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 agentmods add skills/the-metafactory/soma/the-algorithmnpx skills add the-metafactory/soma --skill the-algorithmgit clone --depth 1 https://github.com/the-metafactory/somaWhat 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 | $0.00053 | $0.00233 |
| Opus 5 | $0.00026 | $0.00117 |
| Sonnet 5 | $0.00011 | $0.00047 |
| Haiku 4.5 | $0.00005 | $0.00023 |
Grade A, and why
the-algorithm 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.
What it actually says
The Algorithm
The Algorithm is Soma's portable execution doctrine. It turns work into a transition from current state to ideal state, captured as a VSA whose criteria are granular, binary, and verifiable.
Prefer the Soma Algorithm harness over freeform execution when it is available. The harness is the deterministic layer; these files are the doctrine and substrate-facing instructions.
Use
- Start with
Workflows/RunAlgorithm.md. - Read
references/algorithm.mdwhen doctrine detail matters. - Treat Claude-specific hooks, voice curls, and Claude Code sub-agents as source history, not portable requirements.
Triggers
- algorithm
- ideal state
- VSA
- ISC
- verification criteria
- current state to ideal state
- substantial build/design/refactor/migration work
What ships with it
9 files beside SKILL.md in the same directory: the scripts, references and assets a skill reads on demand. Not counted in the per-session cost; read them before you install if any of them is executable.
- references/algorithm.md 53 KB
- references/capabilities.md 15 KB
- references/eval-guide.md 9.1 KB
- references/ideate-loop.md 5.9 KB
- references/mode-detection.md 4.5 KB
- references/optimize-loop.md 22 KB
- references/parameter-schema.md 11 KB
- references/target-types.md 8.4 KB
- Workflows/RunAlgorithm.md 4.7 KB
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.
- 2d ago First seen · 29 lines · 53 tokens per session scan A 9ad49c3f3d95
the-algorithm is a skill published in the GitHub repository the-metafactory/soma (8 stars, last pushed 4d ago), licensed MIT. It adds 53 tokens to every session and 233 once invoked, about $0.0003 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 2026-08-31.
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