Customizing HVE Core

Before You Customize

Your installation method determines which customization options are available.

Customization Level	Extension Only	Installer Skill (Clone)	Direct Clone
VS Code Settings	✅	✅	✅
copilot-instructions.md	✅	✅	✅
.instructions.md files	✅ (your repo)	✅	✅
Agent bundle selection	❌	✅	✅
Modify agents	❌	❌	✅
Modify prompts and skills	❌	❌	✅
Build system changes	❌	❌	✅
Fork and extend	❌	❌	✅

The HVE Core extension installs the flagship RPI workflow and core artifacts. For the complete library across all collections, use the HVE Core - All extension. For MCP auto-configuration, installation method guidance, or agent bundle selection, install the HVE Core Installer extension and ask any agent "help me customize hve-core installation". For full artifact modification, use a clone-based installation method.

Customization Spectrum

HVE Core supports a range of customization depths. Start with the lightest option that meets your needs, then move deeper when the situation demands it.

graph LR
    A["VS Code Settings"] --> B["Instructions"]
    B --> C["Agents & Prompts"]
    C --> D["Skills"]
    D --> E["Collections"]
    E --> F["Build System"]
    F --> G["Fork & Extend"]

    style A fill:#e8f5e9
    style B fill:#c8e6c9
    style C fill:#a5d6a7
    style D fill:#81c784
    style E fill:#66bb6a
    style F fill:#4caf50
    style G fill:#388e3c

Approach	Description
VS Code Settings	Individual preferences like font size, theme, and editor behavior. No files to create or share.
Instructions	Configure Copilot behavior through .github/copilot-instructions.md and .instructions.md files. Lowest effort with highest return for shaping AI output.
Agents and Prompts	Specialized workflows: agents for multi-turn interactions, prompts for single-shot tasks. Both accept tool restrictions and delegation rules.
Skills	Domain knowledge in self-contained bundles with optional scripts. Use when instruction files alone cannot capture the depth of a domain.
Collections	Bundle agents, prompts, instructions, and skills into distributable packages for team or organization adoption.
Build System	Validation scripts, schema checks, and plugin generation pipelines.
Fork and Extend	Full control over every artifact. Fork the repository when your changes diverge significantly from upstream.

Choose Your Approach

Goal	Approach	Files Involved	Difficulty
Set coding standards for Copilot	Instructions	.github/copilot-instructions.md, .instructions.md	Low
Create a reusable workflow	Prompt	.github/prompts/{collection}/name.prompt.md	Low
Build a specialized Copilot assistant	Agent	.github/agents/{collection}/name.agent.md	Medium
Package domain expertise	Skill	.github/skills/{collection}/{skill}/SKILL.md	Medium
Share curated bundles across teams	Collection	collections/*.collection.yml	Medium
Add custom validation or plugin generation	Build System	scripts/, package.json	High
Diverge from upstream entirely	Fork and Extend	Full repository	High

Authoring with HVE Builder

Use the hve-builder skill to create, improve, refactor, replace, review, or validate prompts, instructions, agents, subagents, and skills. It resolves the write boundary, runs independent static review, and applies one behavior gate with route-specific execution. Major mutations and behavior-bearing review targets execute testing, while eligible no-runtime review targets and Minor or Medium mutations are satisfied-and-skipped. Known target files and caller-supplied canonical references remain bounded lifecycle reads; open-ended exploration and decision-critical research activate rpi-research.

The retained prompt-builder, prompt-analyze, and prompt-refactor skills remain compatibility aliases for legacy requests. They route to hve-builder and do not own separate authoring workflows.

Each artifact guide below includes an "Authoring with HVE Builder" section with type-specific examples.

Role-Based Entry Points

Each HVE role benefits from different customization techniques. The table below maps the nine roles to the guides most relevant to their workflow.

Role	Recommended Guides	Rationale
Engineer	Instructions, Agents	Coding standards and specialized review agents accelerate daily development
TPM	Prompts, Collections	Reusable planning prompts and curated bundles standardize project workflows
Tech Lead / Architect	Instructions, Agents, Skills	Standards enforcement, architecture review agents, and deep domain knowledge
Security Architect	Skills, Instructions	Compliance knowledge packages and security-focused coding conventions
Data Scientist	Skills, Prompts	Analytical domain bundles and repeatable notebook workflows
SRE / Operations	Instructions, Environment, Local Telemetry	Infrastructure conventions, DevContainer tuning, and local telemetry workflows
Business Program Manager	Prompts, Team Adoption	Sprint-planning prompts and governance patterns for stakeholder alignment
New Contributor	Instructions, Environment	Quick onboarding through conventions and a ready-to-use development environment
Utility	Collections, Build System	Cross-cutting tooling assembly and validation pipeline customization

File Index

1. Customizing with Instructions: Configure Copilot with copilot-instructions.md and instruction files
2. Creating Custom Agents: Build specialized agents with tool restrictions and subagent delegation
3. Creating Custom Prompts: Author reusable prompt templates with variables
4. Authoring Custom Skills: Create domain knowledge packages
5. Managing Collections: Bundle artifacts into distributable packages
6. Build System and Validation: Plugin generation, schema validation, npm scripts
7. Forking and Extending: Full fork-and-extend customization
8. Environment Customization: DevContainers, VS Code settings, MCP servers
9. Team Adoption and Governance: Governance, naming, onboarding, change management
10. Local Telemetry: Enable local telemetry, review capture and storage schema mechanics, and generate reports

Related Resources

• Contributing Guides: Detailed syntax references and contribution standards for each artifact type
• Getting Started: Installation and first workflow guides
• Architecture: Technical architecture overview and design decisions

🤖 Crafted with precision by ✨Copilot following brilliant human instruction, then carefully refined by our team of discerning human reviewers.