Move compile-time variable substitution out of the LLM and into a
deterministic Python step. SKILL.md becomes a two-line stdout-dispatch
shim that runs render.py and follows the instruction it prints. The
renderer reads BMad configuration from the central four-layer TOML
surface introduced in #2285 (_bmad/config.toml plus config.user.toml
and the two _bmad/custom/ overrides), with a fallback to the legacy
per-module _bmad/bmm/config.yaml for pre-#2285 installs.
Compile-time refs ({{.var}}) get substituted at render time. LLM-runtime
refs ({var}) pass through untouched.
Renderer (render.py)
- Python 3 stdlib only (tomllib, already bundled since 3.11). UTF-8 I/O.
Every invocation rebuilds from scratch — no hash, no cache.
- find_project_root walks up from cwd; HALT to stdout if no _bmad/
is found anywhere on the path.
- load_central_config deep-merges the four TOML layers in priority
order (base-team → base-user → custom-team → custom-user) so user
overrides in _bmad/custom/config.user.toml win over installer-
regenerated base values. flatten_central_config lifts scalar keys
from [core] and [modules.bmm] into the renderer's flat namespace;
module keys beat core on collision (matches the installer's own
core-key-stripping behavior).
- When _bmad/config.toml is absent, falls through to the legacy
flat-YAML parser for _bmad/bmm/config.yaml — the renderer keeps
working across the #2285 transition.
- {{.var}} substitution; unresolved refs emit empty string (Go
missingkey=zero semantics).
- Smart defaults for planning_artifacts / implementation_artifacts /
communication_language applied after config load. Derives
sprint_status / deferred_work_file from implementation_artifacts.
{{.main_config}} points at whichever surface was actually read.
- Renders every .md in the skill dir except SKILL.md to
{project-root}/_bmad/render/bmad-quick-dev/.
- On success, stderr summary plus a single stdout line:
"read and follow {workflow_md}". On failure, stdout HALT directive —
per the Anthropic skills spec, script stdout is the defined agent-
communication channel.
Skill entry (SKILL.md)
- Two-line shim: run python render.py, follow stdout. No template
tokens in SKILL.md itself.
Template conversions
- workflow.md, step-01..05, step-oneshot, sync-sprint-status: convert
every compile-time {var} reference to {{.var}}. Runtime refs
preserved.
- spec-template.md untouched (single-curly comment hint stays as
documentation).
Skill-prose cleanups bundled in
- Remove dead step-file frontmatter: empty-string variable declarations
(spec_file, story_key, diff_output, review_mode) in quick-dev step-01
and code-review step-01; empty --- --- blocks in step-03 and step-05;
the specLoopIteration counter init moved from step-04 frontmatter into
the step body where first-entry vs loopback semantics are explicit.
- Unify the language rule across all six quick-dev step files plus
workflow.md.
Tooling
- tools/validate-skills.js: add TPL-01 rule. Files whose name contains
"template" must not contain compile-time {{.var}} substitutions.
Template files seed durable, version-controlled artifacts that
execute on other machines; baking a value at render time would
freeze a machine-local path into every downstream artifact.
- tools/validate-file-refs.js: add render/ to INSTALL_ONLY_PATHS so
the validator recognizes the runtime-generated buffer.
- tools/skill-validator.md: document TPL-01; deterministic rule count
bumped from 14 to 15.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
- Guard against YAML comment lines in parseFrontmatterMultiline
- Broaden PATH-02 to detect any installed_path mention, not just variable refs
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
- SKILL-04: require bmad- prefix, enforce single dashes via regex
^bmad-[a-z0-9]+(-[a-z0-9]+)*$, drop FORBIDDEN_NAME_SUBSTRINGS
- WF-01/WF-02: check all .md files (not just workflow.md) for stray
name/description frontmatter, with tech-writer exception
- Update skill-validator.md prompt to match all rule changes
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
- Require \n---\n (not just \n---) for closing frontmatter delimiter
in both parseFrontmatter and parseFrontmatterMultiline, with fallback
for files ending in \n---
- Add SKILL-07: SKILL.md must have non-empty body content after
frontmatter (L2 instructions are required)
- Update rule count to 14
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Replace SKILL_LOCATIONS array and AGENT_LOCATION constant with a single
walk from SRC_DIR. Any directory under src/ containing SKILL.md is a
skill — no need to enumerate locations.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Add tools/validate-skills.js — a Node CLI that checks 13 deterministic
rules (SKILL-01–06, WF-01–02, PATH-02, STEP-01/06/07, SEQ-02) across
all skill directories. Runs in under a second, exits non-zero on HIGH+
findings in strict mode, and outputs JSON for the inference validator.
- Add validate:skills npm script to quality chain
- Update skill-validator.md with first-pass integration instructions
- Update AGENTS.md push gate documentation
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Alex Verkhovsky