AGENTS.md Evolution

Token Reduction

Version	Tokens	Delta	Key change
5.10.1	~2100	—	Baseline (Orientation → Scopes → Discovery → Rules)
5.11.0	~1660	-22%	Reorder to Scopes → Discovery → Rules → Orientation; trim WHY prose; merge tier Action column
5.13.0	~1362	-35%	Delete Discovery Tiers section; KGM-based Rule 8

Section Order Evolution

Version	Order	Rationale
5.10.1	Orientation → Scopes → Discovery → Rules	Navigation first
5.11.0	Scopes → Discovery → Rules → Orientation	Dependency chain: Scopes needed by Discovery, Discovery needed by Rules
5.13.0	Scopes → Rules → Orientation	Discovery Tiers eliminated; KGM handles dispatch

Rule 8 Evolution

Version	Rule 8 content
5.10.1	“Follow Discovery Tiers (Tier 1 → 2a → 2b → 2c)” — cross-reference to separate section
5.11.0	“FIRST check # Skills section… call load_skill” — self-contained but relies on prose scanning
5.11.3	Added anti-pattern clause + concrete example — marginal improvement on 8B
5.12.0	“FIRST call knowledgegraphmemory__search_nodes” — full tool name
5.13.0	“FIRST call search_nodes” — canonical short name, tested on Granite

Discovery Tiers Lifecycle

Created in v5.4.0 as a 4-tier table (Frontmatter → Skill index → KGM → Knowledge index). Grew to include staleness guards, freshness checks, anti-pattern callouts. Deleted in v5.13.0 — replaced by one-line Rule 8 + KGM skill entities. Operational concerns (staleness, anti-pattern) moved to goose-kgm SKILL.md.

Key Decision: Why Delete Rather Than Simplify

Discovery Tiers was the only section referenced by a single rule (Rule 8). It existed to describe a multi-step procedure the model should follow. When KGM collapsed that procedure to one tool call, the section had no remaining purpose. A 2-line fallback note replaced 13 lines of tier tables and prose.