---

name: core description: Core development principles and guidelines covering security, QA, performance, documentation, and coding standards. Used by all agents to ensure consistent quality across the Orchestra system.

Core Development Skills

This skill provides essential development principles and checklists that all Orchestra agents follow to maintain high-quality standards across security, testing, documentation, performance, and code quality.

Overview

The core skills provide:

• Security principles (security.yaml) - Secure coding practices and vulnerability prevention
• QA guidelines (qa.yaml) - Testing standards and quality assurance procedures
• Release procedures (release.yaml) - Deployment and release management
• Performance standards (performance.yaml) - Optimization and efficiency guidelines
• Documentation standards (documentation.yaml) - Technical writing and documentation best practices
• Coding standards (coding-standards.yaml) - Code style and structure conventions
• Review checklist (review-checklist.yaml) - Pre-merge code review requirements
• Clarification guidelines (clarify.yaml) - Requirements clarification procedures
• Token efficiency (token-efficiency.md) - Guidelines for minimizing token usage

When to Use

Agents automatically reference these guidelines when:

• Iris - Applies security.yaml for security audits
• Finn - Uses qa.yaml and review-checklist.yaml for testing
• Eden - Follows documentation.yaml for technical writing
• Kai - References performance.yaml and coding-standards.yaml for architecture
• Blake - Uses release.yaml for deployment coordination
• Riley - Applies clarify.yaml for requirements clarification
• All agents - Follow token-efficiency.md to optimize responses

Usage

Agents can reference specific guidelines:

CopySee `skills/core/security.yaml` for security best practices
See `skills/core/qa.yaml` for testing requirements
See `skills/core/token-efficiency.md` for response optimization

File Structure

Copyskills/core/
├── SKILL.md (this file)
├── security.yaml          # Security principles
├── qa.yaml                # QA and testing standards
├── release.yaml           # Release management
├── performance.yaml       # Performance optimization
├── documentation.yaml     # Documentation standards
├── coding-standards.yaml  # Code style conventions
├── review-checklist.yaml  # Pre-merge checklist
├── clarify.yaml           # Requirements clarification
└── token-efficiency.md    # Token usage optimization

Best Practices

1. Consistency - All agents follow the same core principles
2. Reference, don't duplicate - Agents link to guidelines rather than copying them
3. Update centrally - Guidelines are maintained in one place
4. Agent-agnostic - Principles apply across all specialized agents
5. Token efficient - Guidelines are concise and focused

Integration

These core skills are automatically available to all Orchestra agents. No explicit invocation is needed - agents reference them as part of their standard operating procedures.