The Configuration Surface
Six configuration mechanisms, the rule for choosing among them, what bloat looks like, precedence, and how to inventory before optimizing.
AGENTS.md and the Instruction File Problem
Where the AGENTS.md standard landed, the interop reality, what belongs in it, the per-turn arithmetic, and the audit.
Skills and Progressive Disclosure
Progressive disclosure as a mechanism, why the description is the whole game, the trust problem, and measuring whether a skill fires.
Tools, Schemas, and MCP
Eagerly loaded tool definitions sit in the window. Writing one the model uses correctly, return values as context, authorization, and vetting a server.
Subagents and Delegation
What delegation protects, what it costs, why the evidence is weak, the defensible position, and the tools contract a subagent should get.
Hooks: One Deterministic Control
Three levels of control, what belongs in a hook, where hooks fail open, and the layered position that follows.
Packaging and Distribution
The distribution problem, what goes in a bundle, versioning and rollout, and what an enterprise sets centrally.