pyramid-long-form

pyramid-long-form is a skill for Claude Code from tyroneross/pyramid-principle. It costs 91 tokens per session (1,983 once invoked), scanned A, original, Apache-2.0.

A writing method for organizing a report or other long document around its main conclusion, followed by the supporting points and evidence. It is based on Barbara Minto’s Pyramid Principle.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it to draft or reorganize reports, proposals, research writeups, strategy documents, briefs, and whitepapers.
Why use it?
Long documents can bury the answer under background and detail. This method helps readers understand the main point and how each section supports it.

Skill for Claude Code

Written for Claude Code: user-invocable in frontmatter.

Runs only inside its plugin — its command needs a path that Claude Code sets for a plugin’s own hooks and for nothing else. Install the plugin, not this.

Part of the pyramid-principle plugin — 6 skills, 1 command shipped together

Good fit Use it to draft or reorganize reports, proposals, research writeups, strategy documents, briefs, and whitepapers.

Compare 6 skills from other repositories ↓
Install

Getting it into your agent

This one installs as part of its plugin. Adding the marketplace and installing the plugin brings it with everything else the plugin ships.

Claude Code
/plugin marketplace add tyroneross/pyramid-principle
Claude Code
/plugin install pyramid-principle

Made for: Claude Code.

Or install pyramid-principle, the plugin that ships this one along with the rest of its 6 skills, 1 command.

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 pyramid-long-form

README.md
[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/tyroneross/pyramid-principle/pyramid-long-form/github.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/skills/tyroneross/pyramid-principle/pyramid-long-form)
Your own site
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/tyroneross/pyramid-principle/pyramid-long-form"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/tyroneross/pyramid-principle/pyramid-long-form/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 pyramid-long-form

Your own site · 80×15
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/tyroneross/pyramid-principle/pyramid-long-form"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/tyroneross/pyramid-principle/pyramid-long-form.svg" alt="Reviewed on agentmods" width="80" height="20"></a>
Per session 91 Skills are progressive disclosure: only the name and description are preloaded; the body loads when the skill is used.
When invoked 1,983 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan A 0 findings. A grade says what 26 rules found in the file — not that it is safe.
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 $0.00091 $0.01983
Opus 5 $0.00046 $0.00992
Sonnet 5 $0.00018 $0.00397
Haiku 4.5 $0.00009 $0.00198

Measured 12d ago against content hash 8237da6a149b, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-09-12, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

pyramid-long-form 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 12d 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.

skills/pyramid-long-form/SKILL.md · 135 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 135 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

Pyramid Long-Form

Purpose

Structure or draft a multi-section professional document. Load pyramid-principle-core for structure and direct language. Add a pyramid-source-integrity check when facts or data materially affect the output; receive a claim packet only when strict trace mode applies.

This skill handles documents that require developed sections or usually exceed about 500 words. It does not audit existing writing or produce slide storylines.

Route the Request

Use this skill for reports, briefs, proposals, research writeups, decision documents, strategy documents, and whitepapers.

Hand off when:

  • the artifact is an email, Slack update, executive summary, or one-pager → pyramid-short-form
  • the artifact is a deck or presentation storyline → pyramid-presentation
  • the user wants existing writing diagnosed → pyramid-audit
  • the user wants the framework explained → pyramid-principle-core

Identify the Inputs

Before structuring the document, the agent identifies:

  1. Reader question: What must the document answer?
  2. Governing thought: Which decision, recommendation, or finding did the user supply?
  3. Cleared claims: When source integrity applies, which facts, calculations, inferences, recommendations, and limitations may the document use, and what source, locator, confidence, and reason accompany each data point?
  4. Requested depth: Outline, detailed outline, section draft, or full document?
  5. Constraints: Audience, length, tone, required sections, sensitivity, and citation format.

The agent asks a question only when a missing answer would materially change the document and the supplied evidence does not support a safe choice.

Return the Requested Depth

  • Outline: Return the title, actual decision or governing claim, section claims, and nested source-backed supports. The eventual document word budget does not set the outline's length. Do not draft body prose or output framework commentary.
  • Detailed outline: Add subsection claims, evidence placement, and source notes.
  • Section draft: Draft only the requested section and preserve its position in the document logic.
  • Full document: Draft the complete document after the outline passes the internal checks.

Read the full file on GitHub · 135 lines

Files

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.

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. 12d ago First seen · 135 lines · 91 tokens per session scan A 8237da6a149b

Subscribe to this mod's changes

pyramid-long-form is a skill published in the GitHub repository tyroneross/pyramid-principle (28 stars, last pushed 5d ago), licensed Apache-2.0. It adds 91 tokens to every session and 1,983 once invoked, about $0.0005 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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