Antithesis Setup
Purpose and Goal
Scaffold the antithesis/ harness needed to bring the system up in Antithesis in a mostly idle, ready state.
Success means:
antithesis/config/docker-compose.yamlexists and required SUT images are referenced withbuild:directivessnouty validateonantithesis/config/succeeds- the SUT dependency graph includes the relevant Antithesis SDK where assertions or lifecycle hooks will run
- at least one minimal bootstrap property exists in a simple SUT path and is expected to show up in the first Antithesis run
- The harness is ready for the
antithesis-workloadskill to add or iterate on test templates, assertions, and workload code - If the user asks to submit or launch a run, use the
antithesis-launchskill — do not runsnouty rundirectly
Prerequisites
- Research artifacts required. Before proceeding, check whether
antithesis/scratchbook/exists and contains research output (at minimumsut-analysis.mdanddeployment-topology.md). If the scratchbook is missing or empty, stop and warn the user: Theantithesis-researchskill has not been run yet (no scratchbook found atantithesis/scratchbook/). Setup depends on research artifacts — especially the SUT analysis and deployment topology — to make informed decisions about instrumentation, image structure, and service composition. Please runantithesis-researchfirst, review its output, then return to setup. Do not attempt to proceed without research artifacts. The setup skill will make significantly worse decisions without the context that research provides. - DO NOT PROCEED if
snoutyis not installed. Seehttps://raw.githubusercontent.com/antithesishq/snouty/refs/heads/main/README.mdfor installation options.
Documentation Grounding
Use the antithesis-documentation skill to access these pages. Prefer snouty docs.
- Docker Compose setup guide:
https://antithesis.com/docs/getting_started/setup/ - Docker best practices:
https://antithesis.com/docs/best_practices/docker_best_practices/ - Coverage instrumentation:
https://antithesis.com/docs/instrumentation/coverage_instrumentation/ - Assertion cataloging:
https://antithesis.com/docs/instrumentation/assertion_cataloging/ - Handling external dependencies:
https://antithesis.com/docs/reference/dependencies/ - Fault injection:
https://antithesis.com/docs/environment/fault_injection/
Workflow
This skill is broken out into multiple steps, each in a different reference file. Read and implement each reference file listed below one at a time to fully set up a project. After implementing each step, check whether what you learned invalidates any decisions from earlier steps. Instrumentation decisions (step 2) are the most common thing that needs revision once you start building images (step 3).
references/directory-init.md: initialize or merge theantithesis/directory fromassets/antithesis/references/instrumentation.md: decide how each SUT service is instrumented, how the SDK is installed, how symbols are delivered, and where the bootstrap property livesreferences/docker-images.md: create or adapt Dockerfiles for SUT componentsreferences/docker-compose.md: writeantithesis/config/docker-compose.yamlreferences/config-dir.md: understand what belongs inantithesis/config/references/submit-and-test.md: test locally and submit the first run
General Guidance
- Merge with existing
antithesis/content instead of overwriting it. - Prefer
podman composefor local testing; fall back todocker compose. - Keep Antithesis-only scaffolding under
antithesis/when practical. - Focus this skill on infrastructure and readiness, not on defining the workload itself.
- Installing the relevant Antithesis SDK into the SUT and adding one minimal bootstrap assertion is part of setup, not deferred workload work.
- If
antithesis/test/does not exist yet, create the directory structure needed for later workload work, but leave real test templates and assertions toantithesis-workload. - Treat instrumentation and symbolization as bootstrap work. The setup is not complete until the relevant images expose
/opt/antithesis/catalog/or/symbols/correctly for their language. - Treat local testing as required before the first submission.
- Use
snouty rundirectly to submit runs. Runcompose buildbeforesnouty runto ensure images are up to date. - Do not add a separate Dockerfile under
antithesis/config/unless the deployment explicitly requires it. - Disable color/ANSI output in every container. Antithesis stores raw bytes and does not render escape codes — color output is garbage in logs and triage. Set
NO_COLOR=1on all services via docker-compose.yaml environment blocks or DockerfileENVdirectives. Add tool-specific flags (e.g.FORCE_COLOR=0) where needed.
Self-Review
Before declaring this skill complete, review your work against the criteria below. If your agent supports spawning sub-agents, create a new agent with fresh context to perform this review — give it the path to this skill file and have it read all output artifacts. A fresh-context reviewer catches blind spots that in-context review misses. If your agent does not support sub-agents, perform the review yourself: re-read the success criteria at the top of this file, then systematically check each item below against your actual output.
Review criteria:
antithesis/config/docker-compose.yamlexists and every service hasbuild:(for local images) orimage:(for public images) configured correctly- Every service in docker-compose.yaml includes
platform: linux/amd64 - Every service has
hostname:set to match itscontainer_name: - The instrumentation inventory from
references/instrumentation.mdis fully implemented: each service is instrumented, cataloged-only, or explicitly documented as uninstrumented - The relevant Antithesis SDK is installed in the SUT dependency graph
- A bootstrap property exists in a simple, guaranteed-to-run code path (not behind rare behavior)
/opt/antithesis/catalog/or/symbols/is exposed correctly for each service's language- The
setup_completesignal is wired in at least one entrypoint snouty validateonantithesis/config/succeeds- All built images target
amd64(verified viapodman image inspectordocker image inspect) - Every service has
NO_COLOR=1set in its environment (via docker-compose.yaml and/or Dockerfile) to prevent ANSI escape codes in container output - The harness is ready for the
antithesis-workloadskill — test template directories exist or are wired for later use - If the user asks to launch a run, the
antithesis-launchskill is used instead of runningsnouty rundirectly