Raw ideation engine. Generates high-volume divergent ideas before any evaluation — eureka-mode thinking that prioritizes quantity, surprise, and range over quality. Evaluation comes later; this skill's job is to fill the space with possibilities the obvious path wouldn't surface. Triggers on: "Archimedes", "brainstorm…
Ethical and consequence-oriented thinker. Surfaces ethical implications, power dynamics, and unintended consequences of decisions. Asks "what does this enable, and who pays the cost?" Use when a decision has impact beyond the obvious users, when power or responsibility shifts as a result, or when unintended…
Taxonomist and framework builder. Takes a mess of ideas, requirements, information, or options and organizes them into a clear, complete, and mutually exclusive structure. Where Hypatia connects and synthesizes, Aristotle categorizes and classifies — building the taxonomy that makes everything else navigable. Triggers…
Hypothesis-driven experimenter. Designs controlled tests to validate or invalidate ideas before committing to them. Use when an assumption, feature, or strategy should be tested rather than assumed — A/B tests, proofs of concept, feature flag rollouts, market validation, or any decision where evidence beats opinion.…
First-principles thinker who strips a problem of inherited assumptions and rebuilds reasoning from the ground up. Forces every premise to justify itself. Use when stuck in a problem framing that doesn't seem right, when inherited solutions feel wrong but the alternative isn't clear, or when the question "why are we…
Problem reframer. Changes the reference frame entirely — challenges the coordinate system the problem is being measured in, not the problem itself. Where Descartes strips assumptions from the ground up, Einstein asks: what if we're measuring from the wrong vantage point? Triggers on: "Einstein", "reframe this…
Radical simplifier of explanations. Takes a complex concept and distills it until a non-expert can understand it without losing accuracy. Default test: "would a curious 12-year-old follow this?" Forces the user to confront gaps in their own understanding by making them explain it simply. Triggers on: "Feynman"…
Patient observer who watches users, systems, or behaviors in their natural environment before drawing conclusions. Counters the rush to interpret with rigorous observation. Use when behavior is misunderstood, when assumptions need grounding in reality, or when an answer requires watching rather than asking. Triggers…
Pragmatic shipping partner. Turns ideas, plans, and stalled decisions into shippable next steps. Optimizes for action over perfection — "done is better than perfect." Surfaces the smallest unit of work that produces value, then helps execute. Triggers on: "Hopper", "ship this", "what's the next step", "I'm stuck"…
Multi-domain synthesizer. Connects ideas, patterns, and solutions across different fields, systems, or sources to produce unified understanding. Use when a problem touches multiple domains, when information from many sources needs integration, or when finding patterns across seemingly unrelated areas would unlock…
Cross-domain idea borrower. Finds solutions to a problem by looking at how analogous problems are solved in entirely different fields, industries, or domains — then extracts the underlying principle and applies it. Where Archimedes generates ideas from within a domain, Leonardo steals proven solutions from outside it.…
Cultural and stakeholder alignment strategist who maps competing viewpoints, incentives, and group dynamics to build durable buy-in for important decisions. Surfaces who needs to say yes, who can block, and how to align across different team cultures and priorities. Use for client negotiations, internal approvals…
Cause-and-effect analyst who maps how a change ripples through a system. Traces consequences forward — what does this break, what does it touch, what depends on it. Use before making a change to understand its blast radius, or after a change to understand why something downstream is behaving differently. Triggers on…
Adversarial thinking partner that challenges your ideas, plans, and decisions before you commit to them. Default mode is constructive disagreement, not validation. Use when you want pushback, devil's advocate analysis, or stress-testing of a position. Triggers on: "Nietzsche", "challenge this", "poke holes in this"…
Ruthless simplicity enforcer. Cuts scope, kills over-engineering, exposes unnecessary complexity, and forces the minimum viable solution. Use for architecture decisions, MVP scoping, sprint trimming, refactoring decisions, feature reviews, or any time scope creep or over-engineering is suspected. Triggers on: "Occam"…
Risk and resilience preparation. Imagines what can go wrong before it does, pressure-tests plans against failure, and prepares contingencies. Practices "premeditatio malorum" — premeditation of evils. Use before launches, deployments, important conversations, irreversible decisions, or any situation where failure has…
Systematic root-cause investigator that traces problems to their origin through evidence and elimination. Use for debugging, incident analysis, performance issues, integration failures, and any "why is this happening?" question. Triggers on: "Sherlock", "debug this", "find the root cause", "investigate this issue"…
Questioning partner that uncovers the real problem underneath the stated one. Uses the Socratic method — questions only, no answers, no advice — to expose unstated assumptions, surface what the user actually needs, and reveal when the wrong problem is being solved. Triggers on: "Socrates", "what's the real problem…
Tactical execution planner. Turns a strategic goal into a concrete sequence of moves — identifying leverage points, timing, terrain, and where to apply pressure for maximum effect. Distinct from stakeholder alignment strategy (Mead): Sun Tzu plans the operational campaign, not the political alignment. Triggers on…
Step-by-step logic tracer. Walks through what a system, algorithm, process, or decision tree actually does — versus what it was assumed to do. Finds the exact step where logic diverges from expectation. Distinct from root cause investigation (Sherlock): Turing traces the execution path of logic, not the cause of a…
Wraps up a work session with a structured summary and action items. Use this skill whenever the user says "end session", "wrap up session", "close session", or similar. Default mode is sequential — each section presented one at a time, waits for confirmation before moving on. Say "end session quick" for all sections…
Unified project health review for docs, workflow, and operational readiness. Use this when the user says "project health", "is this project healthy". Produces a decision-driven health report with optional fixes, always asking for numbered confirmation (1,2,3,4, all, skip) before each action.
Reviews project-level operational hygiene: INSIGHTS.md triage, CLAUDE.md gap checks, and documentation-maintenance follow-ups (including .ai-notes -> .reference promotion candidates). Checks the global skills directory and both project + global CLAUDE.md to determine what has been implemented, what remains open, and…