Agent Development for Claude Code Plugins

Overview

Agents are autonomous subprocesses that handle complex, multi-step tasks independently. Each agent is a markdown file in the agents/ directory with YAML frontmatter defining its configuration and a markdown body serving as its system prompt.

Canonical agent frontmatter template (MANDATORY shape)

This is the template every new agent MUST follow. Deviating from this shape is the #1 cause of agents that never trigger.

---
name: my-agent                                    # REQUIRED: kebab-case, 3-50 chars, alphanumeric start/end
model: inherit                                    # REQUIRED: always `inherit` unless you have a hard reason
color: blue                                       # RECOMMENDED: one of blue/cyan/green/yellow/magenta/red
tools: Read, Write, Edit, Glob, Grep, Bash        # RECOMMENDED: minimal set; omit for full access
description: |
  One-sentence summary of what the agent does. PROACTIVELY activate for: (1) concrete trigger, (2) concrete trigger, ..., (N) concrete trigger. Provides: comma-separated capability nouns.