observe-before-editing

observe-before-editing is a skill for Claude Code from parcadei/Continuous-Claude-v3. It costs 8 tokens per session (283 once invoked), scanned B, original, MIT.

A debugging rule that says to inspect the system's actual files, logs, and command output before changing code. It focuses on confirming what happened rather than guessing from the source.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it when a command, hook, script, or generated file seems not to work, before editing the code responsible.
Why use it?
It prevents fixes based on assumptions, such as looking in the wrong directory or mistaking an invisible error for a hook failure.

Skill for Claude Code

Written for Claude Code: user-invocable in frontmatter. Also seen: reads .claude/ paths.

Good fit Use it when a command, hook, script, or generated file seems not to work, before editing the code responsible.

Compare 6 skills from other repositories ↓
Install with agentmods
npx agentmods add skills/parcadei/continuous-claude-v3/observe-before-editing
About the project

Continuous-Claude-v3 is a Claude Code development environment that preserves working context between sessions, coordinates specialized agents, and stores project knowledge through ledgers, handoffs, and analysis tools. It is for people using Claude Code on ongoing or complex software work. Its catalogue entries are the skills, agents, hooks, plugin, and setting that provide its workflows and orchestration.

parcadei/Continuous-Claude-v3 · 3,938 stars · on GitHub

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.

Any agent
npx skills add parcadei/Continuous-Claude-v3 --skill observe-before-editing
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/parcadei/Continuous-Claude-v3

Made for: Claude Code.

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 observe-before-editing

README.md
[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/parcadei/continuous-claude-v3/observe-before-editing/github.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/skills/parcadei/continuous-claude-v3/observe-before-editing)
Your own site
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/parcadei/continuous-claude-v3/observe-before-editing"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/parcadei/continuous-claude-v3/observe-before-editing/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.

agentmods 80×15 button for observe-before-editing

Your own site · 80×15
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/parcadei/continuous-claude-v3/observe-before-editing"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/parcadei/continuous-claude-v3/observe-before-editing.svg" alt="Reviewed on agentmods" width="80" height="20"></a>
Per session 8 Skills are progressive disclosure: only the name and description are preloaded; the body loads when the skill is used.
When invoked 283 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan B 1 finding. A grade says what 26 rules found in the file — not that it is safe. Third-party audits
  • Socket pass 18 Mar 2026
  • Snyk pass 15 Feb 2026
How audits are shown
Origin original No closer match found 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 $0.00008 $0.00283
Opus 5 $0.00004 $0.00142
Sonnet 5 $0.00002 $0.00057
Haiku 4.5 $0.00001 $0.00028

Measured 9d ago against content hash 4eabdcd564bb, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-09-12, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade B, and why

observe-before-editing scanned grade B with 1 finding 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.

Reads agent configuration directoriesmediumAgent snooping

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

3. Check logs for errors: `tail .claude/cache/*.log`
.claude/skills/observe-before-editing/SKILL.md · 35 lines

What it actually says

Observe Before Editing

Before editing code to fix a bug, confirm what the system actually produced.

Pattern

Outputs don't lie. Code might. Check outputs first.

DO

  1. Check if expected directories exist: ls -la .claude/cache/
  2. Check if expected files were created: ls -la .claude/cache/learnings/
  3. Check logs for errors: tail .claude/cache/*.log
  4. Run the failing command manually to see actual error
  5. Only then edit code

DON'T

  • Assume "hook didn't run" without checking outputs
  • Edit code based on what you think should happen
  • Confuse global vs project paths (check both: .claude/ and ~/.claude/)

Source Sessions

  • a541f08a: Token limit error was invisible until manual run revealed it
  • 6a9f2d7a: Looked in wrong cache path (~/.claude/ vs .claude/), assumed hook failure
  • a8bd5cea: Confirmed hook worked by finding output files in project cache
  • 1c21e6c8: Verified Artifact Index indexing by checking DB file exists
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. 9d ago First seen · 35 lines · 8 tokens per session scan B 4eabdcd564bb

Subscribe to this mod's changes

observe-before-editing is a skill published in the GitHub repository parcadei/Continuous-Claude-v3 (3,938 stars, last pushed 7mo ago), licensed MIT. It adds 8 tokens to every session and 283 once invoked, about $0.0000 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it B with 1 finding (reads agent configuration directories). No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-09-03.

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