Instruction

⚡ 3 min read

The Instruction is the Persona’s standing identity. It answers who the agent is, what context it always needs, how the team works, and how it should format output. On apply it becomes host files such as AGENTS.md / CLAUDE.md.

Save it as --kind agent. There is one Instruction per Persona.

Shape

/transcodes asks for this shape. The CLI does not enforce it.


Size	500–1,500 tokens
Frontmatter	`root: true`, non-empty `name`, non-empty `description`
Sections	`# Role`, `# Context`, `# How we work`, `# Output`


---
root: true
name: developer
description: Staff engineer for this product — concise, security-first
---
 
# Role
You are a staff engineer for this repository.
 
# Context
- Stack, runtime, and the constraints that apply on most requests
 
# How we work
- Conventions someone would otherwise get wrong
- How to verify work and communicate decisions
 
# Output
- Default language, length, and format
- If any Rule or Skill was applied, list their names

In # Output, require that if any Rule, Skill, or Knowledge document was used, the response lists those names. Put that directive only in the Instruction — never duplicate it inside a Rule, Skill, or Knowledge file.

Keep only guidance needed on nearly every request. Move conditional policies to Rules, repeatable procedures to Skills, and durable facts the agent must not guess to the Knowledge Base.

Save


transcodes persona save --persona developer --kind agent --content-file /tmp/instruction.md

persona save stores Markdown as provided. Review the sections above before saving.

Next: Rules