Agents — quick reference
Eight agents ship with Foundry. Every agent is a skill — a directory with a SKILL.md (the activation protocol) and a customize.toml (the persona, menu, and override surface). There are no compiled agent files anymore; you invoke the skill, the skill becomes the agent.
| Agent | Skill name | Icon | Role | Key menu codes | When to address |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| E11 Master | e11-master | 🧭 | Orchestrator — full lifecycle menu from the live catalog | [BH] [QK] [CF] [MP] | Default — when no other agent is named |
| E11 Bootstrapper | e11-bootstrapper | 🧭 | Scaffolding wizard | [NB] [NF] [NS] [NM] [AM] [RI] [QK] | Starting a new project or SDK |
| Analyst | e11-agent-analyst | 📊 | Research + briefs + PRFAQ | [MR] [DR] [TR] [CB] [PF] [DP] [GPC] [QK] | Pre-PRD discovery, brownfield analysis |
| PM | e11-agent-pm | 📋 | Product manager — PRD, epics, readiness, course correction | [PR] [CE] [IR] [CC] [QK] | After brief, before architecture; sprint stewardship |
| UX Designer | e11-agent-ux-designer | 🎨 | UX + UI strategy (dual-spine design) | [UX] [QK] | Whenever UI is a primary piece of the project |
| Architect | e11-agent-architect | 🏗️ | System architect — lean-spine architecture, SDK composition | [CA] [IR] [QK] | After PRD, before stories |
| Dev | e11-agent-dev | 💻 | Implementation engineer — stories, quick flow, unattended runs, review | [DS] [DF] [DA] [CR] [QK] | Story or quick change is ready to build |
| Tech Writer | e11-agent-tech-writer | 📚 | Technical writer | [DP] [WD] [MG] [VD] [EC] [ID] [QK] | When a doc is the deliverable, not the by-product |
How agents work
Every agent runs the same eight-step activation protocol from its SKILL.md:
- Resolve its
[agent]block throughnode .foundry/scripts/resolve-customization.mjs --skill <dir> --key agent(skill defaults ← your team overrides ← your user overrides). - Execute any
activation_steps_prepend(this is where alloy-first pre-loads live). - Adopt the persona (
role,identity,communication_style,principles). - Load
persistent_facts(including yourproject-context.mdif present). - Load central config via
resolve-config.mjs(your name, language, artifact paths). - Greet and remind you
e11-helpexists. - Execute
activation_steps_append. - Present the menu — reply with the number, the code, or a fuzzy match.
Because the persona, facts, and menu are all data in customize.toml, you can reshape any agent without touching Foundry files — see Customization.
Retired agents
Three agents from earlier releases no longer exist. Their duties moved into skills you invoke directly (or via the remaining agents' menus):
| Retired agent | Where the duties went |
|---|---|
| SM (scrum master) | Sprint and story skills: e11-sprint-planning [SP], e11-sprint-status [SS], e11-create-story [CS]/[VS], e11-retrospective [ER]. Course correction [CC] lives on the PM menu. See Phase 4. |
| QA | Test generation is the e11-qa-generate-e2e-tests skill [QA], invoked directly. Review duties are covered by e11-code-review's layered finder skills (adversarial, edge-case, verification-gap, alloy auditor). |
Solo Dev (flow-solo-dev) | The e11-spec-flow → e11-dev-flow skill pair, invoked directly or from the Dev menu ([DF]). For unattended runs: e11-dev-auto ([DA]). See Quick flow. |
Details and the full rename table: Upgrading Foundry. The old pages remain for reference: SM · QA · Solo Dev.
Code legend
The 2–3 letter codes are menu commands — what you type after the agent greets you. The full installed catalog lives at .foundry/_config/e11-help.csv in your project; the source catalog is src/foundry/module-help.csv.
A few available from anywhere:
[BH]e11-help— "what should I do next?" Available from every agent.[QK]e11-knowledge— pull an alloy doc directly (sdk:<name>,pattern:<name>, …).[CF]e11-customize— author agent/workflow overrides conversationally.[R]e11-refine/[M]e11-multi-perspective— refine a recent output / bring the roster's perspectives to bear.
Roster
The agent roster is data in central config: the installer writes [agents.<code>] tables into .foundry/config.toml from module.yaml. Skills that need a cast of perspectives (e11-multi-perspective, e11-retrospective) resolve the roster from there — and you can add or reshape members via .foundry/custom/config.toml.
Source
Agent-skills live in their phase folders (E11 Master, an anytime skill, under tasks/): e11-agent-analyst, e11-agent-tech-writer, e11-agent-pm, e11-agent-ux-designer, e11-agent-architect, e11-agent-dev, e11-master, e11-bootstrapper.