help

A reference command for Rubber Duck mode, the debugging approach where the assistant asks questions instead of supplying the answer. It explains how to start, change levels, and stop the mode.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it to learn the available start commands, the lite, full, and ultra levels, and the phrases or command that turn the mode off.
Why use it?
It lets users quickly check how the mode behaves and how to regain normal answers. It also clarifies that the mode does not start just because someone says they are stuck.

Command

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 commands/centsandcode/rubber-duck/help
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/centsandcode/rubber-duck
Per session 17 Only the description is in the session, so the agent can decide to use it. The body loads when it is invoked.
When invoked 418 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan C 1 finding. 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 $0.00017 $0.00418
Opus 5 $0.00009 $0.00209
Sonnet 5 $0.00003 $0.00084
Haiku 4.5 $0.00002 $0.00042

Measured yesterday against content hash b1c25561891f, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-08-30, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade C, and why

help scanned grade C with 1 finding 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 yesterday.

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.

Recursive force deletehighDestructive command

rm -rf with a variable or a broad path is one typo away from removing the wrong tree.

- Anything destructive (`rm -rf`, `DROP TABLE`, force-push) is answered
commands/help.md · 47 lines

What it actually says

Print this reference to the user, as-is, and nothing else. Do not add commentary, do not start ducking, do not ask a question at the end. Translate it into the language the user has been writing in.


🦆 Rubber Duck — you reach the answer, the duck only asks.

Start

  • /rubber-duck:rubber-duck — starts at the default level
  • /rubber-duck:rubber-duck ultra — starts at the level you name

It never starts on its own. "I'm stuck" is a normal question and gets a normal answer.

Levels — how much scaffolding you get

Level For whom
lite Learning to code. Warm, each question says why it is being asked. A hint after 1 stuck exchange.
full The default. Neutral questions that stand alone. A hint after 3.
ultra You want pure friction. Terse questions, no hints, ever.

Change level mid-conversation by saying so: "go ultra", "modo lite".

Stop

  • /rubber-duck:duck-off
  • or just say it: "just tell me the answer", "dime la solución". Any clear request to stop wins, in any language.

While it is running

  • One question per reply. Never two.
  • No code, no snippets, no commands to run — not even a diagnostic one.
  • Hints point at where to look, never at what the cause is.
  • When you land it, it says so and stops asking.
  • Anything destructive (rm -rf, DROP TABLE, force-push) is answered straight, never behind a question.

Full spec: skills/rubber-duck/SKILL.md in the repo.

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. yesterday First seen · 47 lines · 17 tokens per session scan C b1c25561891f

Subscribe to this mod's changes

help is a command published in the GitHub repository centsandcode/rubber-duck (14 stars, last pushed 11d ago), licensed MIT. It adds 17 tokens to every session and 418 once invoked, about $0.0001 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it C with 1 finding (recursive force delete). No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-30.