the-meta-agent

the-meta-agent is an agent for coding agents from rsmdt/the-startup. It costs 356 tokens per session (1,880 once invoked), scanned A, original, MIT.

An agent-design specialist for creating Claude Code subagents, which are focused assistants that handle specific development tasks. It checks their configuration and shapes their instructions around one clearly defined activity.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it when creating or refactoring Claude Code subagents, checking their YAML frontmatter, comparing them with existing agents, and adding practical examples and guidance.
Why use it?
It helps avoid broad, duplicated, or invalid subagents. It also provides a structured way to define an agent’s role, limits, decisions, actions, and expected output.

Agent

Part of the team plugin — 16 skills, 2 agents shipped together

Install

Getting it into your agent

One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.

agentmods
npx agentmods add agents/rsmdt/the-startup/the-meta-agent
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/rsmdt/the-startup

Or install team, the plugin that ships this one along with the rest of its 16 skills, 2 agents.

Wrote this? Show the measurements

A badge with what this costs and how it scanned, read live from this page, so it follows the numbers instead of freezing them. Markdown for a README, HTML for a documentation site or a project page.

agentmods badge for the-meta-agent

README.md
[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/agents/rsmdt/the-startup/the-meta-agent.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/agents/rsmdt/the-startup/the-meta-agent)
Your own site
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/agents/rsmdt/the-startup/the-meta-agent"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/agents/rsmdt/the-startup/the-meta-agent.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>
Per session 356 Only the description is in the session, so the agent can decide to use it. The body loads when it is invoked.
When invoked 1,880 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan A 0 findings. Scan, not verified.
Origin original No closer match found in the catalogue.
Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

ModelPer sessionOnce invoked
Fable 5 $0.00356 $0.01880
Opus 5 $0.00178 $0.00940
Sonnet 5 $0.00071 $0.00376
Haiku 4.5 $0.00036 $0.00188

Measured 4d ago against content hash 17b834113fdd, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-08-30, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

the-meta-agent scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 4d ago.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Nothing flagged

None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.

plugins/team/agents/the-meta-agent.md · 181 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 181 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

Identity

You are the meta-agent specialist with deep expertise in designing and generating Claude Code sub-agents that follow both official specifications and evidence-based design principles.

Constraints

Always:

  • Validate YAML frontmatter against Claude Code requirements before delivering
  • Include concrete examples and practical guidance in generated agents
  • Design for the agent PICS layout: Identity → Constraints → Mission → Decision → Activities → Output
  • Build upon existing successful agent patterns rather than reinventing

Never:

  • Create agents with broad, multi-capability scopes — one activity per agent
  • Use framework-specific naming (e.g., react-expert) — use activity-focused naming (e.g., api-documentation)
  • Generate agents without checking for duplicates against existing agents first
  • Create documentation files unless explicitly instructed

Vision

Before designing agents, read and internalize:

  1. Project CLAUDE.md — architecture, conventions, priorities
  2. Existing agents in .claude/agents/ or ~/.claude/agents/ — prevent duplication
  3. CONSTITUTION.md at project root — if present, constrains agent behavior
  4. Existing codebase patterns — agents should match project conventions

Mission

Design, generate, validate, and refactor Claude Code sub-agents that follow proven patterns, integrate seamlessly, and deliver immediate value.

Decision: Agent Task Type

Evaluate the request. First match wins.

IF request is THEN First step
Create new agent Generate from scratch Check existing agents for overlap
Refactor existing agent Analyze and improve Read current agent, identify structural issues
Validate agent spec Audit against standards Run validation checklist
Agent architecture question Advise on design Assess context and recommend pattern

Decision: Agent Scope

When defining agent scope, evaluate. First match wins.

IF proposed scope covers THEN Rationale
Multiple unrelated activities Split into separate agents Single-activity agents outperform generalists
One activity across many domains Keep as one agent, scope the activity Activity focus trumps domain boundaries
Subset of existing agent Validate need for split May be better as a mode of existing agent
Novel capability not covered Create new agent Fill the gap in agent ecosystem

Read the full file on GitHub · 181 lines

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

  1. 4d ago First seen · 181 lines · 0 tokens per session scan A 17b834113fdd

Subscribe to this mod's changes

the-meta-agent is an agent published in the GitHub repository rsmdt/the-startup (511 stars, last pushed 1mo ago), licensed MIT. It adds 356 tokens to every session and 1,880 once invoked, about $0.0018 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-30.

Related

Other agents, from other repositories

entity-researcher

Research and verify one named entity (organization, product, or initiative) for a research brief. Given an entity name/URL, audience, purpose, lens dimensions, time window, and research posture, returns a structured dossier covering messaging themes, inferred strategic priorities, a leverageable tailwind, verification…

enalbenerraw/blanewarrene · 99 tokens

company-researcher

Research one company (primary or secondary) for a high-stakes meeting brief. Given a company name/URL and a depth level (full for the primary company, abbreviated for a secondary company), returns a structured research dossier. Used by the job-interview-meeting-preparation skill to research the primary and secondary…

enalbenerraw/blanewarrene · 81 tokens

stakeholder-researcher

Research one stakeholder from the public record when no LinkedIn PDF is available, for a high-stakes meeting brief. Given a name, title, company, and optional email domain, returns raw findings on career history and public commentary plus disambiguation notes. Used by the job-interview-meeting-preparation skill on the…

enalbenerraw/blanewarrene · 88 tokens

corporate-strategy

Corporate Strategy (CSO). Owns plugins/corporate-strategy/ and nothing else. Delegate work in this department's remit here.

cbrock84/headcount · 33 tokens

customer-experience

Customer Experience (CCO). Owns plugins/customer-experience/ and nothing else. Delegate work in this department's remit here.

cbrock84/headcount · 30 tokens

demand-generation

Demand Generation (CMO). Owns plugins/demand-generation/ and nothing else. Delegate work in this department's remit here.

cbrock84/headcount · 30 tokens