Free, open-source skills for coding agents
With manifest-dev, your agent works out what you mean, writes down what done means, and calls nothing finished until every check passes.
Use one skill, finish a defined task, or assign a project outcome while keeping the decisions you care about.
/figure-out
It reads the available evidence and finds the question that decides the work. For a product, that includes what people want to accomplish, what they use today, and why they might switch. Inquiry does not start implementation.
/define
It writes a Manifest: the pieces of work (Deliverables), a check each one must pass (Acceptance Criteria), and rules that hold across all of them (Global Invariants).
/do
A failed check sends that piece back to be fixed. Done means every check passed on fresh evidence. /auto runs all three steps in one go.
What you review
When the work ships as a pull request, its top reads in about a minute: what changed and why, screenshots or command output showing it work, the decisions it made for you, and the debt it left (what it found and didn't fix).
/setup-project
One file says what progress the project serves, for whom, and how it would know. Setup reads existing rules and shows concrete adjustments before saving them. Shared rules and personal preferences keep their own homes.
/setup-project
Its glossary, decision records, and checks keep context available. If you want coordination, setup also resolves the existing work store and evidence sources, and names missing access. Setup starts no operation.
/ticket-up·/next-ticket
A Ticket carries all a person or an agent needs to do one piece of work and know it's done. They line up by what waiting on each costs, and /next-ticket picks the one at the front. Auto, the green mark, permits full completion within its grant. Other Tickets can advance to the decisions you retain.
Planning·/figure-out·/ticket-up
Use /figure-out on its own or hand its result to /ticket-up. A Question Ticket returns an inquiry; Shaped work is ready to build. Useful intent and evidence travel with the job. No Manifest is required for every route.
/orchestrate
By default it proposes a queue plan and waits for approval. Each independently managed job has a Ticket. It works within current grants and stops dependent work at a retained decision, with its recommendation and evidence.
/orchestrate --autonomous
An assignment says what to do; delegation says which decisions it may make. Ask it to pursue an outcome using named evidence and limits. --autonomous acts within those bounds. A queue assignment stays a queue assignment.
Optional outcome coordination
The coordinator reads results, then continues, waits for evidence, asks for a retained choice, or finishes. The status page names what comes next. Resume manually or through an available host wake; no scheduler is installed.
What it costs
manifest-dev is free and open source (MIT). It spends more tokens and time before building than prompting an agent directly, and unattended runs spend them on work you may still turn down. If shipping fastest is all that matters, a plain agent fits better.
Try it
Choose an entry point. Each works on its own, including in a team that does not use manifest-dev.
1Install
2Ask about something real
An example. Ask about the bug you keep putting off.
For example: /orchestrate reduce volunteer chasing using the lending report. Investigate and propose work; I retain direction and final acceptance. Work this round only.
Isolated checks help find defects; sustained project effectiveness and autonomous business operation remain unproven.
/figure-out with a question./auto with a task (or /figure-out, /define, /do one step at a time)./setup-project, once./ticket-up writes work as Tickets; /next-ticket picks the next one./orchestrate with an outcome, evidence, and limits, or an effort to run. Add --autonomous to act within that assignment without plan approvals.Authorized investigation, shaping, and delivery. A completed artifact is checked against the outcome evidence; an empty queue alone means no success.
The decisions you retain and the reviews your team requires. You may delegate visual direction and still accept the rendered version yourself. Each wait carries a recommendation, risk, evidence, and continuation.
Ask /manifest-dev-help whenever a term or a step is unclear.