Echo Assistant: Minimal Skill for Custom Executor Protocol

Where this fits

You're building an agent that relies on a custom executor to route skill calls. Before you trust it with complex tasks, you need a baseline: a skill that returns exactly what you send, with no side effects. echo-assistant gives you that deterministic probe. It's the first thing you wire up when you suspect your executor is dropping or mangling payloads.

Why agents benefit

• Deterministic testing: Every response is a direct echo, making it trivial to assert expected outputs in automated tests.
• Protocol isolation: By removing any skill logic, you can pinpoint whether issues live in the executor layer or downstream.
• Zero external dependencies: No API calls, no file I/O, no state—just pure request/response, perfect for CI smoke tests.
• Reference implementation: The minimal code serves as a clear template for building your own custom executor skills.
• Latency benchmarking: Measure executor overhead without variable response times muddying your metrics.

Practical scenarios

Validating a custom executor's routing logic

When you add a new skill to your agent, you need to confirm the executor routes it correctly. Send echo hello and verify the agent returns hello. If it doesn't, the problem is in routing, not the skill.

Debugging protocol mismatches between agent and skill

If your agent uses a non-standard request format, echo-assistant reveals exactly what the skill receives. Compare the raw input against the expected schema—any discrepancy becomes immediately visible in the echoed response.

Benchmarking executor latency

Run a loop of echo calls and measure round-trip times. Because the skill does minimal work, any delay is attributable to the executor, network, or agent framework. This gives you a clean baseline for performance tuning.

Add it to your agent workflow

Install the skill with:

npx skills add lizhiyao/oh-my-knowledge --skill echo-assistant

Then invoke it with any prompt that asks for a direct echo:

User: echo hello
Assistant: hello

That's it. If your executor handles the protocol correctly, you'll see the exact input returned.

Compare before adopting

Before relying on echo-assistant, compare it with alternatives:

• Quality signals: Check the repository's stars (currently 18), last commit date, and open issues. A stale project might not support the latest protocol changes.
• Maintenance freshness: Look at how quickly the author responds to PRs or questions. A demo skill that isn't maintained can still be useful, but you'll want to fork it if you depend on it.
• Alternatives: Could you write a simple inline function instead? If your executor already supports native functions, that might be simpler. But if you need a portable skill across environments, this package helps.
• Workflow fit: Does it integrate with your existing skill discovery and installation process? The npx command suggests a standard path, but verify it works with your agent's skill loader.

Why it is worth tracking

echo-assistant is a tiny but purposeful project. Its minimal design makes it a reliable reference for the custom executor protocol, which many agent frameworks are still standardizing. The low star count isn't a red flag—it's a focused utility. Watch for updates that align with protocol changes or expand the demo to cover edge cases. If you're building an executor or a skill runner, this is a useful canary to keep in your toolbox. For more context, check the skill page at https://www.openagentskill.com/skills/lizhiyao-echo-assistant.