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Audit Agent Consolidation Command

audit-agent-consolidation

Analyze agents for consolidation opportunities. Groups agents by configuration, tracks references, and manages refactoring.

SKILL.md

Full skill instructions

Audit Agent Consolidation Command

Analyze agents for consolidation opportunities and track refactoring progress.

Initialization

Before auditing, initialize the environment:

  1. Get the current UTC date for audit timestamps.
  2. Capture the project root path for subagent communication.
  3. Ensure the temp directory (.claude/​temp/) exists.
  4. Load the ecosystem-health skill for consolidation criteria access.

What Gets Analyzed

  • Configuration fields: tools, model, permissionMode, skills, color
  • Grouping: Agents grouped by tools + model + permissionMode
  • Reference tracking: Commands, skills, memory, agents that reference each agent
  • Consolidation scoring: Based on configuration similarity and reference impact
  • Skills analysis: Different skills = different purpose (auto-load guarantee)

Command Arguments

ArgumentDescription
(none)Analyze mode: discover agents, group by config, recommend consolidation
--forceRe-analyze even if recent analysis exists (<24h)
--plugin-onlyOnly analyze plugin agents (plugins/​*/​agents/)
--project-onlyOnly analyze project agents (.claude/​agents/)
--referencesShow all component references for each agent
--impact <group>Show detailed impact analysis for consolidating a specific group
--trackPersist analysis to tracking file in .claude/​temp/
--execute <plan>Execute consolidation plan (interactive with confirmation)

Modes of Operation

Analyze Mode (Default)

Discovers agents, groups by configuration, calculates consolidation scores.

Steps:

  1. Discover all agent files based on scope
  2. Parse YAML frontmatter for each agent
  3. Group agents by tools + model + permissionMode
  4. Calculate consolidation scores using criteria from ecosystem-health skill
  5. Generate recommendations
  6. Display summary

References Mode (--references)

Shows all components that reference each agent.

Searches:

  • Skills: skills/​*/​SKILL.md for delegation patterns and Task invocations
  • Memory: .claude/​memory/​*.md for agent references
  • Agents: agents/​*.md for chaining patterns

Impact Mode (--impact <group>)

Shows detailed analysis of what would break if a group is consolidated.

Reports:

  • All references to agents in the group
  • Estimated refactoring effort
  • Risk assessment
  • Suggested migration path

Track Mode (--track)

Persists analysis to .claude/​temp/​agent-consolidation-{timestamp}.json for:

  • Multi-session consolidation efforts
  • Progress tracking
  • Historical comparison

Execute Mode (--execute <plan>)

Interactive mode to apply a consolidation plan.

REQUIRES explicit user confirmation for each step.

Step 1: Parse Arguments

Check for mode flags:

  • --force: Set force_reanalyze = true
  • --plugin-only: Set scope = "plugin"
  • --project-only: Set scope = "project"
  • --references: Set mode = "references"
  • --impact <group>: Set mode = "impact", capture group ID
  • --track: Set track = true
  • --execute <plan>: Set mode = "execute", capture plan path

Default: mode = "analyze", scope = "all"

Step 2: Discover Agents

Search for agent files based on scope:

Plugin agents:

  • plugins/​*/​agents/​*.md

Project agents:

  • .claude/​agents/​*.md

User agents (if scope = all):

  • ~/​.claude/​agents/​*.md (note: may not be accessible)

Build list of discovered agents with:

  • Full path
  • Scope (plugin:<name>, project, user)
  • Last modified date

Step 3: Present Discovery Summary

## Agent Discovery

**Scope**: [ALL | PLUGIN | PROJECT]
**Agents Found**: [N]

| Scope | Count | Location |
| ----- | ----- | -------- |
| plugin:claude-ecosystem | 17 | plugins/​claude-ecosystem/​agents/ |
| plugin:code-quality | 3 | plugins/​code-quality/​agents/ |
| project | 2 | .claude/​agents/ |

Step 4: Execute Analysis

For Analyze mode, spawn agent-consolidation-analyst subagent with context:

  • Scope (plugin:name, project, all)
  • List of agent file paths
  • Project root for output files
  • Current UTC timestamp

For large agent counts (>10), batch into groups of 5 for parallel analysis.

The subagent will:

  1. Parse all agent YAML frontmatter
  2. Group by configuration
  3. Search for references
  4. Calculate scores
  5. Write dual output (JSON + Markdown) to .claude/​temp/

Step 5: Aggregate Results

After subagent(s) complete:

  1. Read JSON output file(s) from .claude/​temp/
  2. Aggregate groups and recommendations
  3. Calculate totals

Step 6: Display Results

Analyze Mode Output

Agent Consolidation Analysis
============================

Scope: [scope]
Agents Analyzed: [N]
Groups Found: [N]

Configuration Groups:
---------------------

Group 1: auditor-opus-plan ([N] agents)
  Config: tools=[standard+MCP], model=opus, permissionMode=plan
  Members:
    - skill-auditor (skills: skill-development) [2 refs]
    - skill-auditor (skills: skill-development) [2 refs, handles both skills and commands]
    - agent-auditor (skills: subagent-development) [2 refs]
    - hook-auditor (skills: hook-management) [2 refs]
    ... ([N] more)

  Consolidation: NO
  Score: 45/​100
  Reason: Each agent's `skills:` field provides domain-specific
          knowledge via auto-load guarantee. Cannot replicate via
          Task tool prompt injection.

