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.yaml
```
exists and required SUT images are referenced with
```
build:
```
directives
```
snouty validate
```
on
```
antithesis/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-workload
```
skill to add or iterate on test templates, assertions, and workload code

Prerequisites

DO NOT PROCEED if the Antithesis scratchbook (usually at
```
antithesis/scratchbook/
```
) doesn't exist. Use the
```
antithesis-research
```
skill to create it.

DO NOT PROCEED if

snouty

is not installed. See

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/antithesishq/snouty/refs/heads/main/README.md

for 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.

references/directory-init.md

: initialize or merge the

antithesis/

directory from

assets/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 lives
```
references/docker-images.md
```
: create or adapt Dockerfiles for SUT components

references/docker-compose.md

: write

antithesis/config/docker-compose.yaml

references/config-dir.md

: understand what belongs in

antithesis/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 compose
```
for local testing; fall back to
```
docker 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 to
```
antithesis-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 run
```
directly to submit runs. Run
```
compose build
```
before
```
snouty run
```
to ensure images are up to date.
Do not add a separate Dockerfile under
```
antithesis/config/
```
unless the deployment explicitly requires it.

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.yaml
```
exists and every service has
```
build:
```
(for local images) or
```
image:
```
(for public images) configured correctly
Every service in docker-compose.yaml includes
```
platform: linux/amd64
```
The instrumentation inventory from
```
references/instrumentation.md
```
is 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_complete
```
signal is wired in at least one entrypoint
```
snouty validate
```
on
```
antithesis/config/
```
succeeds

All built images target

amd64

(verified via

podman image inspect

docker image inspect

)

The harness is ready for the
```
antithesis-workload
```
skill — test template directories exist or are wired for later use

antithesis-setup

NPX Install

Tags

SKILL.md Content