Spawned agents don't inherit construct context — SKILL.md / rules invisible to teammates

[zkSoju]

Problem

When the Loa framework is active and constructs are composed, the main agent sees CLAUDE.md, SKILL.md files, and construct rules. But agents spawned via Claude Code's Agent tool / TeamCreate don't inherit any of this context.

This creates a gap where:

• Construct-specific tool mandates (e.g., k-hole's "MUST use dig-search.ts") are ignored
• Gate rules (review, audit) don't apply to teammates
• Composition declarations are invisible to the team

Observed Behavior

In project-purupuru session 52:

1. Main agent (team lead) has full construct context — k-hole, artisan, operator OS all loaded
2. Lead spawns a research agent via Agent tool with subagent_type: "general-purpose"
3. The spawned agent uses WebSearch instead of the mandated dig-search.ts
4. SKILL.md line 73-75 says "MUST run dig-search script" — agent never sees it
5. Lead must kill agent and redo work manually

This happened 2 out of 3 DIG dispatches in a single session.

Expected Behavior

When an agent is spawned under a construct's context, it should inherit:

1. Tool mandates — "use X script, not Y tool"
2. Rules — zone restrictions, gate requirements
3. Skill instructions — the SKILL.md for the active skill/mode

Impact

• Wasted tokens and time (kill + redo pattern)
• Quality degradation (WebSearch < Gemini-grounded search)
• Construct enforcement is only as strong as the lead's memory
• Safety hooks (zone-system, write guards) DO work for teammates, but construct-level rules don't

Architecture Gap

The current stack:

• .claude/rules/ → loaded for ALL agents ✅ (hooks enforce these)
• .claude/hooks/ → fire for ALL agents ✅ (PreToolUse/PostToolUse)
• CLAUDE.md → loaded for main agent only ⚠️ (spawned agents may not see it)
• SKILL.md → loaded when skill is invoked ❌ (never loaded for spawned agents)
• construct.yaml → read by resolver scripts ❌ (spawned agents don't call resolver)

Possible Solutions

L1: Prompt injection (low effort)

When a skill dispatches work to an Agent, automatically inject the skill's key constraints into the agent prompt. The skill's SKILL.md could have a ## Agent Context section that gets included in any spawn prompt.

L2: Rules-based (medium effort)

Constructs with tool mandates could declare them in .claude/rules/ format:

# .claude/rules/k-hole-research.md
When performing research tasks, ALWAYS use `bunx tsx scripts/dig-search.ts` via Bash.
Do NOT use WebSearch or WebFetch for research.

Rules in .claude/rules/ are loaded for all agents including teammates.

L3: Construct-aware agent spawning (high effort)

The framework's agent team reference (.claude/loa/reference/agent-teams-reference.md) could define a protocol where the lead agent includes active construct context when spawning teammates. The TeamCreate workflow would bundle relevant SKILL.md excerpts.

L4: Hook enforcement (medium effort)

A PreToolUse:WebSearch hook that checks if a construct mandates a specific tool and blocks/warns when the wrong tool is used. Similar to existing team-skill-guard.sh.

Related

• k-hole issue: "Agent skill inheritance gap — spawned agents don't use dig-search.ts"
• Loa v1.39.0 Agent Teams constraints (already handle zone/beads/git serialization)
• The gap is specifically at the SKILL.md / construct context layer

[zkSoju]

Cross-repo: This is the framework-level issue. The construct-specific instance is construct-k-hole#17 (dig-search.ts not inherited by spawned agents).

Upstream dependency: Resolves as part of #181 (Constructs Network RFC) — when constructs have runtime identity, agents can load construct context at spawn time.

Session 52 evidence: The L2: Rules-based solution (.claude/rules/ file) is the fastest path — rules ARE loaded for all agents including teammates. A construct could declare its tool mandates as rules that get symlinked during install.