Agent Template Development Guide

Agent templates are pre-configured Agent definitions that allow you to quickly create specific types of Agents. This document describes how to create and use Agent templates.

Overview

What is an Agent Template?

An Agent template is a set of predefined configurations, including:

Agent basic configuration (name, description, type)
Pre-installed Skills
Pre-configured MCP Servers
Default system prompts
Model parameter settings

Using templates allows you to quickly create Agents optimized for specific scenarios.

Template Types

Type	Storage Location	Description
Built-in Templates	`~/.viben/templates/`	Official templates provided by Viben
User Templates	`~/.viben/templates/`	Custom templates created by users
Project Templates	`<project>/.viben/templates/`	Project-level templates

Quick Start

Create an Agent from a Template

# List available templates
viben agent template list

# Create an Agent from a template
viben agent create -n my-agent -f coding-assistant

# View template details
viben agent template show -n coding-assistant

Create a Template from an Existing Agent

# Save an existing agent as a template
viben agent template create -n my-template --clone my-agent

# Add description
viben agent set-template -n my-agent --description "A general coding assistant template"

Template Structure

Directory Structure

my-template/
├── template.yaml       # Template metadata
├── README.md           # Template documentation
├── agent.yaml          # Agent default configuration
├── mcp_servers.json    # MCP configuration
├── skills/             # Pre-installed Skills
│   └── skill.yaml
├── prompts/            # Prompt files
│   └── system.md
└── memory/             # Initial memory
    └── MEMORY.md

template.yaml

Template metadata configuration:

# template.yaml
name: my-template
version: 1.0.0
description: A template for specific use case
author: your-name

# Template parameters (customizable at creation time)
parameters:
  - name: agent_name
    description: Name of the agent
    required: true
  - name: model
    description: Model to use
    default: claude-3-sonnet
  - name: workdir
    description: Default working directory
    required: false

# Pre-installed components
includes:
  skills:
    - code-review
    - commit-helper
  mcp:
    - filesystem
    - git

# Template tags
tags:
  - coding
  - development
  - productivity

agent.yaml

Agent default configuration:

# agent.yaml
version: 1

# Agent metadata (can be overridden by parameters)
id: "{{ agent_name }}"
name: "{{ agent_name }}"
description: "Agent created from my-template"

# Agent type
type: claude-code

# Type-specific configuration
type_config:
  plan: true
  dangerously_skip_permissions: false
  append_prompt: |
    You are a helpful coding assistant.
    Follow best practices and write clean code.

# Model configuration
model: "{{ model }}"
temperature: 0.7
max_tokens: 4096

# MCP configuration
mcp:
  enabled:
    - filesystem
    - git

# Skills configuration
skills:
  enabled:
    - code-review
    - commit-helper

prompts/system.md

System prompt:

<!-- prompts/system.md -->

# System Prompt

You are a coding assistant created from the my-template template.

## Your Capabilities

- Code review and analysis
- Bug fixing and optimization
- Documentation generation
- Git operations

## Guidelines

1. Always explain your reasoning
2. Follow coding best practices
3. Suggest improvements proactively
4. Ask for clarification when needed

Creating Custom Templates

Step 1: Initialize Template

# Create template directory
viben template create my-template

# Or create from an existing agent
viben agent template create -n my-template --clone my-agent

Step 2: Configure Template

Edit template.yaml:

name: my-template
version: 1.0.0
description: My custom template

parameters:
  - name: agent_name
    required: true
  - name: project_type
    description: Type of project (web/api/cli)
    default: web

includes:
  skills:
    - code-review

Step 3: Configure Default Agent

Edit agent.yaml:

type: claude-code
type_config:
  plan: true
model: claude-3-sonnet

Step 4: Add Skills and MCP

Configure the skills/ directory and mcp_servers.json.

Step 5: Test Template

# Create a test agent from the template
viben agent create -n test-agent -f my-template

# Verify configuration
viben agent show -n test-agent

Step 6: Publish Template

# Publish to local template library
viben template publish my-template

# Or share template configuration

Template Parameters

Templates support parameterized configuration, which can be customized when creating an Agent:

Defining Parameters

# template.yaml
parameters:
  - name: agent_name
    description: Name of the agent
    required: true

  - name: model
    description: Model to use
    default: claude-3-sonnet
    enum:
      - claude-3-opus
      - claude-3-sonnet
      - gpt-4

  - name: temperature
    description: Model temperature
    default: 0.7
    type: number
    min: 0
    max: 1

Using Parameters

Use the {{ param_name }} syntax in configuration files:

