instar-dev

# /instar-dev **Audience:** this skill is for the instar-developing agent (Echo, or any agent assigned instar-dev responsibilities). It is NOT a user-facing skill. End users of instar should never invoke `/instar-dev` and will never see it in their workflow — it runs at the infrastructure-developer layer, not the per-user application layer. The enforcement hooks on the instar repo ensure the instar-developing agent goes through this skill for every change, but end users never encounter it. Throughout this document, "the agent," "the instar-dev agent," or the imperative voice ("do this," "produce that") refer to the instar-developing agent, not the end user. --- The skill for changing anything in the instar source tree. Generic `/build` is the right tool for most projects. This skill is what the instar-developing agent uses when changing **instar itself** — the infrastructure every instar-powered agent inherits. Because those changes propagate to every agent and every user the moment they ship, the blast radius is structurally larger than any single project. This skill exists to make "careful" the default, not the exception. ## When the instar-dev agent uses this skill The instar-dev agent invokes `/instar-dev` before: - Modify any file under `src/` in the instar repo. - Add or change a hook, skill, job, template, scaffold, or route that ships with instar. - Change behavior of a gate, sentinel, watchdog, recovery path, dispatcher, or anything else that makes a decision...