Group 2: researcher-haiku ([N] agents)
  Config: tools=[Read,Grep,WebFetch], model=haiku
  Members:
    - docs-researcher (skills: none) [1 ref]
    - issue-researcher (skills: none) [3 refs]

  Consolidation: REVIEW
  Score: 78/​100
  Reason: Similar purpose, no skills field. Could potentially merge
          with query-based specialization in prompt.

Recommendations:
----------------
1. [NO ACTION] auditor-opus-plan - skills: auto-load justifies separation
2. [REVIEW] researcher-haiku - Consider meta-skill approach

Total Reference Count: [N]
Highest Impact Agent: [agent-name] ([N] references)

References Mode Output

Agent References Analysis
=========================

skill-auditor:
  Commands: 1
    - audit-skills.md:87 "spawn skill-auditor agent"
  Skills: 0
  Memory: 1
    - audit-protocol.md:45 "uses skill-auditor for validation"
  Total: 2 references

skill-auditor (commands):
  Commands: 1
    - audit-skills.md:66 "spawn skill-auditor agent"
  Skills: 0
  Memory: 1
    - audit-protocol.md:48 "uses skill-auditor for validation"
  Total: 2 references

...

Track Mode

After analysis, if --track flag:

Analysis persisted to:
  .claude/​temp/​agent-consolidation-2026-01-10T193000Z.json

Use --execute to apply consolidation plan.

Important Notes

The skills: Auto-Load Guarantee

CRITICAL: The skills: field provides an auto-load guarantee:

  • Skill loads AUTOMATICALLY when agent starts
  • No prompt required, no Claude decision needed
  • Consistent, reliable domain knowledge

Task tool CANNOT replicate this:

  • Cannot specify skills: parameter in Task tool
  • Must describe skill content in prompt (token bloat)
  • Claude must decide to invoke Skill tool (not guaranteed)

Therefore: Agents with different skills: fields should NOT be consolidated unless their skills can be merged into one meta-skill.

Configuration Field Weights

FieldWeightNotes
toolsHIGHDifferent tools = different capabilities
modelHIGHDifferent models = different cost/​capability
permissionModeMEDIUMAffects security posture
skillsCRITICALAuto-load guarantee cannot be replicated
colorLOWCosmetic, ignored for grouping

Scoring Thresholds

ScoreRecommendationAction
85-100CONSOLIDATEStrong candidate for merging
70-84REVIEWMay consolidate with skill refactoring
50-69UNLIKELYKeep separate unless skills merge
0-49NO ACTIONDifferent purposes, keep separate

Plugin Isolation Constraint

CRITICAL: Plugins cannot reference resources outside their individual plugin directory.

This means:

  • Agents in plugin-a/​agents/ cannot consolidate with agents in plugin-b/​agents/
  • Cross-plugin consolidation is architecturally impossible
  • Only agents within the SAME plugin can be consolidated
  • When analyzing consolidation candidates, group only by plugin scope

When the analysis identifies similar agents across different plugins (e.g., *-docs-researcher agents), these should be noted as following a common pattern but are NOT consolidation candidates.

Scope filtering recommendation:

  • Use --plugin-only and analyze each plugin separately
  • Group recommendations by plugin, not globally
  • Cross-plugin patterns inform template standardization, not consolidation

Example Usage

Example 1: Analyze All Agents

User: /​audit-agent-consolidation

Claude: Discovering agents...

## Agent Discovery
Scope: ALL
Agents Found: 22

[Analysis proceeds...]

Agent Consolidation Analysis
============================
...

Example 2: Plugin-Only Analysis

User: /​audit-agent-consolidation --plugin-only

Claude: Discovering plugin agents only...

## Agent Discovery
Scope: PLUGIN
Agents Found: 20
...

Example 3: Show References

User: /​audit-agent-consolidation --references

Claude: Analyzing agent references...

Agent References Analysis
=========================
...

Example 4: Track for Multi-Session

User: /​audit-agent-consolidation --track

Claude: [Analysis...]

Analysis persisted to:
  .claude/​temp/​agent-consolidation-2026-01-10T193000Z.json

Example 5: Impact Analysis

User: /​audit-agent-consolidation --impact auditor-opus-plan

Claude: Analyzing impact for group: auditor-opus-plan

Impact Analysis: auditor-opus-plan
==================================

Agents in Group: 13
Total References: 26

If consolidated, would need to update:
  - 13 command files (Task invocations)
  - 13 memory references

Risk Assessment: HIGH
Reason: skills: field provides domain-specific knowledge

Recommendation: Do NOT consolidate. The auto-load guarantee
cannot be replicated via Task tool.

Ecosystem Health Integration

This command integrates with the ecosystem-health skill:

  • Uses references/​consolidation-criteria.md for scoring rubric
  • Contributes to component coverage tracking
  • Supports the audit orchestration workflow

Run /​ecosystem-health --status to see overall audit coverage including agent consolidation.