Agent Startup and Context Ingestion

How an agent becomes useful after launch: AGENTS.md overlays, role files, skills, rig specs, workflow specs, startup checklists, refocus messages, and the current rig context retrieval and profile surface.

It is the current concrete startup path inside the broader context-engineering-and-retrieval primitive. Startup gets a seat into the right initial shape; context engineering is the larger question of how a seat gets the right context for the work it is doing right now.

Most coordination failures are not tool failures; they are context failures. Agents need to know their role, operating mode, coordination convention, boundaries, and current product intent. If startup context is scattered or stale, agents execute the wrong thing very efficiently.

Use this when

• Authoring a new agent's startup files (role / culture / startup-context)
• Refreshing a seat that's been running on stale guidance
• Auditing whether agents got the current operating mode (not just what's in old files)
• Designing the orchestrator → next-agent context-transmission shape
• Building a startup map for OpenRig-building rigs

Don't use this when

• The agent is being created via Agent Starter — the starter's manifest carries startup context
• The work is artifact-backed mental-model rebuild from a packet — that's session-compaction-and-restore
• The intent is to ship reusable startup content as a skill

Failure modes (4)

1. A new agent starts from an old rig spec and misses the current operating mode. Specs go stale; current state must be visible at startup, not just historical config.
2. Guidance is written to a file that future agents read, but current agents are never told. File edits don't propagate to running sessions. Cultural rollout (broadcast + fleet-changes-feed) is needed alongside file edits.
3. A startup file becomes a dumping ground and loses the map-to-canonical-sources role. Startup should point AT canonical sources; it shouldn't TRY to be one.
4. The orchestrator transmits implementation instructions without preserving product intent. Instructions decay; intent travels.

Task-scoped startup

Run rig whoami --json, then resolve project.yaml -> mission.yaml -> active slice.yaml -> selected component or wave map -> addressed context. The complete lookup and precedence rule is docs/reference/product-journey-sdlc.md#resolve-the-selected-path (installed: $OPENRIG_HOME/reference/product-journey-sdlc.md#resolve-the-selected-path). Read the selected addresses and source needed for this task; skills available in your profile are capabilities, not a mandatory reading list. No composition means light Part A. Role names and idle seats add no gates. Explicit rigor and authored wave boundaries retain their named checks.

Startup files are address maps, not universal reading mandates. Do not preload unrelated planning/review doctrine or require per-file ACKs and quizzes. Skill availability is distinct from loading its full body. An old packet does not choose the current work. Missing selected context is a named gap to resolve.

Proof standard

In a disposable fresh session, observe the actual reads and resulting next action. Test no-selection, explicit rigor, and wave-boundary cases. An edit is not evidence that an already-running seat adopted it; adoption needs an authorized refresh or next-launch observation. Do not clear or re-prime a live seat merely to test prose.

Cross-runtime startup paths (5; do not collapse)

When a seat's startup is artifact-backed mental-model rebuild (active-work reentry case, distinct from reusable Agent Starters / priming packs):

• See the cross-runtime restore/reentry packet standard v0
• Source-trust ranking applies: rig whoami > target rigspec > bounded latest transcript > full transcript > touched-files > restore-summary.json

Memory surfaces consumed at startup

Inventory the selected startup inputs: AGENTS/role/CULTURE overlays, replay context, and any declared restore packet or starter. Record where each comes from, whether it is current, and why this task needs it. An available skill or old packet does not select the work.

Use the task-scoped startup path above to resolve current authority. Permission to read an input is not permission to rewrite its source; writes follow the active project/rig policy and assignment. Load skills/openrig-operating-model/SKILL.md with rig context get when deciding where durable context belongs.

Startup files vs skills (the distinction)

Per agent-startup-guide.md (product reference doc) and the team handbook:

Startup files	Skills
Rig-specific, role-specific identity	Reusable SOPs / methodology / knowledge
Tell agent WHO it is, WHAT it's working on, HOW this team operates	Tell agent HOW to do something (transferable across rigs)
Examples: role.md, CULTURE.md, startup/context.md	Examples: openrig-user, test-driven-development, vault-user
Authored per-rig	Authored once, used everywhere

Don't put skill content in startup files. Don't put identity content in skills. The 7-layer additive startup model (agent / profile / rig / culture / pod / member / operator) handles the layering.

See also

• mission-slice-sop — load when starting assigned mission/slice work; the light artifact and handoff procedure for SPEC.md, NOTES.md, PROGRESS.md and proof. It does not choose the SDLC for the task.
• forming-an-openrig-mental-model skill — orientation for new agents
• session-compaction-and-restore skill — restore-time startup ingestion
• agent-starters skill — reusable starter manifests that compose startup context
• openrig-operating-model skill — placement and authority of durable context
• openrig/docs/reference/agent-startup-guide.md (product reference doc; not a skill) — the 7-layer additive startup model + delivery hints