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 jeffreytse/grimoire-core --skill apply-deterrence-posturegit clone --depth 1 https://github.com/jeffreytse/grimoire-coreWrote 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/jeffreytse/grimoire-core/apply-deterrence-posture)<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/jeffreytse/grimoire-core/apply-deterrence-posture"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/jeffreytse/grimoire-core/apply-deterrence-posture/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/jeffreytse/grimoire-core/apply-deterrence-posture"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/jeffreytse/grimoire-core/apply-deterrence-posture.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 | $0.00041 | $0.02520 |
| Opus 5.5 | $0.00016 | $0.01008 |
| Sonnet 5.5 | $0.00008 | $0.00504 |
| Haiku 4.5 | $0.00004 | $0.00252 |
Grade A, and why
apply-deterrence-posture 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 1mo 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 — 118 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.
Apply Deterrence Posture
Project calm confidence and signal credible engagement cost to deter attack while in a vulnerable position — then use the deterrence window to build the actual strength that replaces the posture.
Why This Is Best Practice
Origin: Stratagem #32 of the Thirty-Six Stratagems: "The empty city stratagem" (空城計). The story: general Zhuge Liang, facing an enemy army with almost no troops remaining, opened the city gates, sat calmly on the city wall playing a guqin (zither), and sent a few attendants to sweep the road. The enemy commander, known for Zhuge Liang's reputation for careful planning, assumed the open city was a trap — and withdrew. The stratagem's insight: a confident, unhurried posture in the face of apparent weakness signals either genuine strength you have not displayed, or a trap prepared for those who press the attack.
Adopted by: Deterrence posture is formalised in Schelling's Strategy of Conflict (1960) — the commitment device that makes threats credible, and the signal that raises the expected cost of engagement for the aggressor. In business: a startup that projects confidence during a funding gap deters predatory acquisition offers that would arrive if vulnerability were visible. A company facing patent litigation that immediately demonstrates deep prior art and substantial legal resources deters continuation. A brand that projects unwavering quality standards deters the low-cost competitor from attacking the premium segment.
Impact: Attackers make decisions based on their expected cost of the engagement, not just their perceived probability of winning. A confident, prepared-looking opponent raises expected cost — even if the actual capability behind the posture is weaker than the posture suggests. The deterrence window is the time between projecting the posture and the opponent completing their own assessment of your actual strength. That window must be used to build actual capability.
Why best: Direct expression of weakness invites attack at the worst possible time. Deterrence posture converts vulnerability into apparent preparedness — not by lying about capability, but by signalling the cost of engagement rather than the level of capability. The opponent who is not sure whether the city is empty does not attack; the opponent who sees the gates open and soldiers panicking on the walls attacks immediately.
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.
- 1mo ago First seen · 118 lines · 41 tokens per session scan A a6ca1dd0b66b
apply-deterrence-posture is a skill published in the GitHub repository jeffreytse/grimoire-core (5 stars, last pushed 5d ago), licensed MIT. It adds 41 tokens to every session and 2,520 once invoked, about $0.0002 per session on Opus 5.5. 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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