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 staging-masterygit 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/staging-mastery)<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/dylantarre/animation-principles/staging-mastery"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/dylantarre/animation-principles/staging-mastery/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/staging-mastery"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/dylantarre/animation-principles/staging-mastery.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 | $0.00030 | $0.00739 |
| Opus 5 | $0.00015 | $0.00369 |
| Sonnet 5 | $0.00006 | $0.00148 |
| Haiku 4.5 | $0.00003 | $0.00074 |
Grade A, and why
staging-mastery 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 9d 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 — 82 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.
Staging Mastery
The Clarity Principle
Staging is the presentation of an idea so that it is unmistakably clear. Borrowed from theater, this principle addresses animation's core challenge: the audience has limited time to comprehend each moment. Poor staging creates confusion; masterful staging creates effortless understanding.
Core Theory
One Idea Per Moment: The eye cannot process competing focal points simultaneously. Every frame should have exactly one primary point of interest. Secondary elements support, never compete.
Silhouette Test: An action should be readable in pure silhouette. If the pose isn't clear as a black shape against white, the staging fails. This test remains relevant across all visual media.
The Staging Toolkit
Contrast: Important elements differ from surroundings (size, color, movement, detail level) Isolation: Negative space around focal points Leading lines: Compositional elements pointing toward the subject Depth positioning: Foreground/background separation clarifies spatial relationships Motion differential: Still backgrounds make moving subjects pop; static subjects stand out against motion
The Hierarchy of Attention
- Primary action: What must be seen (the story point)
- Secondary action: What enriches without distracting (supporting detail)
- Ambient motion: What creates life without demanding attention (background activity)
Each layer should be clearly distinguished through contrast in timing, scale, or position.
Interaction with Other Principles
Anticipation serves staging: The wind-up draws attention to where action will occur.
Timing creates staging: Faster elements attract attention; slower elements recede.
Appeal depends on staging: Even beautifully designed characters fail if poorly presented.
Secondary action must not upstage: Supporting movements stay subordinate through reduced amplitude and offset timing.
Domain Applications
UI/Motion Design
- Modal dialogs: dim background, center and scale the focal element
- Form validation: isolate error states through color and motion
- Onboarding: spotlight techniques literally stage new features
- Navigation transitions: clear origin/destination relationship
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.
- 9d ago First seen · 82 lines · 30 tokens per session scan A 0409e33ec8a0
staging-mastery is a skill published in the GitHub repository dylantarre/animation-principles (81 stars, last pushed 8mo ago), licensed MIT. It adds 30 tokens to every session and 739 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 2026-09-03.
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