---
name: nemo-explore
description: Captures what a new NeMo Platform agent should do before any code or YAML. Walks the user through job, audience, categories, tools, model, and constraints, then hands the answers to nemo-spec. Use over generic brainstorming for any NeMo Platform agent design conversation.
triggers:
  - design my agent
  - what should my agent do
  - help me think through the agent
  - I want to build an agent
  - agent design
  - explore the agent
  - figure out what my agent needs
not-for:
  - nemo-skill-selection (use to dispatch when intent is unclear)
  - nemo-spec (use to write the spec file once explore is done)
  - nemo-build-agent (use after spec exists)
  - superpowers:brainstorming (use for design work unrelated to NeMo Platform)
compatibility: nemo-platform >= 0.1.0; dialogue-driven with one read-only pre-flight (`ls agents/*.spec.md`); safe under any sandbox; works offline; output is a structured conversation handed to nemo-spec.
maturity: active
license: Apache-2.0
user-invocable: true
allowed-tools: [Read, Bash]
---

# NeMo Platform agent explore

Capture what the agent should do before any code or YAML. This skill is the questions; nothing else. Output goes to `nemo-spec`.

## Pre-flight

Check whether a spec already exists for this agent. If `agents/<name>.spec.md` is present, ask the user whether they want to edit the existing spec or start over. If they want to edit, route to `nemo-spec` directly.

```bash
ls agents/*.spec.md 2>/dev/null || echo "no specs yet"
```

## What you do

Ask in this order, one at a time. Wait for each answer.

1. **The job.** "What should this agent do? One sentence." Push back on vague answers ("help with stuff"). A real one-liner: "answer IT helpdesk questions about VPN, password reset, and software access."

2. **The user.** "Who talks to it: internal employees, external customers, developers?" Shapes tone and what is safe to say.

3. **The categories.** "What buckets of questions should it handle?" Aim for 3 to 6.

4. **The tools.** "Does it need to call anything (search, database, HTTP API), or can it answer from prompt and model alone?" Default: prompt-only with `current_datetime` as the only tool. Tools beyond that need a follow-up about credentials.

5. **The model.** "Cloud (NVIDIA Build API) or a local NIM? Size preference?" Capture the family or size the user wants (e.g., "Nemotron Super 49B", "smallest open-weight that works"). `nemo-build-agent` resolves this to a specific model entity ID via `nemo models list`; this skill is not the place to pin the alias. Default: cloud, Nemotron-Super-49B family. Local NIMs require host-gpu mode.

6. **Constraints.** "Anything off-limits? e.g., cannot mention competitors, must redirect medical questions, response length cap?"

7. **Framework honesty.** If the user has not said yet: ask whether they have an existing agent or want to build from scratch. If existing: confirm it is LangGraph wrapped in NVIDIA NeMo Agent Toolkit (NAT). If the agent is CrewAI, AutoGen, plain LangChain, or Pydantic AI, tell them the build path requires a NAT wrapper first.

Hand the answers to `nemo-spec` for the artifact.

## Verification

This skill produces no system change, so verification is conversational: at the end, summarize what the user said in 7 bullets (one per question above) and ask "Did I get this right?" Do not hand off to `nemo-spec` until the user confirms.

## If verification fails

If the user says the summary is wrong, ask which bullet is wrong and re-ask only that question. Do not restart the full sequence. If the user keeps changing their mind on the job statement: stop and tell them the agent will not be useful until they can write one concrete sentence; offer to come back later.

## Gotchas

- **"You decide" means commit to the default and announce it.** Example: "I'll go with cloud and Nemotron Super 49B. Tell me to change if not." Never silently fill in.
- **Tool over-spec is the most common error.** Users ask for a search tool when prompt-only would work. Probe: "Do you have evidence the model alone fails on these?" If no, drop the tool.
- **"No constraints" usually means "I haven't thought about it."** Probe once: "Anything that should never appear: names, phone numbers, competitor mentions?" One probe, then move on.
- **Do not propose a design before the user has answered.** Skipping ahead skips the value of the questions.
- **NeMo Platform optimizes LangGraph agents wrapped in NAT today.** Other frameworks need a user-written wrapper. Surface that constraint in question 7, not at the build step.
