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Proposal: add skills for AI coding agents #7502

Description

@mintleaf84

Background

Following #7488 (AGENTS.md), I propose adding structured "skills" for AI coding agents, so that agents can help users run calculations, analyze results, and troubleshoot issues.

Design Philosophy

Skills should answer: How can an AI agent help users complete a specific computational task?

Each skill includes:

  • Input file format and required parameters
  • How to run the calculation
  • Output file locations and formats
  • How to interpret results
  • Common troubleshooting

Proposed Skills

1. abacus-scf — Self-Consistent Field Calculation

Trigger: User wants to run SCF, compute energy, or study electronic structure

Content:

  • INPUT file: required parameters (ecutwfc, ks_solver, basis_type)
  • STRU file: structure format
  • KPT file: k-point settings
  • Run command: mpirun -n N abacus
  • Output: OUT.ABACUS/ directory structure
  • Results: energy, forces, stress location

2. abacus-relax — Structure Optimization

Trigger: User wants to relax a structure

Content:

  • INPUT parameters: relax_method, relax_nmax, force_thr
  • Workflow: SCF → force calculation → move atoms → repeat
  • Output: STRU_ION_D trajectory, final structure
  • Convergence: force and energy thresholds

3. abacus-md — Molecular Dynamics

Trigger: User wants to run MD simulation

Content:

  • INPUT parameters: md_type, md_nstep, md_dt
  • Ensemble: NVT/NPT/NVE
  • Thermostat: nhc/csvr/berendsen
  • Output: trajectory, temperature, pressure

4. abacus-band — Band Structure Calculation

Trigger: User wants to compute band structure

Content:

  • Two-step workflow: SCF → NSCF
  • KPT file: high-symmetry path
  • Output: BANDS.dat, BANDSTRUCTURE format
  • Plotting: using abacus-plot

5. abacus-debug — Troubleshooting

Trigger: User encounters calculation issues

Content:

  • SCF not converging: check mixing_beta, ecutwfc, k-points
  • Out of memory: check ecutrho, parallel settings
  • Slow: check ks_solver, OpenMP settings
  • Wrong results: check functional, basis set, cutoff

Example Structure

skills/
├── abacus-scf/
│ └── SKILL.md
├── abacus-relax/
│ └── SKILL.md
├── abacus-md/
│ ├── SKILL.md
│ └── references/
│ ├── nhc-thermostat.md
│ └── csvr-thermostat.md
├── abacus-band/
│ └── SKILL.md
└── abacus-debug/
├── SKILL.md
└── references/
├── scf-convergence.md
└── memory-issues.md

Benefits

  • Users can let agents run calculations directly
  • Agents can understand output results
  • Agents can help troubleshoot issues
  • Lower the barrier to using ABACUS

References


If this proposal sounds good, I can submit a PR to implement it. Please assign this issue to me.
I will write based on the existing documentation.

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