# Ring:testing Skills With Subagents

> Hardening a skill so it resists rationalization under pressure: run combined-pressure scenarios on a subagent without the skill (RED), capture excuses verbatim, write/edit the skill (GREEN), then plug loopholes (REFACTOR) until compliance holds. Use when deploying or editing a discipline-enforcing skill that an agent could rationalize away. Skip for pure reference skills with no rules to violate.

- **Type:** Skill
- **Install:** `agentstack add skill-lerianstudio-ring-testing-skills-with-subagents`
- **Verified:** Yes — security-reviewed for prompt injection and unsafe behavior
- **Seller:** [LerianStudio](https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/lerianstudio)
- **Installs:** 0
- **Category:** [Cloud & Infrastructure](https://agentstack.voostack.com/c/cloud-infrastructure)
- **Latest version:** 0.1.0
- **License:** Apache-2.0
- **Upstream author:** [LerianStudio](https://github.com/LerianStudio)
- **Source:** https://github.com/LerianStudio/ring/tree/main/default/skills/testing-skills-with-subagents
- **Website:** https://lerian.studio

## Install

```sh
agentstack add skill-lerianstudio-ring-testing-skills-with-subagents
```

Requires the [AgentStack CLI](https://agentstack.voostack.com/docs/cli). Works with Claude Code, Cursor, and any MCP-compatible agent.

## About

# Testing Skills With Subagents

## When to use
- Before deploying a new skill
- After editing an existing skill
- Skill enforces discipline that could be rationalized away

## Skip when
- Pure reference skill → no behavior to test
- No rules that agents have incentive to bypass

## Related
**Complementary:** ring:writing-skills, ring:test-driven-development

**Testing skills is TDD applied to process documentation.**

Run scenarios without the skill (RED — watch agent fail), write skill addressing those failures (GREEN), then close loopholes (REFACTOR).

**Prerequisite:** Understand `ring:test-driven-development` first. Complete worked example: `examples/CLAUDE_MD_TESTING.md`.

## When to Test

Test skills that: enforce discipline (TDD, testing requirements), have compliance costs (time, effort, rework), could be rationalized away ("just this once"), or contradict immediate goals (speed over quality).

**Skip:** Pure reference skills (API docs), skills without rules to violate.

## TDD Mapping

| TDD Phase | Skill Testing | What You Do |
|-----------|---------------|-------------|
| RED | Baseline test | Run scenario WITHOUT skill, watch agent fail |
| Verify RED | Capture rationalizations | Document exact failures verbatim |
| GREEN | Write skill | Address specific baseline failures |
| Verify GREEN | Pressure test | Run WITH skill, verify compliance under pressure |
| REFACTOR | Plug holes | Find new rationalizations, add counters |

## RED Phase: Watch It Fail

Run 3+ combined-pressure scenarios WITHOUT the skill. Document agent choices and rationalizations **word-for-word**.

**Why verbatim?** Exact wording reveals the loopholes to close.

### Writing Pressure Scenarios

| Quality | Example |
|---------|---------|
| Bad | "What does the skill say?" — agent recites |
| Good | "Production down, $10k/min, 5min window" — single pressure |
| Great | "3hr/200 lines done, 6pm, dinner plans, forgot TDD. A) Delete B) Commit C) Tests now" — multi-pressure + forced choice |

**Pressure types:** Time (deadline), sunk cost (hours invested), authority (senior says skip), economic (job at stake), exhaustion (end of day), pragmatic ("being realistic").

**Best tests combine 3+ pressures.**

## GREEN Phase: Write Minimal Skill

Address the specific failures documented in RED. Don't add hypothetical content — write just enough to address actual observed failures. Re-run same scenarios WITH skill; agent should now comply.

## REFACTOR Phase: Close Loopholes

Agent still violated rule despite having the skill? Capture new rationalizations verbatim:
- "This case is different because..."
- "I'm following the spirit not the letter"
- "Being pragmatic means adapting"

For each rationalization, add: explicit negation rule, rationalization table entry, red flag entry.

**Meta-test:** "You read the skill and chose wrong anyway. How could the skill have been written to make the right answer the only acceptable one?"

**Continue REFACTOR until no new rationalizations appear.**

## Signs of Bulletproof Skill

- Agent chooses correct option under maximum pressure
- Agent cites skill sections as justification
- Agent acknowledges temptation but follows rule anyway
- Meta-test reveals "skill was clear, I should follow it"

## Real-World Impact

From applying TDD to TDD skill itself:
- 6 RED-GREEN-REFACTOR iterations to bulletproof
- 10+ unique rationalizations discovered
- Each REFACTOR closed specific loopholes
- Final: 100% compliance under maximum pressure

## Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

- **Author:** [LerianStudio](https://github.com/LerianStudio)
- **Source:** [LerianStudio/ring](https://github.com/LerianStudio/ring)
- **License:** Apache-2.0
- **Homepage:** https://lerian.studio

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.

## Pricing

- **Free** — Free

## Security capabilities

Automated source analysis of v0.1.0 — what this tool can access:

- **Network access:** no
- **Filesystem access:** no
- **Shell / process execution:** no
- **Environment & secrets:** no
- **Dynamic code execution:** no

*"Yes" means the capability is present in the source — more access means more to trust, not that it is unsafe.*


## Versions

- **0.1.0** — security scan: passed — Imported from the upstream source.

## Links

- Listing page: https://agentstack.voostack.com/l/skill-lerianstudio-ring-testing-skills-with-subagents
- Seller: https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/lerianstudio
- Browse the marketplace: https://agentstack.voostack.com/browse

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