@firefly0621/dsh-skill-always-apply

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Opt-in Cordis consumer that contributes skill bodies marked alwaysApply: true (Cursor-aligned frontmatter) to the system prompt of every model request, without requiring a skill tool load.

This package does not register a skill provider. Mount it beside dsh-skill / dsh-skill-filesystem (and usually dsh-tool-skill). It is not part of the default dsh-base composition; install with:

dsh plugin --profile web add @firefly0621/dsh-skill-always-apply

Or insert the shipped cordis.patch.yml into a custom base.

The package also runs against upstream @deepseek-ai/dsh-skill releases that predate the typed alwaysApply field. When a catalog summary does not carry the field, this consumer loads the candidate and reads alwaysApply from the definition or the skill file's frontmatter, so no host-code change is required.

Skill frontmatter

In a local SKILL.md (or flat .md skill) parsed by @deepseek-ai/dsh-skill-filesystem:

---
name: my-standing-rules
description: Standing session rules
alwaysApply: true
---

Follow these rules for the whole session.

alwaysApply uses the same boolean spellings as disable-model-invocation / user-invocable. An invalid value is treated as not opted in, so this consumer skips injection while the skill stays in the discovery catalog.

Routing copy (description / whenToUse) stays on the skill provider that registers the skill; this consumer only selects and injects bodies. Mount skill providers that publish clear routing text so discovery and the model catalog stay useful.

The shipped @firefly0621/dsh-skill-karpathy-guidelines provider marks karpathy-guidelines with alwaysApply: true. Mount this consumer next to that provider to inject the Karpathy body without a skill tool load.

Behavior

On every system-prompt/assemble (the assembly that runs before each model step):

1. Skip agentless assemblies and sessions whose session.header.origin === 'subagent' (default; skipSubagent: false overrides).
2. snapshot() the viewing agent's skills; skip incomplete observations.
3. Select Config.names plus skills whose summary, loaded definition, or skill-file frontmatter carries alwaysApply: true, minus disabledNames.
4. Load each body via ctx.skills.get(), honor section maxTotalBytes, and contribute one skill:always-apply system-prompt section that lists names and embeds each renderSkillContent block.

Rendering is memoized per agent and invalidated by skills/change, so membership and bodies refresh on the next assembly after a catalog change, and the prompt prefix stays byte-stable between changes for KV reuse.

Config

Field	Default	Meaning
names	[]	Force-inject these skill names even without frontmatter alwaysApply.
disabledNames	[]	Never inject these names, even when marked.
skipSubagent	true	Skip subagent-origin sessions.
maxTotalBytes	100000	UTF-8 length of the complete always-apply section text (reminder envelope + every rendered body). Skills that would push the complete text over the budget are skipped with a warning.

Always-apply injection is a host standing-instructions path: frontmatter alwaysApply: true and Config.names do not require modelInvocable. A skill with disable-model-invocation: true can still be injected here while staying out of the model-facing skill catalog.

Model Experience

Always-apply standing instructions

What the model sees

A skill:always-apply section at the front of the system prompt when at least one selected skill fits the complete-section budget: a short <system-reminder> naming the always-apply set, then each skill's canonical <skill_content> block. Because the section is part of the system prompt, every step receives it, compaction never shadows it, and a catalog change lands on the next assembly.

Token effect

One section whose size is the reminder envelope plus every rendered skill body that fit under maxTotalBytes, re-sent in every request's system prompt.

KV Cache effect

The section text sits in the request prefix. While the always-apply set is unchanged the rendered text is byte-stable, so the warm prefix cache is reused; a skills/change refresh recomposes the section, invalidating reuse from that token forward.

Known Limitations and Deferred Work

• Opt-in only — product defaults do not mount this plugin; operators add it explicitly.
• Bodies must avoid {{...}} prompt-variable syntax — the section is interpolated by the prompt renderer; a body containing a complete {{...}} group is skipped with a warning (an unclosed {{ is kept as literal prose).
• A complete persona replaces every section — an agent whose composition registers a complete persona (agent presets) suppresses all prompt sections, including this one, for that agent.
• Catalog still lists model-invocable always-apply skills — those entries remain in the skill catalog; the reminder tells the model not to re-load them when the body is already present.
• Bypasses model invocation policy — always-apply and Config.names inject regardless of modelInvocable; use disabledNames to exclude.