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-tddnpx skills add try-works/recursive-mode --skill recursive-tddgit 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 | $0.00066 | $0.02801 |
| Opus 5 | $0.00033 | $0.01401 |
| Sonnet 5 | $0.00013 | $0.00560 |
| Haiku 4.5 | $0.00007 | $0.00280 |
Grade A, and why
recursive-tdd 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.
Copies of this mod
1 near-identical copy found in the catalogue:
- rlm-tdd — 88% identical, 113 lines differ
How it starts
The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 395 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.
recursive-tdd
Overview
Test-Driven Development is mandatory for all recursive-mode implementation work. This skill ensures test-first discipline is followed rigorously and recorded in a way recursive-mode tooling can verify.
Core Principle: If you didn't watch the test fail, you don't know if it tests the right thing.
The Iron Law for recursive-mode:
NO PRODUCTION CODE WITHOUT A FAILING TEST FIRST
Trigger examples
Implement Phase 3 for run '<run-id>'Add a failing regression test first, then fix the bugI already wrote the code; now add tests(should trigger TDD reset guidance)Follow RED-GREEN-REFACTOR for this change
When to Use
Always in Phase 3 (Implementation):
- New features
- Bug fixes
- Refactoring
- Behavior changes
Default rule:
- Not for "simple" changes
- Not when "under pressure"
- Not because "tests after achieve same goals"
Explicit exception path only:
- If strict RED-first flow is genuinely infeasible, declare
TDD Mode: pragmaticin the Phase 3 artifact - Record a concrete exception reason
- Record compensating validation evidence under
/.recursive/run/<run-id>/evidence/ - Treat this as an explicit deviation, not a silent shortcut
RED-GREEN-REFACTOR Cycle
digraph tdd_cycle {
rankdir=LR;
red [label="RED\nWrite failing test", shape=box, style=filled, fillcolor="#ffcccc"];
verify_red [label="Verify fails\ncorrectly", shape=diamond];
green [label="GREEN\nMinimal code", shape=box, style=filled, fillcolor="#ccffcc"];
verify_green [label="Verify passes\nAll green", shape=diamond];
refactor [label="REFACTOR\nClean up", shape=box, style=filled, fillcolor="#ccccff"];
record [label="Record in\nPhase 3 artifact", shape=box];
red -> verify_red;
verify_red -> green [label="yes"];
verify_red -> red [label="wrong\nfailure"];
green -> verify_green;
verify_green -> refactor [label="yes"];
verify_green -> green [label="no"];
refactor -> verify_green [label="stay\ngreen"];
verify_green -> record;
}
What ships with it
1 file 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 · 395 lines · 66 tokens per session scan A b2365a6d69a8
recursive-tdd is a skill published in the GitHub repository try-works/recursive-mode (129 stars, last pushed 1mo ago), licensed Apache-2.0. It adds 66 tokens to every session and 2,801 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 2026-08-30.
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