The AcademyAdvanced
Build Your Own Agents, Skills & Commands
What you'll build
Your own working AI-native primitive set, built on valuefirstagent.com: a real agent (front-matter-valid, with a wired expertise reference), at least one skill (valid YAML front matter, correct tier), and one command (authored to the ratified command template) — all runnable, and put through a real 'does it operate?' certification the same way this org certifies its own agents.
The live cadence
How the live thing runs for this path.
Office Hours as a builder clinic to start — author between sessions, bring your agent/skill/command to be reviewed live by the faculty who own this craft (Aegis for agent quality, Hone for skill/command architecture). Cohort later.
The build, step by step
What you'll do, in order.
- Study the living architecture as worked examplesBefore building, study real ones: open a few agent definitions in the full VFT agent roster, read a skill's front matter, read the command template. The org's own architecture IS the textbook. (open any file under agents/, the roster orientation in agents/README.md, the index in agents/manifest.json, and .claude/commands/_TEMPLATE.md.)
- Author a skill that passes the front-matter contractWrite your first skill with valid YAML front matter (title, tier, load_discipline, category, owner_agent, provenance) and the right tier semantics. Keep the two axes distinct: `tier` is arch (always-loaded) vs domain (demand-loaded); `load_discipline` further says when a domain skill loads — always, demand, or per-agent. The contract is enforced, so 'valid' is objective.
- Author a command to the ratified templateBuild a command following _TEMPLATE.md: Purpose, Execution Context, Inputs, Flow, Procedure, Outputs, Verification — surface-agnostic, inheriting global rules rather than restating them; the five typed calls used correctly.
- Build and ground your agentOn valuefirstagent.com, build an agent and ground it the way this org requires: an expertise reference that equips it to challenge and lead — not a yes-man. Learn the three-leg standard: externally grounded, challenge-and-lead, certified-against. (agents/RE-ONBOARDING.md Gate 0 + checklist A.)
- Certify that it operatesPut your primitive set through a real 'does it actually run?' certification — the constructive-evidence model where the agent does one real task as proof, exactly how this org certifies its own. (the /certify model + lint pack-wiring checks.)
- Bring it to the builder clinicJoin Office Hours and have your agent, skill, and command reviewed live by Aegis (agent quality + re-onboarding) and Hone (skill & command architecture). The live critique is where a working primitive becomes a trustworthy one.
Where the build becomes real
You build it on valuefirstagent.com.
the build destination: author and run your own agent there, with a skill and a command wired to it. The most literal build handoff of all six.
Join
Join the next live session for this path.
Tell us where to reach you and what you want to build. We will send you the next live session details.
Keep watching
Recent conversations to learn from.
Value-First AI DailyOctober 30, 2026
Market Simulator Max, Live with Nico
Chris Carolan and Nico Lafakis set the plan aside for stories. Nico walks through Market Simulator Max, his beta tool for filling a HubSpot portal with…
Open the episodeThe Road to UNBOUNDOctober 28, 2026
The Road to UNBOUND - Season 2, Fourth Stop: Is This Cheating? A Lullaby, Guilt, and Where You Put the Effort
Rob Jones drove the fourth stop of the second season with Chris Carolan, Casey Hawkins, George B. Thomas and Kyle Jepson, and he left to get a prop while Chris…
Open the episode
Value-First AI DailyOctober 27, 2026
Overnight Building with Dots
Chris Carolan calls Nectar, his AI assistant, live to review an overnight build where Codex and Claude Code each mapped the Value-First operating model, and…
Open the episodeThe next step
You're building. Here's where it goes next.
And then, the rest of the path: