---
name: agentscope-ai-apply-patch
description: "Apply multi-file or tricky edits atomically with git apply instead of many fragile edit_file calls. Use when changing several files at once or when edit_file fails to match."
metadata:
  decimalai-skill-id: "8936bd7c-e018-409c-bbf7-a03df8b08447"
  decimalai-version-id: "016b7d8e-d794-42df-9250-d78b71fde3c5"
  decimalai-version: "1"
  decimalai-body-sha256: "00f1d083233ef0fb84ec54245e5c5aecd8c18fba67c22e8d0107443840aa546a"
  decimalai-name: "agentscope-ai/apply-patch"
  decimalai-format: "1"
  decimalai-invocation: "model"
  decimalai-category: "coding"
  decimalai-source: "https://app.decimal.ai/s/agentscope-ai-apply-patch@1/SKILL.md"
---
# Apply Patch

The built-in `edit_file` does an exact string match on a single file and has no fuzzy
tolerance. For multi-file changes, or when `edit_file` keeps failing to find the string,
construct a unified diff and apply it atomically with git.

## Procedure

1. Write the unified diff to a file in the sandbox (use `write_file` or a heredoc via `execute`):

   ```
   diff --git a/path/to/file b/path/to/file
   --- a/path/to/file
   +++ b/path/to/file
   @@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ context line
   -old line
   +new line
   ```

2. Validate before applying: `git apply --check changes.patch`
3. Apply: `git apply changes.patch` (use `-p0` if paths are not `a/`...`b/`...).
4. If `git apply` rejects the hunk, the surrounding context is stale — `read_file` the exact
   lines again, regenerate the diff with correct context, and retry.

## When to prefer this

- Editing 3+ files for one logical change (atomic, all-or-nothing).
- Repetitive or whitespace-sensitive edits where `edit_file` exact-match struggles.
- Re-applying a patch produced elsewhere (e.g. from a PR or `git diff`).

Always run the verify-changes skill afterwards.