AI Coding Agents
Agent Experience
Giving agents the constraints they need to act with agency.
Agents with agency
Agents have deep knowledge of syntax, patterns, and best practices — and a remarkable ability to ignore all of it. Left to their own devices, they produce code that works in isolation but falls apart at the seams.
I have high expectations of my teammates: not that they know every syntax detail, but that they have agency. They research, evaluate, and decide how to proceed. They ask for help when needed, but they do not need confirmation to take action. I expect the same from my agents.
Rules, documentation, and guardrails do not restrict agency — they create it. A human without a style guide writes inconsistent code. An agent without rules writes inconsistent code faster. The goal is to give agents enough constraints to act with confidence.
Outcome-focused prompts
Implementation-focused
Add a dark mode toggle to the settings page. Use the Switch component from ui/ and follow the pattern Dashboard uses for toggle controls. Create a useTheme hook modeled on useNetworkStatus...
Outcome-focused
Add a dark mode toggle to settings. Should persist across sessions and apply globally.
With agency, an agent can find gaps, edge cases, and opportunities that an implementation-focused prompt would be too rigid to allow. The result should be just as good, or better.
Skills
npx skills add rtbenfield/agent-experience The skills CLI will walk you through adding these skills to your preferred agents in either the global or project scope.
Process
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/project-specResearch and gather a specification from an outcome-focused prompt.
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/project-planGenerate a phased implementation plan from the specification.
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/project-executeExecute the plan, verify work, and track progress incrementally.
Supporting skills
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/code-reviewReview changes against correctness, clarity, complexity, and style.
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/dependency-updatesUpdate dependencies safely, batching patch/minor and isolating majors.
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/pr-descriptionGenerate a context-rich PR description from the current branch diff.
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/pr-responseProcess review comments, implement valid feedback, and reply thoughtfully.
Want the full rules and configuration?
The repository includes the complete ruleset, installation scripts, and instructions for wiring everything into your agent workflow.
View on GitHub