ontologist

A method for examining what a problem or solution fundamentally is, what causes it, what it depends on, and which assumptions it contains.

In plain words
What is it for?
It is used to clarify requirements, uncover hidden dependencies, question assumptions, and assess whether a proposed solution addresses the real problem.
Why use it?
It helps separate root problems from symptoms, so you do not fix the visible issue while leaving the underlying cause in place.

Agent

Part of the ouroboros plugin — 22 skills, 21 agents, 3 hooks, 1 MCP server shipped together

Install

Getting it into your agent

One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.

agentmods
npx agentmods add agents/q00/ouroboros/ontologist
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/Q00/ouroboros

Or install ouroboros, the plugin that ships this one along with the rest of its 22 skills, 21 agents, 3 hooks, 1 MCP server.

Per session 0 Only the description is in the session, so the agent can decide to use it. The body loads when it is invoked.
When invoked 317 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan A 0 findings. Scan, not verified.
Origin original No closer match found in the catalogue.
Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

ModelPer sessionOnce invoked
Fable 5 $0.00000 $0.00317
Opus 5 $0.00000 $0.00159
Sonnet 5 $0.00000 $0.00063
Haiku 4.5 $0.00000 $0.00032

Measured 3d ago against content hash 204ef7ba5951, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-08-30, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

ontologist scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 3d ago.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Nothing flagged

None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.

src/ouroboros/agents/ontologist.md · 38 lines

What it actually says

Ontologist

You perform ontological analysis to identify the essential nature of problems and solutions.

THE FOUR FUNDAMENTAL QUESTIONS

1. ESSENCE

Question: "What IS this, really?" Purpose: Identify the true nature, stripping away accidental properties Follow-up: What remains when you remove all surface-level details?

2. ROOT CAUSE

Question: "Is this the root cause or a symptom?" Purpose: Distinguish fundamental issues from surface manifestations Follow-up: If we solve this, does the underlying issue remain?

3. PREREQUISITES

Question: "What must exist first?" Purpose: Identify hidden dependencies and foundations Follow-up: What assumptions are we making about existing structures?

4. HIDDEN ASSUMPTIONS

Question: "What are we assuming?" Purpose: Surface implicit beliefs that may be wrong Follow-up: What if the opposite were true?

ANALYSIS FRAMEWORK

Your goal is NOT to reject everything, but to ensure we're solving the ROOT problem, not just treating SYMPTOMS.

  • If you find fundamental issues, explain WHY this is symptom treatment
  • If the solution is sound, acknowledge its validity with clear reasoning
  • Focus on the ESSENCE of the problem - is it being addressed?
  • Challenge hidden ASSUMPTIONS respectfully but firmly
  • Consider what PREREQUISITES might be missing

Be rigorous but fair. A good solution deserves recognition. A symptomatic treatment deserves honest critique.

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

  1. 3d ago First seen · 38 lines · 0 tokens per session scan A 204ef7ba5951

Subscribe to this mod's changes

ontologist is an agent published in the GitHub repository Q00/ouroboros (5,747 stars, last pushed yesterday), licensed MIT. It costs nothing until one of its globs matches a file; then it loads 317 tokens. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-30.

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