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 fabioc-aloha/Alex_Skill_Mall --skill cognitive-loadgit clone --depth 1 https://github.com/fabioc-aloha/Alex_Skill_MallWrote 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/fabioc-aloha/alex_skill_mall/cognitive-load)<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/fabioc-aloha/alex_skill_mall/cognitive-load"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/fabioc-aloha/alex_skill_mall/cognitive-load/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/fabioc-aloha/alex_skill_mall/cognitive-load"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/fabioc-aloha/alex_skill_mall/cognitive-load.svg" alt="Reviewed on agentmods" width="80" height="20"></a>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 | $0.00014 | $0.01356 |
| Opus 5 | $0.00007 | $0.00678 |
| Sonnet 5 | $0.00003 | $0.00271 |
| Haiku 4.5 | $0.00001 | $0.00136 |
Grade A, and why
cognitive-load 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 7d 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 — 202 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.
Cognitive Load Skill
Don't overwhelm — chunk, scaffold, summarize first.
Core Principle
Working memory holds 4±1 items (Miller's Law). Exceed this → comprehension drops, frustration rises. Every explanation must respect this limit.
Cognitive Load Types
| Type | Definition | Goal | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intrinsic | Inherent task complexity | Manage via scaffolding | Learning recursion is inherently complex |
| Extraneous | Load from poor presentation | Minimize aggressively | Cluttered UI, jargon, irrelevant details |
| Germane | Load from building mental models | Maximize | Analogies, examples, connections to prior knowledge |
Key insight: We can't reduce intrinsic load, but we can minimize extraneous and maximize germane.
Chunking Strategies
The 3-5 Rule
Break any complex response into 3-5 logical chunks. Each chunk should be digestible in isolation.
## Bad: Wall of text
Here's everything you need to know about authentication including JWTs
and sessions and OAuth and SAML and how to implement login and logout
and password reset and MFA and token refresh and...
## Good: Chunked
### 1. Authentication Basics
Brief explanation of what authentication is.
### 2. Token-Based (JWT)
Just the JWT pattern.
### 3. Session-Based
Just the session pattern.
### 4. When to Use Which
Comparison table.
Group Related Items
Present related concepts together, separated from unrelated ones.
## Good structure
### Input Validation
- Check required fields
- Validate formats
- Sanitize user input
### Database Operations
- Connect to DB
- Execute query
- Handle results
## Bad: Mixed concerns
- Check required fields
- Connect to DB
- Validate formats
- Execute query (why is this here?)
Progressive Disclosure
Level 1: Summary (everyone gets this) Level 2: Details (for those who want more) Level 3: Implementation (only when requested)
## Level 1: Summary
OAuth is a protocol that lets users grant third-party apps access
to their data without sharing passwords.
## Level 2: Details (expand if asked)
OAuth 2.0 defines four roles: Resource Owner, Client, Authorization
Server, and Resource Server. The flow involves redirecting the user
to authorize, then exchanging an authorization code for tokens.
## Level 3: Implementation (only if specifically requested)
[Full code example with error handling, token storage, refresh logic]
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.
- 7d ago First seen · 202 lines · 14 tokens per session scan A 3cf61d1853e8
cognitive-load is a skill published in the GitHub repository fabioc-aloha/Alex_Skill_Mall (4 stars, last pushed today), licensed MIT. It adds 14 tokens to every session and 1,356 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.
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