Evolve an Existing Team

Improve, restructure, or create a specialized variant of a team that was originally authored with create-team. This procedure covers the maintenance side of the team lifecycle: assessing gaps against the template and coordination patterns, applying targeted improvements to composition and workflow, bumping versions, and keeping the registry and cross-references in sync.

When to Use

• A team's member roster is outdated after agents were added, removed, or evolved
• User feedback reveals workflow bottlenecks, unclear handoffs, or missing perspectives
• The coordination pattern no longer fits the team's actual workflow (e.g., hub-and-spoke should be parallel)
• A specialized variant is needed alongside the original (e.g., r-package-review and r-package-review-security-focused)
• Team members' responsibilities overlap and need sharper boundaries
• The CONFIG block is out of sync with the prose description or the members list
• A team needs to be split into two smaller teams or two teams need to be merged

Inputs

• Required: Path to the existing team file to evolve (e.g., teams/r-package-review.md)
• Required: Evolution trigger (feedback, new agents, coordination mismatch, scope overlap, performance issues, agent evolution)
• Optional: Target version bump magnitude (patch, minor, major)
• Optional: Whether to create a specialized variant instead of refining in-place (default: refine in-place)

Procedure

Step 1: Assess the Current Team

Read the existing team file and evaluate each section against the team template (teams/_template.md):

# Read the team file
cat teams/<team-name>.md

# Verify all member agents still exist
grep "id:" teams/<team-name>.md | while read line; do
  agent=$(echo "$line" | grep -oP '(?<=id: )[\w-]+')
  grep "id: $agent" agents/_registry.yml || echo "MISSING: $agent"
done

# Check if the team is referenced by any guide
grep -r "<team-name>" guides/*.md

Expected: A list of specific gaps, weaknesses, or improvement opportunities organized by section.

On failure: If the team file does not exist or has no frontmatter, this skill does not apply — use create-team instead to author it from scratch.

Step 2: Gather Evolution Requirements

Identify and categorize what triggered the evolution:

Document the specific changes needed before editing:

- Frontmatter: add new member `api-security-analyst` with role "API Security Reviewer"
- Team Composition: add row to composition table
- Task Decomposition: add API security review tasks to execution phase
- CONFIG block: add member and tasks entries
- See Also: add link to new agent file

Expected: A concrete list of changes, each mapped to a specific section of the team file.

On failure: If the changes are unclear, consult the user for clarification before proceeding. Vague evolution goals produce vague improvements.

Step 3: Choose Evolution Scope

Use this decision matrix to determine whether to refine in-place or create a variant:

Refinement: Choose when adjusting members, sharpening responsibilities, fixing the CONFIG block, or changing the coordination pattern. The team keeps its identity.

Variant: Choose when the evolved version would serve a substantially different use case, require a different coordination pattern, or target a different audience. The original stays as-is for its existing use case.

Additional scope decisions:

Expected: A clear decision — refinement, variant, split, or merge — with rationale.

On failure: If unsure, default to refinement. Splitting or merging teams has higher blast radius and should be confirmed with the user.

Step 4: Apply Changes to the Team File

For Refinements

Edit the existing team file directly. Maintain consistency across all sections that reference team composition:

1. Frontmatter members[]: Add, remove, or update member entries (each with id, role, responsibilities)
2. Team Composition table: Must match frontmatter members exactly
3. Coordination Pattern: Update prose and ASCII diagram if the pattern changes
4. Task Decomposition: Revise phases and per-member tasks to reflect new composition
5. CONFIG block: Update members and tasks lists to match (see Step 5)
6. Usage Scenarios: Revise if the team's activation triggers changed
7. Limitations: Update to reflect new constraints or remove resolved ones
8. See Also: Update agent links and add references to new related teams or guides

Follow these editing rules:

• Preserve all existing sections — add content, do not remove sections
• When adding a member, add them to ALL of: frontmatter, composition table, task decomposition, and CONFIG block
• When removing a member, remove from ALL of those locations and reassign their tasks
• Verify each member agent exists: grep "id: agent-name" agents/_registry.yml
• Keep the lead in the members list — the lead is always a member

For Variants

# Copy the original as a starting point
cp teams/<team-name>.md teams/<team-name>-<specialty>.md

# Edit the variant:
# - Change `name` to `<team-name>-<specialty>`
# - Update `description` to reflect the specialized scope
# - Adjust `coordination` pattern if needed
# - Reset `version` to "1.0.0"
# - Modify members, tasks, and CONFIG block for the specialized use case
# - Reference the original in See Also as a general-purpose alternative

Expected: The team file (refined or new variant) passes the assessment checklist from Step 1, with all sections internally consistent.

On failure: If an edit breaks internal consistency (e.g., CONFIG block lists a member not in frontmatter), compare the frontmatter members[] against the Team Composition table, Task Decomposition, and CONFIG block to find the mismatch.

