Update Operations

The SkillManager communicates changes to the skillbook through update operations. Each operation is a structured instruction to modify the skillbook in a specific way.

Operation Types

Type	Description	Required Fields
`ADD`	Create a new skill	`section`, `content`
`UPDATE`	Modify an existing skill's content	`skill_id`, `content`
`TAG`	Record a skill as helpful, harmful, or neutral	`skill_id`, `tag`
`REMOVE`	Delete a skill from the skillbook	`skill_id`

Examples

ADD

Adds a new strategy learned from experience:

{
  "type": "ADD",
  "section": "Math Strategies",
  "content": "Break complex problems into smaller steps before computing"
}

UPDATE

Refines an existing strategy:

{
  "type": "UPDATE",
  "skill_id": "math-00001",
  "content": "Break complex problems into smaller steps. Verify each step before proceeding."
}

TAG

Records whether a strategy helped or hurt:

{
  "type": "TAG",
  "skill_id": "math-00001",
  "tag": "helpful"
}

Tags are one of: helpful, harmful, neutral.

REMOVE

Prunes a strategy that is consistently harmful:

{
  "type": "REMOVE",
  "skill_id": "math-00003"
}

Update Batches

The SkillManager emits operations as an UpdateBatch — one or more operations applied atomically:

from ace import UpdateOperation, UpdateBatch

batch = UpdateBatch(operations=[
    UpdateOperation(type="ADD", section="Debugging", content="Log inputs before errors"),
    UpdateOperation(type="TAG", skill_id="debug-00001", tag="helpful"),
])

skillbook.apply_update(batch)

In batch reflection mode, ADD and UPDATE operations may also include reflection_index to indicate which reflection in the input tuple primarily produced the operation.

When an operation is synthesized from multiple reflections, it may instead use reflection_indices to list all contributing reflections. This lets downstream provenance attach multiple trace sources to one learned skill.

How Updates Flow

Agent cites skill_ids --> Reflector tags them --> SkillManager emits ADD/UPDATE/REMOVE

The Agent cites skill IDs it used in its reasoning
The Reflector classifies each cited skill as helpful/harmful/neutral (TAG operations)
The SkillManager may also ADD new strategies or UPDATE/REMOVE existing ones based on the reflection