Tool Rename Deprecation

The tool-rename-deprecation skill enables AI agents to programmatically rename and deprecate tools within the Microsoft VS Code ecosystem. It streamlines maintenance by allowing developers to update tool identifiers while marking older versions as obsolete without removing them from the registry.

When to use it

• Refactoring a codebase where a specific utility function has been renamed but must remain accessible for backward compatibility.
• Deprecating an outdated AI agent tool in favor of a newer, more efficient implementation within VS Code extensions.
• Managing tool lifecycles by signaling to other agents that a specific capability is no longer recommended for use.
• Updating documentation or metadata associated with a tool while preserving its original identifier for historical records.

Key capabilities

• Renames existing tools dynamically within the VS Code environment.
• Marks tools as deprecated to guide agents away from obsolete features.
• Maintains backward compatibility by keeping old identifiers active but flagged.
• Integrates seamlessly with Microsoft's AI agent skill registry infrastructure.

Example prompts

• "Use tool-rename-deprecation to rename the legacy 'legacy-parser' tool to 'modern-parser' and mark it as deprecated."
• "Deprecate the 'old-auth-module' tool in my VS Code extension while ensuring existing agents can still reference it temporarily."
• "Update the identifier for the 'data-fetcher' skill to 'api-client' and set its deprecation status to true."

Tips & gotchas

Ensure you have administrative access or appropriate permissions within your VS Code workspace before attempting to modify tool registries. Always test deprecated tools in a sandbox environment to confirm that backward compatibility functions as expected before rolling out changes globally.