Trace knowledge artifact lineage and sources. Find orphans, stale citations. Triggers: "where did this come from", "trace this learning", "knowledge lineage".
provenance follows the SKILL.md standard. Use the install command to add it to your agent stack.
---
name: provenance
description: 'Trace knowledge artifact lineage and sources. Find orphans, stale citations. Triggers: "where did this come from", "trace this learning", "knowledge lineage".'
---
# Provenance Skill
Trace knowledge artifact lineage to sources.
## Execution Steps
Given `/provenance <artifact>`:
### Step 1: Read the Artifact
```
Tool: Read
Parameters:
file_path: <artifact-path>
```
Look for provenance metadata:
- Source references
- Session IDs
- Dates
- Related artifacts
### Step 2: Trace Source Chain
```bash
# Check for source metadata in the file
grep -i "source\|session\|from\|extracted" <artifact-path>
# Search for related transcripts
ao forge search "<artifact-name>" 2>/dev/null
```
### Step 3: Build Lineage Chain
```
Transcript (source of truth)
↓
Forge extraction (candidate)
↓
Human review (promotion)
↓
Pattern recognition (tier-up)
↓
Skill creation (automation)
```
### Step 4: Write Provenance Report
```markdown
# Provenance: <artifact-name>
## Current State
- **Tier:** <0-3>
- **Created:** <date>
- **Citations:** <count>
## Source Chain
1. **Origin:** <transcript or session>
- Line/context: <where extracted>
- Extracted: <date>
2. **Promoted:** <tier change>
- Reason: <why promoted>
- Date: <when>
## Related Artifacts
- <related artifact 1>
- <related artifact 2>
```
### Step 5: Report to User
Tell the user:
1. Artifact lineage
2. Original source
3. Promotion history
4. Related artifacts
## Finding Orphans
```bash
/provenance --orphans
```
Find artifacts without source tracking:
```bash
# Files without "Source:" or "Session:" metadata
for f in .agents/learnings/*.md; do
grep -L "Source\|Session" "$f" 2>/dev/null
done
```
## Finding Stale Artifacts
```bash
/provenance --stale
```
Find artifacts where source may have changed:
```bash
# Artifacts older than their sources
find .agents/ -name "*.md" -mtime +30 2>/dev/null
```
## Key Rules
- **Every insight has a source** - trace it
- **Track promotions** - know why tier changed
- **Find orphans** - clean up untracked knowledge
- **Maintain lineage** - provenance enables trust