Configuration Alignment: AgentConfig co-location incomplete after PR #555, README stale, and agentsMD still drifted

[kelos-bot]

🤖 Kelos Self-Update Agent @gjkim42

Area: Configuration Alignment

Summary

PR #555 (merged 2026-03-08) co-located AgentConfigs with their TaskSpawners for 4 agents, but left kelos-triage and kelos-config-update on the shared kelos-dev-agent from agentconfig.yaml. This creates an inconsistent maintenance pattern: updates to agentsMD must now be applied to 6 separate locations (5 inline AgentConfigs + 1 shared file), and the README incorrectly claims all agents share a single config.

Issue #515 identified the agentsMD content drift and missing types/state fields before PR #555 was merged. This issue covers the structural fragmentation introduced by that PR, the resulting README inaccuracy, and the fact that the content drift from #515 now affects 6 copies instead of 1.

Findings

1. Incomplete co-location: 2 agents still use the shared kelos-dev-agent config

After PR #555, the AgentConfig references are:

TaskSpawner / Task	AgentConfig	Source	Co-located?
kelos-workers	kelos-workers-agent	kelos-workers.yaml	Yes
kelos-self-update	kelos-self-update-agent	kelos-self-update.yaml	Yes
kelos-fake-user	kelos-fake-user-agent	kelos-fake-user.yaml	Yes
kelos-fake-strategist	kelos-fake-strategist-agent	kelos-fake-strategist.yaml	Yes
kelos-triage	kelos-dev-agent	agentconfig.yaml	No
kelos-config-update	kelos-dev-agent	agentconfig.yaml	No
squash-commits-task	kelos-dev-agent	agentconfig.yaml	No

This means:

• kelos-triage and kelos-config-update lack distinct identities — they comment as "Kelos Agent" while the other 4 agents each have unique names (e.g., "Kelos Worker Agent", "Kelos Strategist Agent")
• Updating agentsMD conventions requires touching 5 files (4 inline + 1 shared), and the shared file only affects 3 consumers. Easy to miss one.

2. README.md line 9 is now inaccurate

self-development/README.md line 9 states:

All agents share an `AgentConfig` (`agentconfig.yaml`) that defines git identity, comment signatures, and standard constraints.

After PR #555, this is false. Only kelos-triage, kelos-config-update, and squash-commits-task use the shared config. The other 4 agents have their own co-located configs.

3. All 6 agentsMD definitions are identical and missing CLAUDE.md conventions

Every agentsMD (both the shared agentconfig.yaml and the 4 inline ones added by PR #555) contains the same content — and it's still missing the conventions from CLAUDE.md/AGENTS.md that issue #515 identified:

Convention in CLAUDE.md / AGENTS.md	Present in agentsMD?
"Keep changes minimal. Do not refactor, reorganize, or 'improve' code beyond what was explicitly requested."	No — only has "Keep changes minimal and focused"
"For CI/release workflows, always use existing Makefile targets rather than reimplementing build logic in YAML."	No
"e2e tests are hard to run locally. Push changes and use the PR's CI jobs to run them instead."	No
Test scope: "(including integration, e2e)"	No
Pull Requests section (PR template, /kind labels, release-note block)	No
Directory Structure section (cmd/, test/e2e/, .github/workflows/)	No

This matters most for kelos-workers and kelos-config-update which create PRs — they lack the PR template instructions in their agentsMD, relying on agents to find the template file themselves.

4. kelos-workers still missing explicit types and state fields

As noted in #515 (still unresolved), kelos-triage.yaml explicitly declares:

types:
  - issues
state: open

kelos-workers.yaml omits both. While the label filters work in practice, adding these fields makes intent explicit and keeps the two issue-driven spawners consistent.

Proposed Changes

Option A: Complete the co-location (recommended)

Finish what PR #555 started — give kelos-triage and kelos-config-update their own co-located AgentConfigs with distinct identities:

1. Add an AgentConfig to kelos-triage.yaml with name kelos-triage-agent and identity "Kelos Triage Agent"
2. Add an AgentConfig to kelos-config-update.yaml with name kelos-config-update-agent and identity "Kelos Config-Update Agent"
3. Update squash-commits-task.yaml to reference kelos-workers-agent (since it operates on worker PRs)
4. Delete or repurpose agentconfig.yaml (if no consumers remain)
5. Update README.md line 9 to reflect the co-location pattern

Option B: Consolidate back to shared config

Revert to a single shared agentsMD in agentconfig.yaml and have all TaskSpawners reference it — the co-located configs would only contain the identity section (if AgentConfig supports splitting identity from agentsMD). This avoids the N-copy maintenance problem.

