>>> [!note] Migrated issue <!-- Drupal.org comment --> <!-- Migrated from issue #3584914. --> Reported by: [webchick](https://www.drupal.org/user/24967) Related to !13 >>> <h3>Context</h3> <p>Several parallel efforts have emerged in the Drupal AI tooling space, and several maintainers <a href="https://drupal.slack.com/archives/C0APH70JV18/p1776247875432979">met</a> to discuss how to avoid duplication and create a coherent developer experience. The main projects discussed were AI Best Practices (webchick), Drupal DevKit (Alphons/AJV009), drupal-workflow (George Kastanis/Zorz), and concepts from Surge (ronaldtebrake), along with references to external inspiration from obra/superpowers, vercel-labs/skills, and Laravel Boost.</p> <h3>The Core Tension</h3> <p>Everyone shares the same high-level goal &mdash; a "one stop shop" where a Drupal developer can get set up in 5 minutes with AI-assisted tooling and start doing real work. The disagreement is about where to draw the lines between projects, and whether splitting responsibilities across multiple projects creates friction (e.g., "now choose between these 11 development harnesses").</p> <p>webchick's key concern: AI Best Practices should not become a menu of options. It should get people running quickly with an <em>opinionated default</em>, and only after that introduce the broader Drupal AI tooling ecosystem.</p> <h3>Emerging Consensus on a Split</h3> <p>The group gravitated toward a two-layer model:</p> <ul> <li>AI Best Practices = the curated, tiered, evaluated skill repository. The "smarts" &mdash; what makes AI not do stupid things with Drupal. One opinionated, simple setup that works for 80% of developers.</li> <li>DevKit / Surge = the developer harness and tooling layer. Cross-model, cross-provider support. DDEV integration, security settings, contribution-ready local setup ("curl xyz.sh | bash"). Wraps around AI Best Practices but adds the infrastructure plumbing.</li> </ul> <p>George supported this split. Alphons agreed, noting he would gain greatest value from the skills in his projects, and tiered evaluation work fits better in AI Best Practices.</p> <h3>Unresolved Questions</h3> <ul> <li><strong>How to avoid a fragmented onboarding experience?</strong> If skills live in one project and tooling in another, developers may face a "analysis paralysis" in their initial setup. webchick wants to avoid requiring users to choose a harness. Can AI Best Practices ship with one simple, default harness that's easily replaceable for advanced users?</li> <li><strong>Scope of AI Best Practices beyond skills.</strong> ronaldtebrake raised that skills alone aren't enough &mdash; MCP servers, AGENTS.md configurations, CLI tooling, and harness setup are all part of "best practices" for developers. Limiting the project to skills may leave gaps.</li> <li><strong>Where do MCP tools and plugin packages live?</strong> Alphons flagged that there's still no clear home for things beyond skills. ronaldtebrake's experience with Surge and ai_skills showed that a "skill library shop" still requires solving for MCP, CLIs, and other tooling.</li> <li><strong>Meeting developers where they are.</strong> Many Drupal developers haven't engaged with AI tools since early ChatGPT experiences. The tooling needs to be approachable for newcomers while not holding back power users.</li> </ul> <h3>Agreed Next Steps</h3> <ul> <li>Alphons will test DevKit's cross-harness support and post updates.</li> <li>George will review DevKit before Dev Days Athens and is running a BoF on AI agent testing (Thursday/Friday).</li> <li>webchick will capture discussion highlights in an issue for broader community input.</li> <li>The AI Best Practices repo is open for contributions/major work at DDD Athens.</li> <li>An evaluation issue was created to formally assess how to combine DevKit and AI Best Practices efforts: <a href="https://www.drupal.org/project/ai_best_practices/issues/3584894">https://www.drupal.org/project/ai_best_practices/issues/3584894</a></li> </ul> <h3>Reference Projects &amp; Inspiration</h3> <ul> <li><a href="https://www.drupal.org/project/drupal_devkit">Drupal DevKit</a></li> <li><a href="https://github.com/AJV009/awesome-drupal-ai">awesome-drupal-ai</a></li> <li><a href="https://github.com/obra/superpowers">obra/superpowers</a></li> <li><a href="https://github.com/vercel-labs/skills">vercel-labs/skills</a></li> <li><a href="https://laravel.com/ai/boost">Laravel Boost</a> (as a reference for how another framework handles this)</li> </ul> > Related issue: [Issue #3584903](https://www.drupal.org/node/3584903) > Related issue: [Issue #3584894](https://www.drupal.org/node/3584894)