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.
npx skills add dylantarre/animation-principles --skill anticipation-payoffgit clone --depth 1 https://github.com/dylantarre/animation-principlesWrote 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.
[](https://agentmods.dev/skills/dylantarre/animation-principles/anticipation-payoff)<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/dylantarre/animation-principles/anticipation-payoff"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/dylantarre/animation-principles/anticipation-payoff/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.
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/dylantarre/animation-principles/anticipation-payoff"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/dylantarre/animation-principles/anticipation-payoff.svg" alt="Reviewed on agentmods" width="80" height="20"></a>- Socket pass
- Snyk pass
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.
| Model | Per session | Once invoked |
|---|---|---|
| Fable 5.1 | $0.00035 | $0.00779 |
| Opus 5 | $0.00017 | $0.00390 |
| Sonnet 5 | $0.00007 | $0.00156 |
| Haiku 4.5 | $0.00003 | $0.00078 |
Grade A, and why
anticipation-payoff 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 12d 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.
How it starts
The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 71 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.
Anticipation & Payoff
Think like a comedian setting up a punchline. Every great moment is earned by what came before. The windup is half the pitch.
Core Mental Model
Before animating any action, ask: What prepares the audience for this?
Anticipation isn't just physical preparation—it's a promise. You're telling the audience "something's coming" so they're primed to receive it. The payoff is keeping that promise with interest.
The 12 Principles Through Setup-Delivery
Anticipation — The principle itself. Before going right, go left. Before jumping up, crouch down. The opposite direction creates spring-loaded energy.
Timing — Setup needs time to register. Rush the anticipation and the payoff feels random. Hold it too long and tension deflates. Find the sweet spot.
Staging — Frame the anticipation so it's unmissable. The audience can't appreciate a payoff they weren't prepared for. Clear staging of setup = satisfying delivery.
Exaggeration — Push the anticipation to heighten payoff. A bigger windup = bigger impact. But match scales—extreme setup needs extreme delivery.
Follow Through & Overlapping Action — Payoff has aftermath. The action doesn't end at impact; it resolves through settling motion. Let consequences play out.
Secondary Action — Setup through supporting elements. Environment reacts to gathering energy. Other characters notice. Secondary actions can foreshadow the main event.
Slow In & Slow Out — Ease into anticipation (building tension), snap through the action (release), ease out of payoff (resolution). The rhythm of drama.
Squash & Stretch — Compression before extension. Squash is stored energy (setup). Stretch is released energy (payoff). Physical metaphor for narrative structure.
Arcs — Setup and payoff follow complementary arcs. The anticipation arc winds backward; the action arc springs forward. Together they form a complete gesture.
Appeal — Well-structured anticipation-payoff is inherently satisfying. Audiences love the rhythm of setup and delivery. It's why jokes work.
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.
- 12d ago First seen · 71 lines · 35 tokens per session scan A 7498dd0c1320
anticipation-payoff is a skill published in the GitHub repository dylantarre/animation-principles (80 stars, last pushed 8mo ago), licensed MIT. It adds 35 tokens to every session and 779 once invoked, about $0.0002 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 2026-08-30.
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