octo-dev

octo-dev is a command for Claude Code, Cursor from nyldn/claude-octopus. It costs 13 tokens per session (590 once invoked), scanned A, original, MIT.

A command that switches Claude Octopus between Dev Work mode and Knowledge Work mode. Dev Work mode is intended for software implementation and development tasks.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it before development work when you need to change the active operating mode and see available coding commands.
Why use it?
It lets the tool use settings suited to coding instead of research or learning tasks.

Command for Claude CodeCursor

Written for Claude Code and Cursor: disable-model-invocation in frontmatter, but also a Cursor plugin manifest.

Part of the octo plugin — 70 skills, 106 commands, 10 agents, 18 hooks shipped together

Good fit Use it before development work when you need to change the active operating mode and see available coding commands.

Compare 6 commands from other repositories ↓
Install with agentmods
npx agentmods add commands/nyldn/claude-octopus/octo-dev
About the project

Claude Octopus is an orchestration project that sends research, design, and coding tasks to Claude Code and other AI model providers so their results can be compared. Developers use it for multi-model work, disagreement detection, reviews, persistent context, and an optional workflow that moves from discovery through delivery. The catalogue entries are its commands, skills, agents, instructions, hooks, plugins, and settings.

nyldn/claude-octopus · 4,056 stars · on GitHub · reddit.com

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.

Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/nyldn/claude-octopus

Made for: Claude Code, Cursor.

Or install octo, the plugin that ships this one along with the rest of its 70 skills, 106 commands, 10 agents, 18 hooks.

Wrote this? Show the measurements

A badge with what this costs and how it scanned, read live from this page, so it follows the numbers instead of freezing them. Markdown for a README, HTML for a documentation site or a project page.

agentmods badge for octo-dev

README.md
[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/commands/nyldn/claude-octopus/octo-dev/github.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/commands/nyldn/claude-octopus/octo-dev)
Your own site
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/commands/nyldn/claude-octopus/octo-dev"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/commands/nyldn/claude-octopus/octo-dev/github.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>

Or the 80×15 button, for a site that already has a row of RSS and ATOM ones. Only the verdict fits; the numbers stay here.

agentmods 80×15 button for octo-dev

Your own site · 80×15
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/commands/nyldn/claude-octopus/octo-dev"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/commands/nyldn/claude-octopus/octo-dev.svg" alt="Reviewed on agentmods" width="80" height="20"></a>
Per session 13 Only the description is in the session, so the agent can decide to use it. The body loads when it is invoked.
When invoked 590 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan A 0 findings. A grade says what 26 rules found in the file — not that it is safe.
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 5.1 $0.00013 $0.00590
Opus 5 $0.00006 $0.00295
Sonnet 5 $0.00003 $0.00118
Haiku 4.5 $0.00001 $0.00059

Measured 5d ago against content hash 2413b27addc8, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-09-08, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

octo-dev 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 5d 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.

Origin

Copies of this mod

1 near-identical copy found in the catalogue:

  • dev — 97% identical, 5 lines differ
.cursor-plugin/commands/octo-dev.md · 63 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 63 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

Dev Work Mode

Switch to Dev Work Mode, optimized for software development.

Implementation Instructions

When this command is executed:

  1. Check current mode via .claude/claude-octopus.local.md:

    • If file does NOT exist → user is already in Dev Work Mode (default). Do not create the file. Show confirmation only, then exit.
    • If file exists and knowledge_mode: false → user is already in Dev Work Mode. Do not rewrite the file. Show confirmation only, then exit.
    • If file exists and knowledge_mode: true → proceed to step 2.
  2. Switch to Dev Work mode (only if a real transition is needed):

    • Before writing, state one sentence: "Switching Knowledge Work → Dev Work — updating .claude/claude-octopus.local.md (knowledge_mode: truefalse)."
    • Update the existing file's knowledge_mode field to false (preserve any other keys in frontmatter).
    • Confirm the switch.
  3. Show confirmation:

    • Display Dev Work Mode emoji (🔧)
    • List active personas
    • Suggest available commands (/octo:develop, /octo:review, /octo:tdd, etc.)

Rule (v9.30+): Never create or rewrite .claude/claude-octopus.local.md when the user is already in the target mode. The v9.29 behavior over-executed — it wrote config for a state the user was already in, without explanation. Skip the Write tool entirely when there's nothing to change. See agents/principles/write-intent.md for the general principle.

Usage

/octo:dev        # Switch to Dev Work mode

What is Dev Work Mode?

Dev Work Mode 🔧 is optimized for:

  • Building features and implementing APIs
  • Debugging code and fixing bugs
  • Technical architecture and code review
  • Test-driven development

Personas: backend-architect, code-reviewer, debugger, test-automator, performance-engineer

Two Work Modes

Claude Octopus has two work modes:

  1. Dev Work Mode 🔧 (this mode)

    • For: Software development, code, technical tasks
  2. Knowledge Work Mode 🎓

    • For: User research, strategy analysis, literature reviews
    • Switch: /octo:km on

Read the full file on GitHub · 63 lines

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. 5d ago First seen · 63 lines · 13 tokens per session scan A 2413b27addc8

Subscribe to this mod's changes

octo-dev is a command published in the GitHub repository nyldn/claude-octopus (4,056 stars, last pushed today), licensed MIT. It adds 13 tokens to every session and 590 once invoked, about $0.0001 per session on Opus 5. 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 2026-09-03.