AI_AGENT_OS/.ai/CHANGELOG.md

AI System Changelog

This file tracks durable changes to the repository's AI operating system.

The goal is to make agent self-improvement:

• visible
• auditable
• reversible
• testable

Do not use this file for ordinary application code changes.

Use it for changes to:

AGENTS.md

CLAUDE.md

.ai/AI-OS.md

.ai/WORKFLOW.md

.ai/skills/

.ai/prompts/

.ai/templates/

.ai/state/

when those changes alter reusable agent behavior.

---

Versioning

Use semantic-style versioning where practical.

MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH

Examples:

1.0.0
1.0.1
1.1.0
2.0.0

---

PATCH

Use PATCH for:

• wording clarification
• typo correction
• small missing validation
• stronger constraint wording
• broken file reference
• minor procedure correction

Example:

1.0.0 → 1.0.1

---

MINOR

Use MINOR for:

• new skill
• new prompt
• new template
• meaningful workflow improvement
• new verification procedure
• new reusable rule

Example:

1.0.1 → 1.1.0

---

MAJOR

Use MAJOR when changing:

• agent authority
• instruction priority
• self-modification governance
• default execution lifecycle
• approval requirements
• security boundaries
• verification philosophy

Example:

1.4.2 → 2.0.0

Major changes should normally be surfaced to the user unless directly requested.

---

Entry Format

Use this structure:

## [Version] — [Date]

### Changed
- file/path
- short description

### Reason
Why was the change necessary?

### Evidence
What real task, failure, correction, or repeated pattern justified it?

### Expected Improvement
What future behavior should improve?

### Verification
How was the new behavior tested?

### Result
PASS / PARTIAL / FAILED / REVERTED

### Rollback
What should be reverted if the change performs worse?

---

Initial Release

1.1.0 — 2026-09-01

Changed

.ai/skills/skill-builder/SKILL.md

Added the active Skill Builder procedure for creating, revising, testing, versioning, and maintaining reusable agent skills.

Reason

The repository already routes skill creation and revision through Skill Builder, but the tracked skill file did not yet contain the operational procedure.

Evidence

AGENTS.md references .ai/skills/skill-builder/SKILL.md for new skill creation, and the tracked file changed from empty to a full active skill.

Expected Improvement

Future agents should have concrete guidance for keeping skills scoped, reusable, tested, versioned, and auditable.

Verification

Reviewed with .ai/skills/system-audit/SKILL.md for authority, scope, references, duplication, regression risk, bloat, and changelog coverage.

Result

PASS WITH SMALL FIX

Rollback

Revert .ai/skills/skill-builder/SKILL.md and this changelog entry if the skill causes worse skill-routing behavior or excessive process overhead.

---

1.0.0

Added

• AGENTS.md
• CLAUDE.md
• .ai/AI-OS.md
• .ai/WORKFLOW.md
• .ai/CHANGELOG.md
• .ai/state/LEARNINGS.md
• .ai/templates/SKILL_TEMPLATE.md

Initial general-purpose skills:

• diagnostic-intake
• mirror-audit
• socratic-teacher
• prompt-architect
• prompt-debugger
• reverse-engineer
• red-team
• coffee-chat-editor
• skill-extractor
• skill-builder
• retrospective
• system-audit

Initial reusable prompts:

• discover.md
• plan.md
• review.md
• retrospective.md

Reason

Establish a reusable, self-improving agent operating system based on:

• discovery before action
• audit before commitment
• verification before completion
• adversarial review for consequential work
• reusable learning extraction
• controlled self-modification

Expected Improvement

Agents should become better at:

• understanding unfamiliar projects
• avoiding premature implementation
• detecting hidden assumptions
• verifying generated work
• learning reusable procedures
• improving their own instructions without uncontrolled prompt growth

Verification

Initial system should be tested using:

.ai/skills/system-audit/SKILL.md

after all baseline files are installed.

Result

PENDING INITIAL DEPLOYMENT

---

Changelog Rules

1. Log Durable Changes

Log changes that affect future agent behavior.

Examples:

new project deployment skill

new security review rule

improved prompt failure handling

new requirement to run a specific project test

---

2. Do Not Log Temporary Task Context

Do not add entries such as:

"Changed variable name during today's task."

"Opened controller.asp."

"Ran unit test."

Those belong in normal project history or the task conversation.

