Personas Reference

Personas define who an agent is -- its role, expertise, thinking style, and domain knowledge. SNIPER composes personas from up to four layers, merging them into a single spawn prompt.

Layers

Layer	Directory	Required	Purpose
Process	personas/process/	Yes	Defines the agent's role in the project lifecycle
Technical	personas/technical/	No	Adds domain-specific technical expertise
Cognitive	personas/cognitive/	No	Shapes how the agent thinks and prioritizes
Domain	personas/domain/	No	Injects industry knowledge from domain packs

Process Personas

The process layer is the only required layer. It defines the agent's role, responsibilities, and output expectations.

Persona	File	Description
Analyst	analyst.md	Researches users, markets, and competitors during discovery
Architect	architect.md	Designs system architecture, APIs, and data models
Architecture Cartographer	architecture-cartographer.md	Maps existing codebase architecture during ingest
Code Archaeologist	code-archaeologist.md	Excavates existing codebase patterns during ingest
Code Investigator	code-investigator.md	Investigates bugs and traces root causes during debug
Code Reviewer	code-reviewer.md	Reviews code quality, patterns, and standards
Contract Designer	contract-designer.md	Designs cross-repo interface contracts in workspace mode
Convention Miner	convention-miner.md	Extracts coding conventions from existing codebases during ingest
Coverage Analyst	coverage-analyst.md	Analyzes test coverage gaps and generates coverage reports
Developer	developer.md	Implements features and writes code during sprints
Doc Analyst	doc-analyst.md	Analyzes documentation needs and gaps
Doc Reviewer	doc-reviewer.md	Reviews documentation quality and accuracy
Doc Writer	doc-writer.md	Writes project documentation (README, API docs, guides)
Flake Hunter	flake-hunter.md	Identifies and fixes flaky tests
Impact Analyst	impact-analyst.md	Assesses impact of changes across the codebase
Integration Validator	integration-validator.md	Validates cross-repo contract compliance in workspace mode
Log Analyst	log-analyst.md	Analyzes logs and traces during debug
Migration Architect	migration-architect.md	Plans and designs codebase migrations
Perf Profiler	perf-profiler.md	Profiles and optimizes application performance
Product Manager	product-manager.md	Defines requirements, user stories, and acceptance criteria
QA Engineer	qa-engineer.md	Writes and runs tests, validates quality during sprints
Release Manager	release-manager.md	Manages release readiness and deployment
Retro Analyst	retro-analyst.md	Analyzes sprint patterns for retrospectives
Scrum Master	scrum-master.md	Manages story creation and epic sharding during solve
Threat Modeler	threat-modeler.md	Identifies threats and designs security mitigations
Triage Lead	triage-lead.md	Triages bugs and prioritizes investigation during debug
UX Designer	ux-designer.md	Designs user experiences, flows, and interface specifications
Vuln Scanner	vuln-scanner.md	Scans for security vulnerabilities
Workspace Orchestrator	workspace-orchestrator.md	Coordinates cross-repo features in workspace mode

Technical Personas

Technical personas add specialized expertise. They are optional and combined with a process persona during composition.

Persona	File	Description
AI/ML	ai-ml.md	Machine learning and AI system expertise
API Design	api-design.md	REST/GraphQL API design patterns
Backend	backend.md	Server-side architecture and implementation
Database	database.md	Database design, optimization, and migrations
Frontend	frontend.md	Client-side architecture and UI implementation
Infrastructure	infrastructure.md	Cloud, CI/CD, and deployment infrastructure
Security	security.md	Application security, authentication, and authorization

Cognitive Personas

Cognitive personas shape how an agent approaches problems. They are optional and influence reasoning style.

Persona	File	Description
Devil's Advocate	devils-advocate.md	Challenges assumptions and finds weaknesses
Mentor Explainer	mentor-explainer.md	Explains decisions clearly and teaches patterns
Performance Focused	performance-focused.md	Prioritizes runtime performance and efficiency
Security First	security-first.md	Prioritizes security in every decision
Systems Thinker	systems-thinker.md	Considers system-wide impacts and interactions
User Empathetic	user-empathetic.md	Prioritizes user experience and accessibility

Domain Personas

Domain personas are provided by domain packs, not the core framework. They inject industry-specific knowledge into agents. See Domain Packs for details on creating and using domain personas.

Composition

Personas are composed using /sniper-compose or automatically during phase commands. The composition merges all specified layers into a single spawn prompt using the spawn prompt template.

Example team YAML composition:

compose:
  process: architect
  technical: backend
  cognitive: systems-thinker
  domain: telephony          # From a domain pack

This produces a single agent that thinks like a systems-oriented backend architect with telephony domain knowledge.

Related

• Personas Guide -- how persona composition works in detail
• Teams -- how personas are assigned to team members
• Domain Packs -- how domain packs add custom personas