deduplicates them, and writes history_discovery.json. If MCP is unavailable, run skilladam-product discover-history with the same values and --platform. Review each returned candidate for actual relevance and evaluation feasibility. Turn a useful real request into a self-contained evaluation case by minimally normalizing it and, when necessary, embedding a small synthetic artifact that preserves the requested work. Record metadata.history_transform describing that normalization; never claim the synthetic artifact came from the user. Use source local_history and the candidate's exact returned source_ref; never invent a history reference. A completed search with zero accepted candidates is valid and must not be relabeled as a history-derived task.
3. Reuse concrete tasks the user supplied. Extract tasks from the currently visible conversation only when they represent actual Skill usage; use source conversation, redact secrets and personal data, and keep a precise turn reference.
4. When a recognized public benchmark would materially improve coverage, use the host's normal web/research tools to select relevant cases. Record the direct source URL and benchmark/license details in metadata. Do not copy a benchmark label onto a generated task or invent provenance when no suitable source was found.
5. Fill the remaining coverage from the Skill itself. Produce exactly task_count distinct tasks, covering at least two concise lowercase capability slugs and at least one boundary, adversarial, or regression case. Prefer realistic end-to-end requests over shallow paraphrases or trivia about the Skill text.
6. Give every task a stable task_id, self-contained prompt, capability, difficulty, source, source_ref, and explicit evaluation. Allowed sources are local_history, conversation, user_provided, public_benchmark, and skill_generated, in that priority order when the source yields a genuinely useful task. A public benchmark source_ref must be its direct HTTP(S) URL.
7. Use programmatic or reference evaluation only when the task has one uniquely correct, deterministic answer, such as a number, fixed string, explicit JSON structure, or exact set of fields. An open-ended task that allows multiple semantically equivalent correct outputs must use rubric_judge with explicit weighted observable dimensions; never score its complete natural-language output with exact or normalized_exact. This includes generated messages, reviews, rewrites, summaries, recommendations, analyses, and similar natural-language generation. Use hybrid only for two or more complementary checks. Every evaluation, including each hybrid component, must include concise failure_feedback that states the actionable correction or evidence the optimizer should use when that evaluation fails. Never omit an evaluation or ask SkillAdam to infer one. The MCP boundary validates and freezes the complete manifest; correct a rejected manifest rather than changing the requested count or evaluation goal.

Pass one object shaped as {"schema_version":"1","tasks":[...]} in task_manifest. Task text must not depend on files, tools, credentials, or context unavailable to the rollout model.

Start or resume

1. Obtain the source SKILL.md, a durable workspace-local output directory, and the user's usage intent. Use a path such as run/skilladam-optimize under the current workspace; never use a host temporary or session-state directory.
2. For a new run, call skilladam_start with skill_path, intent, output_dir, and the completed task_manifest. For an existing run, the same tool may resume from output_dir alone. Omit provider fields so SkillAdam reuses the platform's authenticated CLI. Pass provider configuration only for an explicit fixture or OpenAI-compatible override. Use skilladam_start_for_review instead only when the user explicitly requested confirmation or hunk selection before apply. In default mode, the durable job automatically iterates through the existing stopping policy. The synchronous skilladam_prepare* tools are compatibility fallbacks when async tools are unavailable.
3. Poll skilladam_status with the same output_dir and compact: true while job.state is running; do not return a final answer merely because the durable job is still running. Do not act on a workflow or proposal exposed by an older server while the job is still running, and never edit the source Skill. Once the terminal status returns the workflow view, treat the task suite and evaluation plan as frozen. If the job fails, report the exact error; do not shrink task_count or weaken evaluation settings as a workaround.

Review a proposal

1. Read proposal.hunks from the structured result. Preserve every hunk_id.
2. Determine whether the user explicitly requested hunk review or confirmation before changes are applied. A general request to optimize, improve, patch, or modify the Skill does not opt in to review.
3. By default, skilladam_start auto-accepts every proposed hunk before the job completes. Do not issue a second selection, omit or reject hunks, pause for confirmation, or override the gate based on your own assessment.
4. Only after an explicit review opt-in, use skilladam_start_for_review, present every hunk's target, header, and operations in original order, and wait at awaiting_review. Prefer a native structured selection UI that can map decisions back to exact hunk IDs; otherwise ask the user for accepted IDs, accept all, or reject all.
5. In review mode, never treat silence, timeout, disconnect, resume, or an unrelated positive comment as acceptance. An empty selection rejects all.
6. Submit exactly the selected IDs with a new, stable idempotency key. Do not use review results from a different proposal or infer a partial selection.

Validate and iterate

1. Trust only candidate_validation whose digest matches the selected candidate. Never reuse validation for the full proposal after a partial selection. Each iteration's current Skill rollout and selected candidate validation must keep the exact ordered mini-batch IDs recorded in the session.
2. Report the gate decision and stop reason concisely. The service writes the source Skill only when the gate accepts the selected candidate. After the gate, the service updates EIT/Momentum from ordered trajectory feedback, the patch, candidate feedback, and the decision, then updates the adaptive edit budget.
3. A default skilladam_start job advances ready and validating states until the workflow reaches completed. If an interrupted worker leaves resumable state, call skilladam_start again and continue polling. Use skilladam_continue only as a synchronous compatibility fallback.
4. If the source changed during review, preserve the external edit and report the conflict; do not overwrite it.
5. Treat final_validation.json as held-out terminal evidence only. Never feed it into patch generation, hunk selection, an iteration gate, or Momentum.
6. At completion, use the compact status response's iterations entries for the per-iteration summary. Report final quality only from final_validation when its scope is heldout_terminal; never relabel baseline_validation or candidate_validation (both optimization mini-batch evidence) as final or held-out quality. If final validation is unavailable, report that exact state and do not substitute another score.

Never edit, replace, or patch the source Skill with host file tools or shell commands during an optimization session. This remains forbidden when a proposal looks weak, the gate rejects it, or the iteration limit is reached. Only SkillAdam may write a selected candidate after frozen validation passes the gate; otherwise leave the source unchanged and report the session result.

The host owns task research and manifest construction only. Do not reimplement manifest validation, evaluation execution, patch application, gate logic, Momentum, edit budgets, checkpoints, or stopping policy in the host adapter.