---

3. Link Changes to Evidence

Avoid changelog entries such as:

Improved prompt.

Prefer:

Updated prompt-debugger skill after three tasks showed
that failed prompts were being expanded rather than diagnosed.
Added explicit instruction-overload detection and same-input retesting.

The changelog should explain why the system evolved.

---

4. Record Failed Improvements

Failed self-improvements are useful history.

Example:

## 1.2.1

### Changed
Added mandatory architecture planning for all code changes.

### Evidence
Several larger changes benefited from planning.

### Verification
Tested against three small bug fixes.

### Result
FAILED

The rule created unnecessary overhead for trivial tasks.

### Rollback
Reverted mandatory planning and replaced it with Fast / Standard / High-Risk workflow selection.

This helps future agents avoid repeating the same experiment.

---

Reversion Policy

If a new AI-system change:

increases failures

creates instruction conflicts

causes excessive clarification

adds unnecessary process

reduces verification quality

breaks unrelated workflows

then:

REVERT
   ↓
LOG FAILURE
   ↓
CAPTURE LESSON

Do not preserve a bad self-improvement simply because it was versioned.

---

Cross-File Versioning

Individual skills may have their own versions.

Example:

.ai/skills/red-team/SKILL.md
Version: 1.2.0

The top-level AI-OS may still be:

AI-OS Version: 1.4.0

The root changelog records meaningful cross-system changes.

Individual skill changelogs record detailed changes to that skill.

---

Example PATCH Entry

1.0.1 — YYYY-MM-DD

Changed

CLAUDE.md

Added requirement to inspect the resulting diff before finishing substantial edits.

Reason

Claude completed several tasks with correct functionality but left unrelated formatting changes.

Evidence

Repeated formatting churn appeared during three unrelated project tasks.

Expected Improvement

Reduce accidental unrelated modifications.

Verification

Tested on:

1. targeted bug fix
2. documentation edit
3. unrelated code generation task

Result

PASS

Rollback

Remove the new diff-review rule from CLAUDE.md.

---

Example MINOR Entry

1.1.0 — YYYY-MM-DD

Added

.ai/skills/classic-asp-controller/SKILL.md

Reason

Controller creation repeatedly required the same:

• request validation
• service initialization
• error handling
• response pattern

Evidence

The procedure occurred in four controller implementations.

Expected Improvement

Reduce duplicated discovery and inconsistent controller structure.

Verification

Tested against:

1. existing controller reconstruction
2. new test controller

Result

PASS

---

Example Prompt Improvement Entry

1.1.1 — YYYY-MM-DD

Changed

.ai/prompts/plan.md

Reason

The planning prompt produced long implementation documents for trivial changes.

Evidence

Three small fixes generated plans longer than the actual change.

Expected Improvement

Plans should scale with task complexity.

Verification

Tested on:

• typo fix
• moderate feature
• database migration

Result

PASS

---

Example Skill Revision

1.2.0 — YYYY-MM-DD

Changed

.ai/skills/red-team/SKILL.md

Added

Explicit distinction between:

BLOCKER

IMPORTANT RISK

ACCEPTABLE TRADEOFF

SPECULATIVE CONCERN

Reason

Red-team reviews were generating too many low-value objections.

Evidence

Repeated reviews treated minor hypothetical concerns as release blockers.

Expected Improvement

Increase review signal and reduce adversarial noise.

Verification

Re-ran the skill against two previously reviewed designs.

Result

PASS

---

Example Major Change

2.0.0 — YYYY-MM-DD

Changed

Default AI workflow changed from:

Discover → Plan → Implement → Verify

to:

Discover → Initial Approach → Mirror Audit → Plan → Implement → Verify

Reason

Agents repeatedly committed to the first plausible architecture without evaluating hidden assumptions.

Evidence

Multiple architecture tasks required substantial correction after implementation began.

Expected Improvement

Catch design errors before implementation cost is incurred.

Verification

Tested on several architecture and migration scenarios.

Result

PASS

User Review

REQUIRED / APPROVED

---

Changelog Quality Test

A useful changelog entry should allow a future agent to understand:

WHAT CHANGED?

WHY?

WHAT EVIDENCE EXISTED?

WHAT WAS EXPECTED TO IMPROVE?

DID IT WORK?

HOW CAN IT BE UNDONE?

If those questions cannot be answered, the entry is incomplete.