Step 5: Update the CONFIG Block

The CONFIG block between <!-- CONFIG:START --> and <!-- CONFIG:END --> must stay in sync with the prose sections. After any member or task change:

1. Verify every agent in CONFIG members matches a member in the frontmatter
2. Verify every assignee in CONFIG tasks matches a member agent id
3. Update blocked_by dependencies if task ordering changed
4. Ensure the synthesis/final task references all prerequisite tasks

team:
  name: <team-name>
  lead: <lead-agent>
  coordination: <pattern>
  members:
    - agent: <agent-id>
      role: <role-title>
      subagent_type: <agent-id>
  tasks:
    - name: <task-name>
      assignee: <agent-id>
      description: <one-line>
    - name: synthesize-results
      assignee: <lead-agent>
      description: Collect and synthesize all member outputs
      blocked_by: [<prior-task-names>]

Expected: CONFIG YAML is valid, all agents and tasks are consistent with the rest of the file, and blocked_by forms a valid DAG.

On failure: Parse the CONFIG block YAML separately to find syntax errors. Cross-check every assignee against the members list.

Step 6: Update Version and Metadata

Bump the version field in frontmatter following semantic versioning:

Also update:

• updated date to the current date
• tags if the team's domain coverage changed
• description if the team's purpose is materially different
• coordination if the pattern changed

Expected: Frontmatter version and updated reflect the magnitude and date of changes. New variants start at "1.0.0".

On failure: If you forget to bump the version, the next evolution will have no way to distinguish the current state from the previous one. Always bump before committing.

Step 7: Update Registry and Cross-References

For Refinements

Update the existing entry in teams/_registry.yml to match the revised frontmatter:

# Find the team's registry entry
grep -A 10 "id: <team-name>" teams/_registry.yml

Update description, lead, members, and coordination fields to match the team file. No count change is needed.

For Variants

Add the new team to teams/_registry.yml:

- id: <team-name>-<specialty>
  path: <team-name>-<specialty>.md
  lead: <lead-agent>
  members: [agent-1, agent-2, agent-3]
  coordination: <pattern>
  description: One-line description of the specialized variant

Then:

1. Increment total_teams at the top of the registry
2. Add See Also cross-reference in the original team pointing to the variant
3. Add See Also cross-reference in the variant pointing to the original

Run the README automation:

npm run update-readmes

Expected: Registry entry matches the team file frontmatter. npm run update-readmes exits 0. For variants, total_teams equals the actual number of team entries.

On failure: If the registry count is wrong, count entries with grep -c "^ - id:" teams/_registry.yml and correct the count. If README automation fails, verify package.json exists and js-yaml is installed.

Step 8: Validate the Evolved Team

Run the full validation checklist:

• Team file exists at the expected path
• YAML frontmatter parses without errors
• version was bumped (refinement) or set to "1.0.0" (variant)
• updated date reflects today
• All required sections present: Purpose, Team Composition, Coordination Pattern, Task Decomposition, Configuration, Usage Scenarios, Limitations, See Also
• Frontmatter members[] matches Team Composition table
• CONFIG block members match frontmatter members
• CONFIG block tasks have valid assignees and blocked_by references
• All member agent IDs exist in agents/_registry.yml
• Lead agent appears in the members list
• No two members share the same primary responsibility
• Registry entry exists and matches frontmatter
• For variants: total_teams count matches actual count on disk
• Cross-references are bidirectional (original ↔ variant)
• git diff shows no accidental deletions from the original content

# Verify frontmatter
head -25 teams/<team-name>.md

# Verify all member agents exist
for agent in agent-a agent-b agent-c; do
  grep "id: $agent" agents/_registry.yml
done

# Count teams on disk vs registry
ls teams/*.md | grep -v template | wc -l
grep total_teams teams/_registry.yml

# Review all changes
git diff

Expected: All checklist items pass. The evolved team is ready to commit.

On failure: Address each failing item individually. The most common post-evolution issues are CONFIG block drift (members or tasks not matching the prose) and a forgotten updated date.

Validation

• Team file exists and has valid YAML frontmatter
• version field reflects the changes made
• updated date is current
• All sections present and internally consistent
• Frontmatter members[], Team Composition table, and CONFIG block are in sync
• All member agent IDs exist in agents/_registry.yml
• Lead agent is in the members list
• CONFIG block YAML is valid and parseable
• Registry entry matches the team file
• For variants: new entry in teams/_registry.yml with correct path
• For variants: total_teams count updated
• Cross-references are valid (no broken links in See Also)
• git diff confirms no accidental content removal

Common Pitfalls

• CONFIG block drift: The CONFIG block, frontmatter, and prose sections must all agree on members and tasks. Updating one without the others is the most common team evolution error. After every change, cross-check all three.
• Forgetting to bump version: Without version bumps, there is no way to track what changed or when. Always update version and updated in frontmatter before committing.
• Orphaned member references: When removing a member, their tasks in the Task Decomposition and CONFIG block must be reassigned or removed. Leaving orphaned assignees causes activation failures.
• Wrong coordination pattern after evolution: Adding parallel-capable members to a sequential team, or making a hub-and-spoke team where agents need each other's output. Re-evaluate the pattern decision from create-team Step 4 after any structural change.
• Team too large after adding members: Teams with more than 5 members become hard to coordinate. If evolution pushes the team past 5, consider splitting into two focused teams instead.
• Stale See Also after variant creation: When creating a variant, both the original and the variant need to reference each other. One-directional references leave the graph incomplete.

Related Skills

• create-team — foundation for authoring new teams; evolve-team assumes this was followed originally
• evolve-skill — the parallel procedure for evolving SKILL.md files
• evolve-agent — the parallel procedure for evolving agent definitions
• commit-changes — commit the evolved team with a descriptive message