hk-config-authoring

name: hk-config-authoring description: Router skill for Harness Kit config authoring and maintenance. Use when a user asks to create, audit, update, or repair HK profiles, system maps, target bindings, or dots/user-level harness.toml config. Delegates to profile and system-map authoring skills instead of duplicating their logic. allowed-tools: Read, Grep, Glob, Bash, Write

HK Config Authoring Router

Use this skill when the request is about Harness Kit configuration rather than a normal HK lifecycle work item.

This is a router. It decides which specialized workflow to run and keeps profile/system-map work coordinated. It does not replace the specialized skills.

Core boundary

• HK config diagnostics inspect, validate, audit, and explain deterministic config joins.
• harness-kit-profile-authoring owns profile checks/reviews/requiredness guidance.
• hk-system-map-author owns component/invariant/read-before-editing/check-label maps.
• Humans or explicit agent instructions approve writes.
• Do not edit deployed runtime ~/.config files directly when dots/config source exists.

Route the request

Ask or infer:

1. Is this create/author or audit/update?
2. Is the target problem about:
   • validation/review policy? → harness-kit-profile-authoring
   • components/invariants/system-map labels? → hk-system-map-author
   • target binding/profile/system_map wiring? → this router plus both skills as needed
   • all of the above? → paired flow
3. Where should changes live?
   • repo-local .harness/
   • user/dots config/harness-toolkit/
   • generated template skill/config
   • proposal only / temp file

Start with deterministic diagnostics

When a target exists, run what is available:

hk profile resolve --target <repo-or-module> --json
hk brief --target <repo-or-module> --json
hk checks --target <repo-or-module> --changed --json
hk config inspect --target <repo-or-module> --json
hk config validate --target <repo-or-module> --json
hk config audit --target <repo-or-module> --json

If hk config ... commands are unavailable, use the profile/brief/checks commands and direct TOML reads.

Paired create flow

1. Resolve target root and desired config location.
2. Use harness-kit-profile-authoring to draft the profile first, because system maps reference profile check labels.
3. Use hk-system-map-author to draft the map against that profile.
4. Propose the target binding:

[[targets]]
name = "<target-name>"
path = "<repo-or-module-path>"
profile = "<profile-name>"
system_map = "system-maps/<target-name>.toml"

5. Validate the proposed joins with hk config validate when available.
6. Ask before writing.

Paired audit/update flow

1. Run deterministic diagnostics.
2. Split findings by owner:
   • profile issues: stale commands, prompt files, requiredness, review scope
   • system-map issues: missing paths/docs/evidence, unresolved labels (system-map validation_checks referencing profile check names that no longer exist — fix direction is to remove or correct the label in the map, not to add a new profile check to match it), noisy components, stale invariants
   • binding issues: missing target path, missing profile, missing map, surprising override
3. Delegate profile findings to harness-kit-profile-authoring audit/update mode.
4. Delegate system-map findings to hk-system-map-author audit/update mode.
5. Produce a small combined patch plan. Avoid broad rewrites unless the config is structurally obsolete.
6. Ask before writing and list every file to change.

Output format

## HK config authoring route

Mode: create | audit/update
Target: `<target>`
Config location: repo-local | dots/user | template | proposal-only

### Diagnostics used

- `<command>`: summary

### Delegation

- Profile work: `harness-kit-profile-authoring` because ...
- System-map work: `hk-system-map-author` because ...

### Proposed changes

1. `<file>` — <reason>
2. `<file>` — <reason>

Proceed with these writes?

Guardrails

• Do not promote generative profile/system-map drafting to top-level HK lifecycle commands.
• Do not let system-map labels become readiness policy; profiles own requiredness.
• Do not run native validation commands through hk config; use lifecycle hk validate -- <command> for evidence.
• Keep deterministic diagnostics separate from judgment-heavy proposals.