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/try-works/recursive-mode/recursive-specnpx skills add try-works/recursive-mode --skill recursive-specgit clone --depth 1 https://github.com/try-works/recursive-modeWhat 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 | $0.00071 | $0.01234 |
| Opus 5 | $0.00036 | $0.00617 |
| Sonnet 5 | $0.00014 | $0.00247 |
| Haiku 4.5 | $0.00007 | $0.00123 |
Grade A, and why
recursive-spec 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.
How it starts
The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 146 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.
recursive-spec
Use this skill to co-author a repo-aware 00-requirements.md for a new recursive-mode run.
This skill is for requirements/spec authoring before implementation starts. It does not replace /.recursive/RECURSIVE.md, and it should not skip ahead to Phase 2 planning or Phase 3 implementation.
Primary Use Case
Use recursive-spec when the user wants help shaping work before a run exists, especially with prompts like:
create a planhelp me plancreate a specwrite requirementsspec this outscope this
The important signal is plan/spec language for a new run, not implementation of an existing run.
Conversation Contract
When the trigger is detected:
- First ask whether the user wants help creating a spec for a recursive run.
- If the user replies positively, ask:
What do you want to do? - Then gather context, read the repo, and co-author the requirements.
Do not jump straight into writing 00-requirements.md before the user confirms they want spec help.
Draft Handling Before Approval
Until the user explicitly approves the spec:
- keep the draft outside the repository worktree
- prefer a temporary session artifact or scratch file
- do not create
/.recursive/run/<run-id>/ - do not write
00-requirements.md
If the user rejects the draft, revise it or discard the temporary draft artifact. Do not leave behind a half-approved run folder.
Required Read Behavior
Before drafting requirements, read:
/.recursive/STATE.md/.recursive/DECISIONS.md/.recursive/memory/MEMORY.md- relevant memory shards only when they actually matter
- the most relevant code and tests for the requested area
The skill should be repo-aware, not a blind questionnaire. Use the control-plane docs to understand current truth and the codebase to understand actual surfaces, coupled modules, existing tests, and likely boundaries.
Authoring Flow
Use a guided interview. Ask one focused question at a time when the answer is not already grounded by repo docs or code.
What ships with it
2 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.
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 · 146 lines · 71 tokens per session scan A 12eaead07f46
recursive-spec is a skill published in the GitHub repository try-works/recursive-mode (129 stars, last pushed 1mo ago), licensed Apache-2.0. It adds 71 tokens to every session and 1,234 once invoked, about $0.0004 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 2026-08-30.
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