phantom-agent: Instructions file for Codex

AGENTS

This subtree contains the PAC1 Python contest agent. Optimize for correctness, small surface area, and low dependency count.

Local Goals

• Keep the implementation minimal and runnable with the packages already present in pyproject.toml.
• Reuse the generated BitGN SDK and protobuf types directly instead of wrapping everything in another framework.
• Avoid benchmark-id branching or task-id hardcoding unless there is no protocol-level alternative.
• Prefer generic file-system reasoning over PAC1-specific heuristics.
• Prefer capability discovery plus broad intent classes over phrase-specific routing. Narrow keyword heuristics are a last-resort fallback, not the primary architecture.

Preferred Structure

• server.py: FastAPI backend + SSE streaming + benchmark orchestration
• main_v2.py: CLI benchmark runner (headless)
• agent_v2/agent.py: agent creation, run loop with retry logic
• agent_v2/tools.py: tool definitions (file ops, search, skills, completion)
• agent_v2/skills/: 12 specialized skill prompts (hot-reloadable .md files)
• agent_v2/system_prompt.md: system prompt (hot-reloadable)
• agent_v2/config.py: env parsing and defaults
• agent_v2/runtime.py: async PCM gRPC dispatch
• agent_v2/hooks.py: live logging + token tracking
• agent_v2/db.py: SQLite persistence
• dashboard/: React + Vite frontend

Implementation Rules

• Keep the loop deterministic and bounded.
• Bootstrap with explicit grounding calls before the free-form task loop.
• Preserve a generic command vocabulary based on runtime capabilities: tree, list, read, search, write, move, delete, mkdir, context, answer.
• Format tool outputs in stable shell-like shapes when that improves model grounding.
• Keep completion reporting explicit and typed.
• Put tunables behind environment variables or small constants, not string literals scattered through the code.
• Prefer extraction of tiny pure helpers over repeated inline formatting logic.
• Use BDD for policy and loop changes. Express scenarios as Given / When / Then, then implement deterministic tests for those scenarios with minimal tooling.
• Treat contest paths as case-sensitive. Reuse the exact casing returned by the runtime and try known filename variants only when the policy intentionally supports them.