Focus Skill — Personality Profile Management

Layer: L2 (Core Services)
Version: 1.0.0
Author: Aria Blue
Dependencies:

api_client

---

Purpose

The Focus skill provides introspection and self-activation capabilities for Aria's personality layer. Aria can list available focus modes, inspect token budgets and delegation levels, switch her own focus type mid-session, and check current focus status — all with minimal token cost.

Focus profiles define Aria's operational personality:

• Token budget (safe prompt limits)
• Delegation level (subagent spawn rules)
• Tone (communication style)
• System prompt addon (applied automatically by engine)

---

Key Concepts

Focus Profiles

Each focus profile represents a specialized operational mode:

• orchestrator

  — High delegation, strategic thinking

• devsecops

  — Technical precision, security-first

• data

  — Data analysis, ETL operations

• trader

  — Market analysis, portfolio management

• creative

  — Content generation, ideation

• social

  — Community engagement, social media

• journalist

  — Research, fact-checking, reporting

Token Budget

Each profile defines a

safe_prompt_tokens

limit that prevents context saturation. The engine enforces this at runtime with warning triggers at 80% and abort gates at 100%.

Delegation Level

Controls how many subagents can be spawned:

• Level 1: No subagents (focused execution)
• Level 2: Limited delegation (2-3 subagents)
• Level 3: Full delegation (5+ subagents)

---

Tools

focus__list

Purpose: List all enabled focus profiles.

Input: None

Output: Compact table with id, name, delegation level, token budget, tone.

Example:

{
  "profiles": [
    {
      "id": "orchestrator",
      "name": "Orchestrator",
      "delegation_level": 3,
      "token_budget": 50000,
      "tone": "Strategic, directive"
    },
    {
      "id": "devsecops",
      "name": "DevSecOps",
      "delegation_level": 2,
      "token_budget": 30000,
      "tone": "Technical, precise"
    }
  ]
}

---

focus__get

Purpose: Get full details for one focus profile by ID.

Input:

• focus_id

  (string, required): Focus profile ID (e.g.,

  "devsecops"

  ,

  "creative"

  )

Output: Full profile details except system_prompt_addon body (applied automatically). Includes

addon_length

to show how many characters the addon contains.

Example:

{
  "focus_id": "devsecops",
  "name": "DevSecOps Engineer",
  "delegation_level": 2,
  "token_budget": 30000,
  "tone": "Technical, security-focused",
  "addon_length": 1250,
  "enabled": true
}

---

focus__activate

Purpose: Switch an agent's focus type to a new profile.

Input:

• focus_id

  (string, required): Focus profile ID to activate

• agent_id

  (string, optional): Agent to update (default: current agent /

  aria-main

  )

Output: Confirmation with new token budget and delegation level.

Validation:

• Profile must exist and be enabled
• Agent must exist in database
• If

  agent_id

  omitted, switches Aria's own focus

Example:

{
  "status": "success",
  "agent_id": "aria-main",
  "focus_id": "creative",
  "new_token_budget": 40000,
  "new_delegation_level": 2,
  "message": "Focus switched to 'Creative' mode"
}

---

focus__status

Purpose: Return current focus type and status for an agent.

Input:

• agent_id

  (string, optional): Agent to check (default: current agent)

Output: Minimal output (~30 tokens) with current focus and operational status.

Example:

{
  "agent_id": "aria-main",
  "current_focus": "orchestrator",
  "delegation_level": 3,
  "token_budget": 50000,
  "status": "active"
}

Use case: Check current focus before switching to verify you're not already in the target mode.

---

Usage Patterns

List Available Profiles

focus__list

Returns all enabled focus profiles in a compact table. Use this first to discover available modes.

Check Current Focus

focus__status

Returns current focus mode for Aria (default) or specified agent.

Switch to Different Focus

focus__activate(focus_id="devsecops")

Switches Aria's focus to DevSecOps mode. Engine validates profile exists and applies new token budget + delegation rules immediately.

Inspect Profile Details

focus__get(focus_id="creative")

Returns full profile configuration including token budget, delegation level, and tone.

---

Layer Compliance

Layer: L2 (Core Services)
Rationale: Focus management is infrastructure-level personality control. It depends on

api_client

(L1) to fetch/update agent state via REST API.

Dependencies:

• api_client

  (L1) — HTTP gateway to Aria API

Used by:

• agent_manager

  (L3) — Lifecycle management
• Work cycle logic — Task-specific focus switching
• Cron jobs — Daily/hourly focus optimization

---

Error Handling

Invalid Focus ID

{
  "error": "Focus profile 'nonexistent' not found or not enabled"
}

Invalid Agent ID

{
  "error": "Agent 'unknown-agent' not found in database"
}

API Failure

If

api_client

calls fail, fall back to cached focus state or return degraded status.

---

Performance Notes

• Token Cost: ~20-50 tokens per operation (minimal overhead)
• Latency: Single API call per operation (~50-200ms)
• Cache: Engine caches active agent state; focus switches take effect immediately

---

Security

• Focus switching requires agent ownership or admin privileges
• System prompt addons are applied by engine only (not exposed via API to prevent prompt injection)

• addon_length

  reported instead of full addon text to prevent leakage

---

Related Skills

• agent_manager

  — Lifecycle management and agent creation

• working_memory

  — Persistent context across focus switches

• health

  — System status and operational health

---

Changelog

1.0.0 (2026-03-07)

• Initial implementation with 4 core tools
• Support for focus profile introspection
• Self-activation capability
• Minimal token cost design (~30 tokens per status check)

---

✅ Production-ready as of 2026-03-07