# agent.yaml
id: "{{ agent_name }}"
model: "{{ model }}"
temperature: {{ temperature }}

Specifying Parameters at Creation Time

viben agent create -n my-agent -f my-template \
  --param model=gpt-4 \
  --param temperature=0.5

Built-in Templates

coding-assistant

General coding assistant template:

viben agent create -n my-coder -f coding-assistant

Features:

Support for multiple programming languages
Built-in code review skill
Configured with filesystem and git MCP

research-assistant

Research assistant template:

viben agent create -n my-researcher -f research-assistant

Features:

Paper search and summarization
Built-in academic search MCP
Citation formatting skill

devops-assistant

DevOps assistant template:

viben agent create -n my-devops -f devops-assistant

Features:

CI/CD configuration
Docker and Kubernetes support
Monitoring and log analysis

CLI Commands

viben agent template list

List all available templates:

viben agent template list
viben agent template list --json

Example output:

Agent Templates:
  coding-assistant    claude-code   "General coding assistant"
  researcher          gemini        "Research and analysis"
  code-reviewer       claude-code   "Code review specialist"

viben agent template show

View template details:

viben agent template show -n coding-assistant

viben agent template create

Create a template from an agent:

viben agent template create -n <template-id> --clone <agent-id>
viben agent template create -n my-template --clone my-agent

viben agent template remove

Delete a template:

viben agent template remove -n <template-id>

Best Practices

1. Template Naming

Use descriptive names:

# Good
coding-assistant
research-helper
devops-automation

# Bad
template1
my-template
test

2. Version Management

Follow semantic versioning:

version: 1.0.0  # major.minor.patch

Major version: Incompatible changes
Minor version: Backward-compatible feature additions
Patch version: Backward-compatible bug fixes

3. Complete Documentation

Each template should include a comprehensive README.md:

# Template Name

## Description
[Template purpose and features]

## Usage
```bash
viben agent create -n my-agent -f template-name

Parameters

Parameter	Description	Default
model	Model to use	claude-3-sonnet

Included Skills

skill-1: Description
skill-2: Description

Included MCP

mcp-1: Description
mcp-2: Description

Notes

[Usage notes and considerations]

### 4. Parameter Design

- Provide reasonable default values
- Minimize required parameters
- Use enums to limit options

```yaml
parameters:
  - name: model
    default: claude-3-sonnet  # Has default value
    enum:                     # Limited options
      - claude-3-opus
      - claude-3-sonnet

5. Test Templates

Test thoroughly before publishing:

# Create a test agent
viben agent create -n test-agent -f my-template

# Verify configuration
viben agent show -n test-agent

# Test conversation
viben agent chat -n test-agent -p "Hello"

# Clean up
viben agent remove -n test-agent

Overview​

What is an Agent Template?​

Template Types​

Quick Start​

Create an Agent from a Template​

Create a Template from an Existing Agent​

Template Structure​

Directory Structure​

template.yaml​

agent.yaml​

prompts/system.md​

Creating Custom Templates​

Step 1: Initialize Template​

Step 2: Configure Template​

Step 3: Configure Default Agent​

Step 4: Add Skills and MCP​

Step 5: Test Template​

Step 6: Publish Template​

Template Parameters​

Defining Parameters​

Using Parameters​

Specifying Parameters at Creation Time​

Built-in Templates​

coding-assistant​

research-assistant​

devops-assistant​

CLI Commands​

viben agent template list​

viben agent template show​

viben agent template create​

viben agent template remove​

Best Practices​

1. Template Naming​

2. Version Management​

3. Complete Documentation​

Parameters​

Included Skills​

Included MCP​

Notes​

5. Test Templates​

Related Documentation​

Overview

What is an Agent Template?

Template Types

Quick Start

Create an Agent from a Template

Create a Template from an Existing Agent

Template Structure

Directory Structure

template.yaml

agent.yaml

prompts/system.md

Creating Custom Templates

Step 1: Initialize Template

Step 2: Configure Template

Step 3: Configure Default Agent

Step 4: Add Skills and MCP

Step 5: Test Template

Step 6: Publish Template

Template Parameters

Defining Parameters

Using Parameters

Specifying Parameters at Creation Time

Built-in Templates

coding-assistant

research-assistant

devops-assistant

CLI Commands

viben agent template list

viben agent template show

viben agent template create

viben agent template remove

Best Practices

1. Template Naming

2. Version Management

3. Complete Documentation

Parameters

Included Skills

Included MCP

Notes

5. Test Templates

Related Documentation