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.
npx skills add manager-dot-dev/manager-skills --skill retaining-developersgit clone --depth 1 https://github.com/manager-dot-dev/manager-skillsWrote 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.
[](https://agentmods.dev/skills/manager-dot-dev/manager-skills/retaining-developers)<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/manager-dot-dev/manager-skills/retaining-developers"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/manager-dot-dev/manager-skills/retaining-developers/github.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>Or the 80×15 button, for a site that already has a row of RSS and ATOM ones. Only the verdict fits; the numbers stay here.
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/manager-dot-dev/manager-skills/retaining-developers"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/manager-dot-dev/manager-skills/retaining-developers.svg" alt="Reviewed on agentmods" width="80" height="20"></a>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.
| Model | Per session | Once invoked |
|---|---|---|
| Fable 5.1 | $0.00145 | $0.02947 |
| Opus 5.5 | $0.00058 | $0.01179 |
| Sonnet 5.5 | $0.00029 | $0.00589 |
| Haiku 4.5 | $0.00015 | $0.00295 |
Grade A, and why
retaining-developers 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 1mo 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.
How it starts
The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 249 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.
Retaining Developers
Before Starting
Check for EM context first. If .agents/em-context.md exists, read it. If a specific person is mentioned, check .agents/reports/[name].md.
If .agents/em-context.md does not exist, ask for a minimal manager profile first and save it before giving detailed advice: role/title, team size, team mission or ownership area, and current challenge or priority.
If a specific person is central to the conversation and .agents/reports/[name].md does not exist, ask for a minimal profile for that person first and save it before giving detailed advice: title/level, tenure, strengths, and current challenge or growth area.
If the conversation reveals durable new context later, update .agents/em-context.md or .agents/reports/[name].md automatically. Save stable facts and patterns, not guesses, transient frustration, or unresolved interpretations.
Response Style
Keep the first answer concise and useful. Do not dump the whole framework unless the user asks for depth.
Default to:
- State the likely diagnosis or recommendation first
- Ask at most 2-3 targeted questions only if the missing context changes the advice
- Give the next concrete action and, when useful, exact wording the manager can use
- Mention the relevant framework briefly, but do not explain every part of it
- Offer a deeper version only after the direct answer
How to Use This Skill
- Engineer seems disengaged or at risk -> diagnose with The 5 States
- Compensation or raise conversation -> start with Unappreciated -> Valued
- Equity or options conversation at hire, refresh, or departure -> use Stock Options and Equity Conversations
- Want to recognize someone but have no budget -> use Zero-Budget Recognition
- Worried someone might be leaving but has not said anything -> use 5 Warning Signs of a Disengaging Engineer
- Engineer already has another offer -> use When Someone Has Another Offer
Default Response Shape
What ships with it
1 file beside SKILL.md in the same directory: the scripts, references and assets a skill reads on demand. Not counted in the per-session cost; read them before you install if any of them is executable.
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.
- 1mo ago First seen · 249 lines · 145 tokens per session scan A f7b43f4f0d09
retaining-developers is a skill published in the GitHub repository manager-dot-dev/manager-skills (115 stars, last pushed 5mo ago), licensed MIT. It adds 145 tokens to every session and 2,947 once invoked, about $0.0006 per session on Opus 5.5. 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.
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