For either option:

• Sync all agentsMD content with CLAUDE.md/AGENTS.md, including the Pull Requests section, CI/release workflow rule, e2e test guidance, test scope qualifier, explicit keep-changes-minimal rule, and Directory Structure section
• Add types: [issues] and state: open to kelos-workers.yaml
• Update README.md to accurately describe the current AgentConfig pattern

Relationship to existing issues

Issue	What it covers	What this issue adds
#515	agentsMD content drift from CLAUDE.md; workers missing types/state	Structural fragmentation from PR #555; README inaccuracy; the drift now affects 6 copies; co-location completion proposal
#566	Missing local verification step and PR template instructions in prompts	Prompt-level gaps (not agentsMD-level); doesn't address the AgentConfig pattern inconsistency
#575	fake-strategist-task.yaml prompt diverged from TaskSpawner	Task template drift, not AgentConfig structure
#582 (open PR)	Adds conventions to AGENTS.md and agentconfig.yaml	Only updates the shared config, not the 4 inline configs — would widen the drift if merged without also updating the inline copies

Impact

• Maintenance burden: Any convention update now requires 5-6 file edits instead of 1
• Identity inconsistency: kelos-triage and kelos-config-update comment as generic "Kelos Agent" while others have distinct names
• Stale README: New users reading the README get an inaccurate picture of how AgentConfigs work
• PR Add agent conventions from recent PR review feedback #582 risk: If merged as-is, it only updates agentconfig.yaml and AGENTS.md, widening the gap between the shared config and the 4 inline ones

/kind cleanup

[kelos-bot]

🤖 Kelos Agent @gjkim42

Kelos Triage Report

Kind: kind/cleanup
Priority: priority/important-longterm — Maintenance burden and drift risk are real but nothing is functionally broken; agents operate correctly today
Actor: needs human — Issue presents two mutually exclusive architectural options (complete co-location vs consolidate back to shared config) that require a maintainer design decision

Status: STILL VALID

Evidence:

• Incomplete co-location confirmed: kelos-triage.yaml, kelos-config-update.yaml, and squash-commits-task.yaml still reference kelos-dev-agent from the shared agentconfig.yaml, while the other 4 agents (workers, self-update, fake-user, fake-strategist) have co-located AgentConfigs after PR Co-locate AgentConfigs with TaskSpawners and use distinct agent names #555
• README inaccuracy confirmed: self-development/README.md line 9 states "All agents share an AgentConfig (agentconfig.yaml)" — this is false after PR Co-locate AgentConfigs with TaskSpawners and use distinct agent names #555
• agentsMD drift confirmed: All 6 agentsMD definitions (shared + 4 inline) are missing conventions from CLAUDE.md/AGENTS.md: Pull Requests section, CI/release workflow rule, e2e test guidance, expanded "keep changes minimal" rule, test scope qualifier "(including integration, e2e)", and Directory Structure section
• kelos-workers missing types/state confirmed: kelos-workers.yaml omits types and state fields that kelos-triage.yaml explicitly declares
• PR Add agent conventions from recent PR review feedback #582 risk confirmed: Open PR Add agent conventions from recent PR review feedback #582 only updates agentconfig.yaml and AGENTS.md, which would widen the gap between the shared config and the 4 inline configs if merged without also updating the inline copies
• No merged PRs or commits address this issue

Duplicates found: #515 (substantial overlap — covers agentsMD content drift from CLAUDE.md and kelos-workers missing types/state; #601 is a superset that adds the structural fragmentation from PR #555, README inaccuracy, and the fact that drift now affects 6 copies instead of 1). #566 (partial overlap — the missing PR template instructions in agentsMD overlap with #601's finding, though #566 also covers prompt-level gaps not in scope here).

Recommendation: KEEP OPEN — This issue is a superset of #515 with clearer scope. The maintainer should decide between Option A (complete co-location) and Option B (consolidate back to shared config) before assigning to a worker agent. Once the architectural direction is chosen, consider closing #515 as subsumed by this issue and having a worker agent execute the chosen option.