Personas Cheatsheet

Quick reference for all SNIPER persona layers. Personas are composed in three layers -- process + technical + cognitive -- to create specialized agent identities.

Process Layer

Process personas define the agent's role and methodology.

analyst

Business analyst who researches markets, competitors, and user needs.

Teams	discover (analyst, risk-researcher, user-researcher)
Phases	Discover
Reference	Full persona reference

architect

System architect who designs technical architecture and component boundaries.

Teams	plan (architect, security-analyst) · feature-plan (feature-architect)
Phases	Plan · Feature
Reference	Full persona reference

architecture-cartographer

Reverse-engineers system architecture from existing code.

Teams	ingest
Phases	Ingest
Reference	Full persona reference

code-archaeologist

Reverse-engineers project purpose and scope from source code.

Teams	ingest
Phases	Ingest
Reference	Full persona reference

code-investigator

Traces code execution paths and identifies failure points.

Teams	debug
Phases	Debug
Reference	Full persona reference

code-reviewer

Senior developer conducting thorough code review.

Teams	review-pr (code-reviewer, security-reviewer) · review-release (breaking-change-analyst)
Phases	PR Review · Release Review
Reference	Full persona reference

contract-designer

Designs cross-repo interface contracts (API, types, events).

Teams	workspace-feature
Phases	Workspace
Reference	Full persona reference

convention-miner

Extracts coding patterns and conventions from codebases.

Teams	ingest
Phases	Ingest
Reference	Full persona reference

coverage-analyst

Identifies risk-weighted test coverage gaps.

Teams	test
Phases	Test Audit
Reference	Full persona reference

developer

Implements stories with production-quality code and tests.

Teams	sprint (backend-dev, frontend-dev, infra-dev, ai-dev)
Phases	Sprint
Reference	Full persona reference

doc-analyst

Scans project structure to produce a documentation index.

Teams	doc
Phases	Documentation
Reference	Full persona reference

doc-reviewer

Validates documentation for accuracy and completeness.

Teams	doc
Phases	Documentation
Reference	Full persona reference

doc-writer

Generates clear project documentation from artifacts and code.

Teams	doc · review-release (doc-reviewer member)
Phases	Documentation · Release Review
Reference	Full persona reference

flake-hunter

Diagnoses and fixes intermittent test failures.

Teams	test
Phases	Test Audit
Reference	Full persona reference

impact-analyst

Assesses blast radius of proposed code changes.

Teams	Refactor (single-agent phase)
Phases	Refactor Audit
Reference	Full persona reference

integration-validator

Validates repo implementations match interface contracts.

Teams	workspace-validation
Phases	Workspace
Reference	Full persona reference

log-analyst

Finds signal in error logs, traces, and observability data.

Teams	debug
Phases	Debug
Reference	Full persona reference

migration-architect

Designs safe, incremental migration paths for large changes.

Teams	Refactor (single-agent phase)
Phases	Refactor Audit
Reference	Full persona reference

perf-profiler

Identifies bottlenecks through systematic code analysis.

Teams	Performance (single-agent phase)
Phases	Performance Audit
Reference	Full persona reference

product-manager

Synthesizes discovery artifacts into a product requirements document.

Teams	plan · feature-plan
Phases	Plan · Feature
Reference	Full persona reference

qa-engineer

Validates implementations through comprehensive testing.

Teams	sprint · review-pr (test-reviewer)
Phases	Sprint · PR Review
Reference	Full persona reference

release-manager

Assesses release readiness and produces changelogs.

Teams	review-release
Phases	Release Review
Reference	Full persona reference

retro-analyst

Post-sprint analysis to extract learnings and update memory.

Teams	retro
Phases	Retrospective
Reference	Full persona reference

scrum-master

Breaks requirements into epics and self-contained stories.

Teams	Solve (single-agent phase)
Phases	Solve
Reference	Full persona reference

threat-modeler

Maps attack surfaces using STRIDE methodology.

Teams	security
Phases	Security Audit
Reference	Full persona reference

triage-lead

Rapidly assesses production incidents.

Teams	Referenced by debug (not a team member)
Phases	Debug
Reference	Full persona reference

ux-designer

Translates requirements into UX specification with information architecture and user flows.

Teams	plan
Phases	Plan
Reference	Full persona reference

vuln-scanner

Finds application-level vulnerabilities via code review.

Teams	security
Phases	Security Audit
Reference	Full persona reference

workspace-orchestrator

Coordinates features spanning multiple repositories.

Teams	workspace-feature
Phases	Workspace
Reference	Full persona reference

Technical Layer

Technical personas add domain-specific expertise. Applied as the second layer in composition.

api-design

RESTful and real-time API design -- OpenAPI, GraphQL, WebSocket contracts.

Teams	plan (product-manager) · workspace-feature (contract-designer)
Reference	Full persona reference

ai-ml

LLM integration, speech-to-text, NLP, vector databases, ML serving.

