search-first

search-first is a skill for Codex from JunMystery/Agent-Guidance-Python. It costs 29 tokens per session (1,712 once invoked), scanned C, a copy of search-first, MIT.

A research-before-coding workflow that looks for existing tools, libraries, and implementation patterns before custom code is written.

In plain words
What is it for?
It helps research options for new features, dependencies, integrations, utilities, and abstractions before implementation.
Why use it?
It reduces duplicated work and helps avoid building a solution that already exists. It also makes dependency and integration choices more deliberate.

Skill for Codex

Written for Codex: reads ~/.codex or $CODEX_HOME. Also seen: reads .claude/ paths; mentions subagents; mentions Claude Code.

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.

agentmods
npx agentmods add skills/junmystery/agent-guidance-python/search-first
Any agent
npx skills add JunMystery/Agent-Guidance-Python --skill search-first
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/JunMystery/Agent-Guidance-Python

Made for: Codex.

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 search-first

README.md
[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/junmystery/agent-guidance-python/search-first.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/skills/junmystery/agent-guidance-python/search-first)
Your own site
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/junmystery/agent-guidance-python/search-first"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/junmystery/agent-guidance-python/search-first.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>
Per session 29 Skills are progressive disclosure: only the name and description are preloaded; the body loads when the skill is used.
When invoked 1,712 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan C 2 findings. Scan, not verified.
Origin 100% copy Near-identical to another mod 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 $0.00029 $0.01712
Opus 5 $0.00015 $0.00856
Sonnet 5 $0.00006 $0.00342
Haiku 4.5 $0.00003 $0.00171

Measured 2d ago against content hash d66d744228b9, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-09-05, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade C, and why

search-first scanned grade C with 2 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 2d 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.

Reads agent configuration directoriesmediumAgent snooping

.claude/, .codex/, .gemini/ hold keys, settings and other credentials a mod has no legitimate need for.

2. Is there an MCP for this? → Check `~/.claude/settings.json` and search

Enumerates other installed skillsmediumAgent snooping

Other skills' SKILL.md files reveal prompts, capabilities and secrets that should be invisible to peers.

| Skills directory | `ls ~/.claude/skills ~/.codex/skills` where applicable | Say no local skill catalog was available |
Origin

This is a copy

100% identical to search-first — 0 lines differ, which has more behind it and is treated as the original. This page carries a canonical link to it rather than competing with it.

skills/search-first/SKILL.md · 184 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 184 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

/search-first — Research Before You Code

Systematizes the "search for existing solutions before implementing" workflow.

Trigger

Use this skill when:

  • Starting a new feature that likely has existing solutions
  • Adding a dependency or integration
  • The user asks "add X functionality" and you're about to write code
  • Before creating a new utility, helper, or abstraction

Workflow

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  0. TOOL AVAILABILITY PREFLIGHT             │
│     Check search channels before relying on │
│     them; report skipped channels honestly   │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  1. NEED ANALYSIS                           │
│     Define what functionality is needed      │
│     Identify language/framework constraints  │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  2. PARALLEL SEARCH (researcher agent)      │
│     ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐  │
│     │  npm /   │ │  MCP /   │ │  GitHub / │  │
│     │  PyPI    │ │  Skills  │ │  Web      │  │
│     └──────────┘ └──────────┘ └──────────┘  │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  3. EVALUATE                                │
│     Score candidates (functionality, maint, │
│     community, docs, license, deps)         │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  4. DECIDE                                  │
│     ┌─────────┐  ┌──────────┐  ┌─────────┐  │
│     │  Adopt  │  │  Extend  │  │  Build   │  │
│     │ as-is   │  │  /Wrap   │  │  Custom  │  │
│     └─────────┘  └──────────┘  └─────────┘  │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  5. IMPLEMENT                               │
│     Install package / Configure MCP /       │
│     Write minimal custom code               │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Decision Matrix

Signal Action
Exact match, well-maintained, MIT/Apache Adopt — install and use directly
Partial match, good foundation Extend — install + write thin wrapper
Multiple weak matches Compose — combine 2-3 small packages
Nothing suitable found Build — write custom, but informed by research

Read the full file on GitHub · 184 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. 2d ago First seen · 184 lines · 29 tokens per session scan C d66d744228b9

Subscribe to this mod's changes

search-first is a skill published in the GitHub repository JunMystery/Agent-Guidance-Python (2 stars, last pushed 1mo ago), licensed MIT. It adds 29 tokens to every session and 1,712 once invoked, about $0.0001 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it C with 2 findings (reads agent configuration directories, enumerates other installed skills). It is 100% identical to search-first, differing in 0 lines, and is treated as a copy.

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