mantis-reflect

What the source does

• FilesystemNone observedNo reads or writes in the source
• NetworkNone observedNo outbound calls in the source
• ShellNone observedNo commands run in the source
• DependenciesPinnedNothing floats
• SecretsNone foundNo keys in source

Five audit layers

Gates applied: no behavioural pass.

Audit 0.4.1 · source sha 9702f6eef495 · 28 Oct 2026Report an issue or request a re-scan

• Publishergoogle GitHub organizationOwner of the repository this skill is read from
• Source foldergoogle/mantis/skills/mantis-reflectThe exact folder we audited
• LicenceApache-2.0As the repository states it
• Commit pinned for this verdict9702f6eef495A new audit runs when the source changes
• Repository statusNot archivedLast push 2 days ago
• Sandboxed runNot runSkills are read, not executed; layer L4 is skipped

Its description: Extracts learnings from execution trajectories at the end of a Mantis loop. Use to parse agent conversations, extract successes, failures, and false assumptions, and append them to workspace/learnings.jsonl. Don't use…

---
name: mantis-reflect
description: >-
  Extracts learnings from execution trajectories at the end of a Mantis loop.
  Use to parse agent conversations, extract successes, failures, and false assumptions, and append them to workspace/learnings.jsonl.
  Don't use for analyzing source code or writing patches.
---

# Reflector (/mantis-reflect)

## System Goal

Execution Trajectory Analyst. Analyzes the sequence of thoughts, tool calls, and
observations (the "trajectory" or "conversation") of the other Mantis agents.
Extracts valuable insights to prevent future agents from making the same
mistakes.

## Command Definition

- **Command:** `/mantis-reflect`
- **Description:** Parses execution trajectories from the current loop and
  appends structured insights to `workspace/learnings.jsonl`.

## Input/Output Contract

- **Reads**:
  - `workspace/.mantis_state.json` (to track the current loop pass, and to read
    `active_snapshot.snapshot_id` for provenance stamping — see Instructions
    step 3). Read this file STATE-RELATIVE under `--state_root`; never derive
    snapshot state by running live VCS.
  - Subagent execution logs (`transcript.jsonl` files). The schema
    `execution_log_entry` defined in `schema.json` is the normalized
    representation. The orchestrator/adapter must normalize raw logs from
    unsupported frameworks before passing them, or the reflector must parse
    unsupported formats on a best-effort basis.
  - **Locating Logs (harness-neutral):** The orchestrator SHOULD pass the list
    of absolute file paths to the execution log files (e.g. `transcript.jsonl`)
    for the subagents executed during this round; when provided, use these paths
    directly. Do NOT hardcode any single framework's log layout. If no path list
    was passed, resolve transcript paths from the ACTIVE harness's own
    transcript convention — this is harness-specific and there are several. For
    example, Antigravity stores them under
    `<appDataDir>/brain/<conversation_id>/.system_generated/logs/transcript.jsonl`;
    other harnesses (e.g. Gemini CLI, the Google ADK, Claude Code) use different
    layouts. Antigravity is ONE example among several, not the default. If,
    after both routes, no readable transcript exists for a stage that ran this
    round, do NOT abort and do NOT silently emit zero learnings — record a
    missing-transcript insight per Instructions step 1.
- **Writes**:
  - Appends structured trajectory insights to `workspace/learnings.jsonl`.
- **Preconditions**:
  - Execution logs for the current round SHOULD exist and contain entries. If a
    stage's log is missing, unreadable, empty, or yields zero parseable entries,
    this is NOT a fatal error and NOT a reason to stop: continue with the other
    stages and record the gap as a `trajectory_insight` (see Instructions step
    1\) so an absent log is never a silent zero-learnings result.
- **Idempotency Guarantee**:
  - Parses logs and filters already-recorded learnings to prevent duplicate
    entries in `workspace/learnings.jsonl`. It should check existing lines in
    `workspace/learnings.jsonl` to ensure it doesn't duplicate the same insight
    if retried.
  - When de-duplicating, compare on the semantic content (`target_entity` +
    `insight` + `source_stage`) and treat `snapshot` as attached metadata, NOT
    part of the identity, so a retry within the same pass does not
    double-append. Missing-transcript insights (step 1) are de-duplicated the
    same way.

## Instructions

### 0. Locator Resolution (Block A — FINDINGS-ONLY role)

```
LOCATOR RESOLUTION (before reading ANY target code or artifact):
0. ROLE: If this skill NEVER reads target source (report, calibrate, reflect),
   you are a FINDINGS-ONLY stage: skip steps 2-6; still read active_snapshot from
   state for provenance/annotation; NEVER stop merely because a code root is unset.
1. Determine CODE_ROOT, in this priority order:
   a. If --target_root is passed on THIS invocation, CODE_ROOT = --target_root.
      It is AUTHORITATIVE and OVERRIDES SNAPSHOT_ROOT and the state fallback
      (used when a caller hands you a prepared tree, e.g. a patched shadow).
   b. Else if --snapshot_root (or SNAPSHOT_ROOT) is passed, use it.
   c. Else read state_root/workspace/.mantis_state.json (state_root from
      --state_root if passed, else ./workspace/... relative to the current dir)
      -> active_snapshot.root / .snapshot_id / .snapshot_pinned.
   d. Else (no arg AND no readable active_snapshot): CODE_ROOT = current directory,
      treat snapshot_pinned = false (MODE-OFF). Do NOT stop.
2. SENTINEL CHECK (only if snapshot_pinned is true AND you did NOT take path 1a):
   verify CODE_ROOT/.mantis_snapshot_id exists and equals SNAPSHOT_ID. If missing
   or different -> STOP "snapshot sentinel mismatch". (A --target_root tree (1a) is
   deliberately mutated and is sentinel-EXEMPT.)
3. PATH FIELDS:
   - SNAPSHOT-RELATIVE (read under CODE_ROOT): code_paths entries; plan target_files
     that are file paths. Strip ONLY a trailing ":<digits>". A code_paths entry
     containing "://" is a URL/endpoint, NOT a file read. A code_paths entry that is
     NOT of the form <existing-path>:<integer> is a non-source LOCATOR
     (symbol/offset/endpoint): only check that the artifact/symbol exists; skip ALL
     line-range and line-existence logic.
   - STATE-RELATIVE (read/write under state_root/workspace, NEVER prefix CODE_ROOT):
     kb_references, repro_file_path, reattack_file_path, helper scripts, report
     files, and all state/findings JSON.
4. Never WRITE under CODE_ROOT when snapshot_pinned is true. Any command that
   compiles, generates, or writes artifacts MUST run in a PRIVATE SHADOW copy
   (mktemp -d from CODE_ROOT), never with cwd=CODE_ROOT. Read-only inspection may
   cd into CODE_ROOT.
5. VCS-METADATA CARVE-OUT: history-log extraction and any VCS diff/blame command
   run in the LIVE repository root (which still has .git/.hg/.repo), NOT CODE_ROOT
   (

Excerpt, first 6,000 characters of SKILL.md, verbatim from the audited commit. It is text from someone else’s repository, quoted so you can judge it before your agent reads it.

1. 2026-10-28
   ✓SAFE B 89 / 100

   first audit · source 9702f6eef495

Questions about mantis-reflect

• github.com/google/mantis/tree/main/skills/mantis-reflect — the audited source at commit 9702f6eef495 and every finding aboveObserved · 28 Oct 2026

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