# Graph Engineering > Use when a workflow has explicit data dependencies, independently executable branches, typed joins, or node-local recovery needs that justify a bounded static dependency graph. - **Type:** Skill - **Install:** `agentstack add skill-mark393295827-third-brain-v7-skills-graph-engineering` - **Verified:** Yes — security-reviewed for prompt injection and unsafe behavior - **Seller:** [Mark393295827](https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/mark393295827) - **Installs:** 0 - **Category:** [Productivity](https://agentstack.voostack.com/c/productivity) - **Latest version:** 0.1.0 - **License:** MIT - **Upstream author:** [Mark393295827](https://github.com/Mark393295827) - **Source:** https://github.com/Mark393295827/third-brain-v7-skills/tree/main/skills/graph-engineering - **Website:** https://github.com/Mark393295827/third-brain-v5-skills/tree/master ## Install ```sh agentstack add skill-mark393295827-third-brain-v7-skills-graph-engineering ``` Requires the [AgentStack CLI](https://agentstack.voostack.com/docs/cli). Works with Claude Code, Cursor, and any MCP-compatible agent. ## About # Graph Engineering A dependency-heavy objective with candidate nodes, data schemas, owners, effects, verifiers, joins, budgets, and durable state paths. A validated static DAG contract with typed edges, explicit joins, node-local recovery, and graph-level receipts. Static invariants and terminal acceptance checks pass with fresh node, join, budget, permission, and state evidence. Temporal loop design, worker-team command, runtime-kernel implementation, dynamic graphs, or universal parallelism. Use Graph Engineering for dependency width. Use `loop-engineering` for repeated execution through time, `agent-teams-command` for process ownership and IPC, and `harness-engineering` for scheduler, permission, lease, and observability infrastructure. A graph node may contain a bounded Loop or Agent Team. ## Usage Template Provide: objective/non-goals, candidate nodes, real data dependencies, payload schemas, owners and write territories, join semantics, node/terminal verifiers, effects and permissions, artifact/state paths, budgets, stop conditions, and recovery. Load `references/graph-contract.md` for the full schema and boundary; start from `references/diamond-graph-example.json`. ## Workflow Run the admission gate before drawing a graph: 1. Identify which steps actually consume another step's output. 2. Estimate independent width, critical path, scheduler overhead, and review load. Require measurable payback or stronger independent evaluation. 3. Keep one-shot or Loop execution when work is mainly sequential, small, or cheaper to review serially. 4. Limit V7.1 to a static DAG: sequence, pipeline, diamond, maker-checker, or bounded subgraph. Put repetition inside a `loop` node; reject graph cycles and dynamic expansion. Return `NEEDS_INPUT` when objective, graph owner, dependency direction, payload schema, writer, verifier, permission boundary, budget, join, or recovery is missing and cannot be discovered safely. Probe candidate independence with a small dry run. Do not invent an edge merely because two steps are adjacent. 1. Write the JSON contract and run `scripts/validate_graph_contract.py --strict`. 2. Give every node one owner, typed inputs/outputs, explicit reads/writes, verifier, timeout, attempt/tool caps, effect class, idempotency, and compensation. 3. Add only data, control, verification, failure, or compensation edges. Schema-bearing edges must match both endpoint contracts. 4. Enforce one writer per target. Agent workers use isolated artifacts or worktrees; the integration owner controls shared schemas and final writes. 5. Declare a join for every multi-input node. Choose `all`, `reduce`, `first-success`, `quorum`, `barrier-verifier`, or `human-gate`; name the exact input set and verifier. 6. Schedule only `READY` nodes whose dependencies are verified. Persist every transition and edge payload reference before releasing successors. 7. Retry the failed node or smallest invalid subgraph after a changed diagnosis. Preserve verified branches; never replay the whole graph merely for convenience. 8. Require human approval, a compensation route, and verified rollback before any external, shared, destructive, published, credentialed, or financial effect. In strict contracts, name the external node ID in `approval_required`, feed it a typed approval receipt directly from a `human-gate`, and list each exact write target as allowed and not denied. 9. At terminal nodes, verify the end-to-end objective and graph guardrails; node success alone cannot certify graph success. Check static integrity: known endpoints, compatible schemas, reachability, acyclicity, single writers, complete joins, finite budgets, and compensated effects. Check runtime integrity: deterministic readiness, duplicate-delivery idempotency, checkpoint replay, permission denial without mutation, smallest-unit recovery, terminal evidence, and cleanup. Use an independent reviewer for consequential graph behavior. `max_attempts` comes from each node and never exceeds the graph cap. Retry only after changing diagnosis, input, owner, tool, or strategy. Stop on a repeated signature, incompatible edge, permission denial, invalid checkpoint, exhausted review budget, or `NO_PROGRESS`. Whole-graph retry is forbidden in strict V7.1. Persist `{run_id, graph_id, status, attempt, budget, evidence, unknowns, last_error, next_action}` plus contract/implementation hashes, node states, edge payload locators, join decisions, writer leases, approvals, checkpoints, compensations, terminal receipts, and cleanup. Use append-only events and an atomic current checkpoint; chat history is not graph state. ## Failure Protocol - `NEEDS_INPUT`: a mandatory graph contract or authority field is unresolved. - `BLOCKED_DEPENDENCY`: keep affected nodes `WAITING`; run only independent ready nodes. - `BLOCKED_PERMISSION`: deny the effect, preserve state, and request approval. - `VERIFY_FAILED`: reject the node/join artifact and recover the smallest unit. - `NO_PROGRESS`: the same failure repeats after a changed attempt. `max_attempts: 2` by default and always finite. - `BUDGET_STOP`: stop scheduling, checkpoint, compensate active effects, and return a partial graph receipt. ## Output Contract Return `status`, `result` (terminal decision and accepted artifacts), `evidence` (validator, node, join, terminal, budget, approval, and cleanup receipts), `unknowns`, and `next_action` (stop, retry node, compensate, approval, or handoff). ## Edge Cases - Two workers both write `report.md`: strict validation fails the single-writer invariant; isolate worker artifacts and let one reduce node own the report. - A branch passes but its sibling times out: preserve the verified branch, retry only the failed node within cap, and do not release the join until its declared mode and verifier pass. ## Success Metrics - The strict graph validator passes before execution. - Graph admission shows bounded value beyond orchestration and review cost. - Every node, edge, join, effect, and terminal claim has fresh evidence. - Recovery replays the smallest failed unit from durable state. ## Quality Gates - [ ] Static DAG scope and Loop/Teams/Harness boundaries are explicit. - [ ] Owners, payload schemas, writers, joins, verifiers, and budgets are exact. - [ ] State replay and duplicate delivery preserve graph invariants. - [ ] External effects have independent review, approval, compensation, and rollback. - [ ] Terminal verification supports the end-to-end claim. ## Source & license This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code. - **Author:** [Mark393295827](https://github.com/Mark393295827) - **Source:** [Mark393295827/third-brain-v7-skills](https://github.com/Mark393295827/third-brain-v7-skills) - **License:** MIT - **Homepage:** https://github.com/Mark393295827/third-brain-v5-skills/tree/master 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-mark393295827-third-brain-v7-skills-graph-engineering - Seller: https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/mark393295827 - Browse the marketplace: https://agentstack.voostack.com/browse --- Listed on AgentStack — the marketplace for AI agent skills and MCP servers. Every listing is security-reviewed. Creators keep 70%.