name	add-settings-to-variant
description	Wire an existing settings model into a Bottlerocket variant via settings-plugins

Add Settings to Variant

Wire an existing settings model into a Bottlerocket variant using the settings-plugins approach.

Purpose

Integrates a settings model (already defined) into a variant by:

Locating the variant's settings-plugins crate
Adding the settings model as a dependency
Verifying compilation

When to Use

Use when you have:

An existing settings model crate (e.g., my-settings)
A target variant that needs to consume those settings
Need to wire them together via settings-plugins

Prerequisites:

Settings model crate exists and compiles
Variant exists in bottlerocket/variants/
Core-kit is available (contains settings-plugins)

Roles

You (reading this file) are the orchestrator.

Role	Reads	Does
Orchestrator (you)	SKILL.md, next-step.py output	Runs state machine, spawns subagents, writes outputs
State machine	progress.json, workspace files	Decides next action, validates gates
Subagent	Phase file (e.g., LOCATE.md)	Executes phase instructions

⚠️ You do NOT read files in phases/ — pass them to subagents via context_files. Subagents read their phase file and execute it.

Orchestrator Loop

import json

workspace = f"planning/add-settings-{variant_name}"
bash(f"mkdir -p {workspace}", on_error="raise")
write("create", f"{workspace}/input.json", file_text=json.dumps({
  "variant_name": variant_name,
  "settings_crate": settings_crate
}))

while True:
  result = bash(f"python3 skills/add-settings-to-variant/next-step.py {workspace}", on_error="raise")
  action = json.loads(result)
  
  if action["type"] == "done":
    final = fs_read("Line", f"{workspace}/FINAL.md", 1, -1)
    log(final)
    break
  
  if action["type"] == "gate_failed":
    log(f"Gate failed: {action['reason']}")
    break
  
  if action["type"] == "spawn":
    r = spawn(
      action["prompt"],
      context_files=action["context_files"],
      context_data=action.get("context_data", {}),
      allow_tools=True
    )
    write("create", f"{workspace}/{action['output_file']}", file_text=r.response)

Handling Exceptions

The state machine handles the happy path. When things go wrong, exercise judgment:

Exception	Response
Spawn times out	Assess: retry with longer timeout? Report partial progress?
Spawn returns error	Report failure to state machine, let it track retries
Empty/invalid response	Treat as failure, report to state machine

Don't silently advance past failures. Either retry, fail explicitly, or document gaps.

Anti-Patterns

❌ Don't	✅ Do
Read phase files yourself	Pass phase files via context_files to subagents
Decide what phase is next	State machine decides via next-step.py
Skip gates "because it looks done"	Always validate gates
Store state in your memory	State lives in progress.json
Silently advance past failures	Retry, fail, or document gaps

Phases

LOCATE: Find variant's settings-plugins crate, understand structure
INTEGRATE: Add settings model to plugin, update dependencies
VERIFY: Build settings-plugins package, confirm compilation

Inputs

What the orchestrator needs to gather before starting:

variant_name: Target variant (e.g., "aws-ecs-1")
settings_crate: Settings model crate name (e.g., "my-settings")

Outputs

{workspace}/FINAL.md: Summary of integration with file locations and verification results

Technical Notes

Runtime discovery NOT YET IMPLEMENTED - must use settings-plugins approach
Only one settings-plugin per variant (virtual package conflict)
Settings-plugins typically in kits/bottlerocket-core-kit/packages/

Install Skill

SKILL.md