Teams	sprint (ai-dev)
Reference	Full persona reference

backend

Node.js/TypeScript backend -- Express/Fastify, PostgreSQL, Redis, queues.

Teams	plan (architect) · sprint (backend-dev, qa-engineer) · ingest (architecture-cartographer) · feature-plan (feature-architect) · debug (code-investigator) · workspace-validation (validator) · refactor (migration) · perf (profiling)
Reference	Full persona reference

database

Relational/non-relational design -- PostgreSQL, ORM, query optimization.

Teams	Available for composition (not assigned to a default team)
Reference	Full persona reference

frontend

React/TypeScript -- Next.js/Vite, TanStack Query, Tailwind.

Teams	plan (ux-designer) · sprint (frontend-dev)
Reference	Full persona reference

infrastructure

AWS, Docker, CI/CD, Terraform, Kubernetes, monitoring.

Teams	discover (risk-researcher) · sprint (infra-dev)
Reference	Full persona reference

security

OWASP, OAuth/OIDC, encryption, RBAC, API security, compliance.

Teams	plan (security-analyst) · security (threat-modeler, vuln-scanner)
Reference	Full persona reference

Cognitive Layer

Cognitive personas define the agent's thinking style and decision framework. Applied as the third layer.

devils-advocate

Challenges assumptions, stress-tests designs, finds failure modes.

Teams	discover (risk-researcher) · sprint (qa-engineer) · debug (log-analyst) · doc (doc-reviewer) · review-pr (code-reviewer) · review-release (breaking-change-analyst) · test (flake-hunter) · security (vuln-scanner) · workspace-validation (validator) · refactor (impact analysis)
Reference	Full persona reference

mentor-explainer

Documents decisions so future readers understand the "why".

Teams	doc (doc-writer)
Reference	Full persona reference

performance-focused

Evaluates latency budgets, throughput, memory, scalability.

Teams	sprint (ai-dev)
Reference	Full persona reference

security-first

Evaluates every decision through a security lens first.

Teams	plan (architect, security-analyst) · review-pr (security-reviewer)
Reference	Full persona reference

systems-thinker

Thinks in boundaries, interfaces, dependencies, and emergent behaviors.

Teams	discover (analyst) · plan (product-manager) · sprint (backend-dev, infra-dev) · ingest (all 3 members) · feature-plan (both members) · debug (code-investigator) · review-pr (test-reviewer) · review-release (release-manager) · test (coverage-analyst) · security (threat-modeler) · retro · workspace-feature (both members) · solve · refactor (migration) · perf
Reference	Full persona reference

user-empathetic

Thinks from the user's perspective -- what they see, feel, need.

Teams	discover (user-researcher) · plan (ux-designer) · sprint (frontend-dev) · doc (doc-analyst) · review-release (doc-reviewer)
Reference	Full persona reference

Composition Examples

Real compositions from team YAML files showing how the three layers combine.

Backend Architect (plan team)

Process: architect
Technical: backend
Cognitive: security-first
Result: Security-conscious backend architect who evaluates every design through a security lens. Produces docs/architecture.md.
Team: plan (architect member)

Risk Researcher (discover team)

Process: analyst
Technical: infrastructure
Cognitive: devils-advocate
Result: Infrastructure-aware analyst who challenges optimistic assumptions and finds failure modes. Produces docs/risks.md.
Team: discover (risk-researcher member)

AI Developer (sprint team)

Process: developer
Technical: ai-ml
Cognitive: performance-focused
Result: AI/ML specialist focused on latency budgets and efficient model serving. Uses Opus model.
Team: sprint (ai-dev member)

Doc Writer (doc team)

Process: doc-writer
Technical: from-config (matches project stack)
Cognitive: mentor-explainer
Result: Documentation writer who explains decisions for future readers, with stack-specific technical knowledge.
Team: doc (doc-writer member)

Vulnerability Scanner (security audit team)

Process: vuln-scanner
Technical: security
Cognitive: devils-advocate
Result: Security researcher who challenges every assumption and hunts for non-obvious vulnerabilities. Produces vulnerability-report.md.
Team: security (vuln-scanner member)

Personas Cheatsheet ​

Process Layer ​

analyst ​

architect ​

architecture-cartographer ​

code-archaeologist ​

code-investigator ​

code-reviewer ​

contract-designer ​

convention-miner ​

coverage-analyst ​

developer ​

doc-analyst ​

doc-reviewer ​

doc-writer ​

flake-hunter ​

impact-analyst ​

integration-validator ​

log-analyst ​

migration-architect ​

perf-profiler ​

product-manager ​

qa-engineer ​

release-manager ​

retro-analyst ​

scrum-master ​

threat-modeler ​

triage-lead ​

ux-designer ​

vuln-scanner ​

workspace-orchestrator ​

Technical Layer ​

api-design ​

ai-ml ​

backend ​

database ​

frontend ​

infrastructure ​

security ​

Cognitive Layer ​

devils-advocate ​

mentor-explainer ​

performance-focused ​

security-first ​

systems-thinker ​

user-empathetic ​

Composition Examples ​