feat(eval-author)!: replace the CLI with skills for Harbor eval discovery

docs/agents/insight-driven-optimization.mdx

@@ -285,10 +285,9 @@ evaluation suite for validating candidates that address the Insight. The
 Experimenter invokes the Eval Author workflow in Insight mode and reads the
 `eval_author` section of the experiment configuration.
 
-The plugin also exposes the canonical `nemo agents eval-author` command
-namespace with `discover`, `audit`, `propose`, `run`, and `doctor` verbs. These
-standalone verbs are currently scaffolding and exit with a nonzero status until
-their implementations are available.
+The Eval Author has no command namespace. Work on the evaluation suites in your
+own repository runs through the `eval-author` skills, which your agent reads and
+follows. See the [Eval Author README](https://github.com/NVIDIA-NeMo/nemo-platform/tree/main/plugins/nemo-eval-author).
 
 ## Get Started
 
@@ -325,7 +324,6 @@ Confirm the plugins are installed and discoverable:
 ```bash
 nemo agents analyst --help
 nemo agents experimentalist --help
-nemo agents eval-author --help
 ```
 
 From an agent directory with an `optimizer.yaml` profile, check that the
@@ -529,8 +527,7 @@ seconds and submits a run after the scheduled daily or weekly window is reached.
 ## Command Reference
 
 The Analyst lives under `nemo agents analyst`, and the Experimenter lives under
-`nemo agents experimentalist`. The Eval Author command surface lives under
-`nemo agents eval-author`. These command namespaces share the `optimizer.yaml`
+`nemo agents experimentalist`. These command namespaces share the `optimizer.yaml`
 profile, and each validates its own configuration. Scheduled analysis remains
 under `nemo insights analysis`.
 
@@ -586,12 +583,6 @@ Run the local Experimenter loop.
 Diagnose the Experimenter setup: profile, configured models, Insight resolution,
 datasets, and the experiment plan.
 
-### `nemo agents eval-author`
-
-Discover the current Eval Author command surface with `--help`. The
-`discover`, `audit`, `propose`, `run`, and `doctor` verbs are placeholders and
-exit with a nonzero status until their implementations are available.
-
 ### Models
 
 The optimization agents use the active Platform CLI context:

packages/nemo_platform/pyproject.toml

@@ -293,11 +293,7 @@ nemo-deployments-plugin = [
 
 # Generated from [tool.bundle-package]; do not edit by hand.
 nemo-eval-author-plugin = [
-  "pydantic>=2",
-  "harbor>=0.18",
-  "nemo-experimentalist-plugin",
   "nemo-insights-plugin",
-  "nemo-platform-plugin",
   "pyyaml>=6.0.3",
 ]
 
@@ -569,7 +565,6 @@ insights = "nemo_insights_plugin.cli:InsightsCLI"
 
 # Generated from [tool.bundle-package]; do not edit this table by hand.
 [project.entry-points."nemo.cli.agents"]
-eval-author = "nemo_eval_author_plugin.cli:EvalAuthorCLI"
 experimentalist = "nemo_experimentalist_plugin.cli:ExperimentalistCLI"
 analyst = "nemo_insights_plugin.analyst.cli:AnalystCLI"
 

plugins/nemo-eval-author/README.md

@@ -1,26 +1,36 @@
 <!-- SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2025-2026 NVIDIA CORPORATION & AFFILIATES. All rights reserved. -->
 <!-- SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0 -->
 
-# NeMo Eval Author Plugin
+# NeMo Eval Author
 
-Owns the `nemo agents eval-author` command group, registered under `nemo.cli.agents` and
-mounted by the agents plugin. `discover` is implemented; `audit`, `propose`, `run`, and
-`doctor` are placeholders.
+Two skills that an agent reads to work on the evaluation suites in a user's own
+repository. There is no CLI and no service. A customer points their agent at
+`skills/` and nothing gets installed.
 
-Use `discover` only with a trusted repository, because importing an agent runs
-module top-level code.
+| Skill | Role |
+| --- | --- |
+| [`eval-author`](src/nemo_eval_author_plugin/skills/eval-author/SKILL.md) | Core. Owns the standard every sub-flow follows and routes to one. |
+| [`eval-author-discover`](src/nemo_eval_author_plugin/skills/eval-author-discover/SKILL.md) | Sub-flow. Records whether a repository's Harbor evals are ready to run. |
 
-The Eval Author agent moved into the Experimentalist plugin, at
-[`nemo_experimentalist_plugin.eval_author`](../nemo-experimentalist/src/nemo_experimentalist_plugin/eval_author/README.md).
-Experimentalist insight mode is its only caller, so the agent sits beside the evaluator,
-staging, and trace helpers it depends on.
+## Why skills instead of an agent
 
-## Direction of travel
+Harbor tasks live in the customer's repository, so an agent that proposes changes
+has to write to that repository. Customers were unwilling to grant that, sandboxed
+or not. A skill inverts the arrangement: the customer's own agent does the work,
+and this package only supplies the instructions and the deterministic scripts.
 
-The dependency is one arrow. `discovery/run.py` borrows `make_client` from Experimentalist,
-and Experimentalist imports nothing from here, so there is no package cycle for `uv` to
-resolve. Install both plugins with:
+The Eval Author agent that Experimentalist insight mode still uses lives in
+[the Experimentalist plugin](../nemo-experimentalist/src/nemo_experimentalist_plugin/eval_author/README.md).
 
-```bash
-uv sync --group experimentalist
-```
+## Dependencies
+
+The scripts under `skills/*/scripts/` import the standard library only, so they run
+on whatever Python the customer already has. Where a real answer needs a provider,
+the skill defers to the provider's own validators rather than guessing from file
+layout, which is why `eval-author-discover` probes for an installed Harbor and asks
+Harbor to judge each config.
+
+The two declared dependencies serve `tests/test_skill_contract.py`, which reads the
+skills with `pyyaml` and checks them against the platform's check helpers. Adding a
+runtime dependency to a bundled script is a breaking change for anyone who copied
+the skill, so the contract test guards against it.

plugins/nemo-eval-author/pyproject.toml

@@ -4,22 +4,16 @@
 [project]
 name = "nemo-eval-author-plugin"
 version = "0.1.0"
-description = "Eval Author commands for NeMo Platform (borrows the Experimentalist platform client)."
+description = "Eval Author skills that an agent reads to discover a repository's Harbor eval setup."
 requires-python = ">=3.12,<3.14"
+# The bundled skill scripts run on the standard library alone, so a customer needs
+# no install to use them. These two are for the contract test: it reads the skill
+# with pyyaml and checks it against the platform's own check helpers.
 dependencies = [
-    "pydantic>=2",
-    # Harbor 0.18 provides the discovery APIs used by this plugin.
-    "harbor>=0.18",
-    "nemo-experimentalist-plugin",
     "nemo-insights-plugin",
-    "nemo-platform",
-    "nemo-platform-plugin",
     "pyyaml>=6.0.3",
 ]
 
-[project.entry-points."nemo.cli.agents"]
-eval-author = "nemo_eval_author_plugin.cli:EvalAuthorCLI"
-
 [build-system]
 requires = ["hatchling"]
 build-backend = "hatchling.build"
@@ -28,6 +22,5 @@ build-backend = "hatchling.build"
 packages = ["src/nemo_eval_author_plugin"]
 
 [tool.pytest.ini_options]
-asyncio_mode = "auto"
 pythonpath = ["src"]
 testpaths = ["tests"]