incremental-implementation

A workflow for delivering software changes in small, testable pieces. Each piece is implemented, tested, and checked before the next one is started.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it for multi-file features, refactoring, or any change that needs to be split into several working increments.
Why use it?
It reduces the risk and confusion of writing a large multi-file change all at once. Problems are found earlier, while the project remains usable between steps.

Skill for Claude CodeCodex

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/stefaniuk/loadout/incremental-implementation
Any agent
npx skills add stefaniuk/loadout --skill incremental-implementation
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/stefaniuk/loadout

Made for: Claude Code, Codex.

Per session 52 Skills are progressive disclosure: only the name and description are preloaded; the body loads when the skill is used.
When invoked 2,137 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan A 0 findings. Scan, not verified.
Origin 92% 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 $0.00052 $0.02137
Opus 5 $0.00026 $0.01069
Sonnet 5 $0.00010 $0.00427
Haiku 4.5 $0.00005 $0.00214

Measured 2d ago against content hash 2ea67ce507ec, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-08-30, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

incremental-implementation 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 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.

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.

Origin

This is a copy

92% identical to incremental-implementation — 10 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.

.github/skills/incremental-implementation/SKILL.md · 260 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 260 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

Workflow Mode Guard

Use this skill only when the active local workflow mode is superpowers.

Before proceeding:

  • Run ./scripts/hooks/workflow-mode.sh status.
  • If the active mode is speckit, stop and tell the user to switch with make workflow-use mode=superpowers or continue with the Spec Kit lifecycle instead.
  • Do not mix Superpowers workflow skills with speckit-* commands in the same session or worktree.

Incremental Implementation

Overview

Build in thin vertical slices — implement one piece, test it, verify it, then expand. Avoid implementing an entire feature in one pass. Each increment should leave the system in a working, testable state. This is the execution discipline that makes large features manageable.

When to Use

  • Implementing any multi-file change
  • Building a new feature from a task breakdown
  • Refactoring existing code
  • Any time you're tempted to write more than ~100 lines before testing

When NOT to use: Single-file, single-function changes where the scope is already minimal.

The Increment Cycle

┌──────────────────────────────────────┐
│                                      │
│   Implement ──→ Test ──→ Verify ──┐  │
│       ▲                           │  │
│       └───── Commit ◄─────────────┘  │
│              │                       │
│              ▼                       │
│          Next slice                  │
│                                      │
└──────────────────────────────────────┘

For each slice:

  1. Implement the smallest complete piece of functionality
  2. Test — run the test suite (or write a test if none exists)
  3. Verify — confirm the slice works as expected (tests pass, build succeeds, manual check)
  4. Commit -- save your progress with a descriptive message (see git-workflow-and-versioning for atomic commit guidance)
  5. Move to the next slice — carry forward, don't restart

Slicing Strategies

Vertical Slices (Preferred)

Build one complete path through the stack:

Read the full file on GitHub · 260 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 · 260 lines · 52 tokens per session scan A 2ea67ce507ec

Subscribe to this mod's changes

incremental-implementation is a skill published in the GitHub repository stefaniuk/loadout (1 stars, last pushed 4d ago), licensed MIT. It adds 52 tokens to every session and 2,137 once invoked, about $0.0003 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. It is 92% identical to incremental-implementation, differing in 10 lines, and is treated as a copy.