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Subagent definitions focus narrowly on CLAUDE.md #471

Description

@williamthorsen

Problem

Subagent definitions in packages/agents/content/subagents/ reference CLAUDE.md directly — both in process instructions ("read CLAUDE.md, .agents/PROJECT.md, ...") and in the aspect-code-reviewer description and scope. The same definitions are installed into ~/.rovodev, where Rovo Dev reads AGENTS.md, not CLAUDE.md. The current wording therefore directs Rovo Dev subagents to a file that doesn't apply to that platform.

Context

Subagents do not have CLAUDE.md or AGENTS.md injected into their context — they only see their own definition (system prompt) plus what callers and skills explicitly point them to. The "read project guidelines" step in each definition is therefore essential, not redundant scaffolding: without it, a subagent has no awareness of project rules, persona, style, or conventions.

In this repo (and across the user's repos generally), the canonical guidance pair is:

  • ~/.agents/AGENTS.md — user-global agent guidance, installed by codeassembly's own installSharedGuidance step. Contains persona, project-discovery rules, style, code conventions, workflow.
  • .agents/PROJECT.md — project-specific guidance.

This pair works on both Claude Code and Rovo Dev: ~/.agents/AGENTS.md is at a fixed absolute path; .agents/PROJECT.md follows the codeassembly project convention. No platform-specific transformation needed.

Solution

Replace every CLAUDE.md reference in packages/agents/content/subagents/*.md with the appropriate platform-neutral phrasing. Use file paths in instructions that tell the subagent what to read, and use categorical descriptors in description and scope text where naming files reads awkwardly.

Location From To
Process step (×11 files) read CLAUDE.md, .agents/PROJECT.md, and any relevant project-specific conventions read ~/.agents/AGENTS.md, .agents/PROJECT.md, and any relevant project-specific conventions
aspect-code-reviewer.md description (frontmatter) Review code changes for CLAUDE.md compliance, bugs, and logic errors. Review code changes for project-guideline compliance, bugs, and logic errors.
aspect-code-reviewer.md scope bullet CLAUDE.md and project convention violations (naming, file organization, patterns) Project-guideline and convention violations (naming, file organization, patterns)
code-simplification-reviewer.md principles bullet defer to CLAUDE.md and project-specific guidelines for language idioms and patterns defer to ~/.agents/AGENTS.md, .agents/PROJECT.md, and project-specific guidelines for language idioms and patterns

Files affected (11): aspect-code-reviewer.md, aspect-silent-failure-reviewer.md, aspect-test-reviewer.md, code-simplification-reviewer.md, orchestrated-architect.md, orchestrated-coder.md, orchestrated-planner.md, orchestrated-reviewer.md, plan-reviewer.md, plan-reviser.md, planner.md.

Add a regression check (Vitest unit test under packages/agents/src/__tests__/) that fails if CLAUDE.md appears in any .md file under packages/agents/content/subagents/ (excluding _data/). This prevents the issue from re-emerging when subagents are edited or new ones are added.

Acceptance criteria

  • No CLAUDE.md substring appears in any .md file under packages/agents/content/subagents/ (excluding _data/).
  • Process instructions in all 11 affected subagents reference ~/.agents/AGENTS.md rather than CLAUDE.md.
  • The aspect-code-reviewer description and scope use platform-neutral wording ("project-guideline compliance" and "project-guideline and convention violations").
  • The code-simplification-reviewer principles bullet defers to ~/.agents/AGENTS.md, .agents/PROJECT.md, and project-specific guidelines.
  • A regression test asserts the absence of CLAUDE.md in subagent content and runs as part of the existing test suite.
  • New/modified behavior in this change is covered by tests.

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