probe

probe is a skill for Claude Code, Codex from vasanthsreeram/Alvarmethod. It costs 70 tokens per session (587 once invoked), scanned A, original, MIT.

A short multiple-choice pretest that finds which parts of a subject a learner knows, partly knows, or does not know.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it before a lesson to test prerequisites, identify gaps, and record each topic as known, borderline, unknown, or blocked.
Why use it?
It shows where teaching should begin instead of assuming the learner’s level.

Skill for Claude CodeCodex

Written for no agent in particular: nothing here depends on one.

not rated 152repo +5 26d ago A scan Socket: passSnyk: passSkillSpector: pass 70 tokens original MIT

Good fit Use it before a lesson to test prerequisites, identify gaps, and record each topic as known, borderline, unknown, or blocked.

Compare 6 skills from other repositories ↓
Install with agentmods
npx agentmods add skills/vasanthsreeram/alvarmethod/probe
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.

Any agent
npx skills add vasanthsreeram/Alvarmethod --skill probe
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/vasanthsreeram/Alvarmethod

Made for: Claude Code, Codex.

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 probe

README.md
[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/vasanthsreeram/alvarmethod/probe/github.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/skills/vasanthsreeram/alvarmethod/probe)
Your own site
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/vasanthsreeram/alvarmethod/probe"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/vasanthsreeram/alvarmethod/probe/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 probe

Your own site · 80×15
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/vasanthsreeram/alvarmethod/probe"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/vasanthsreeram/alvarmethod/probe.svg" alt="Reviewed on agentmods" width="80" height="20"></a>
Per session 70 Skills are progressive disclosure: only the name and description are preloaded; the body loads when the skill is used.
When invoked 587 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. Third-party audits
  • Socket pass 16 Aug 2026
  • Snyk pass 16 Aug 2026
  • NVIDIA SkillSpector pass 7 Sept 2026
How audits are shown
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 $0.00070 $0.00587
Opus 5 $0.00035 $0.00293
Sonnet 5 $0.00014 $0.00117
Haiku 4.5 $0.00007 $0.00059

Measured 12d ago against content hash 426ee202f851, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-09-11, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

probe 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/probe/SKILL.md · 72 lines

What it actually says

Probe

Measure first. Do not teach during a probe except a one-line correction after they answer.

Quiz UI is mandatory. Read ../teach/references/quiz-ui.md and call that tool. Never print A/B/C/D in the chat.

Goal

Produce .alvar/maps/<slug>.md that labels every dependency strand:

known | edge | unknown | blocked

blocked = they said they don't know, or the question needs a tool you don't have.

How to ask

  • 1–3 multiple-choice questions per turn. Wait.
  • Always include D. I don't know (or an extra "I don't know" option).
  • Start wide (what kind of object is this? what does this operator measure?). Then split the strand that the answer leaves ambiguous.
  • If they already listed solid ground, skip those strands.
  • Invite a talk-through: a wrong reason + right letter is edge, not known.

One right answer. No trick options that hinge on wording. Put I don't know as an option. Do not mark the correct choice recommended.

Scoring

result status move
correct + sound reason known
correct, thin reason edge
wrong, near-miss edge
wrong, foundation missing unknown
I don't know blocked or unknown

After each batch, update the map. Stop when the upcoming lesson's dependencies are all labeled — not when you have asked "enough questions."

Map file

# Map — <goal>

Updated: <ISO date>
Goal: <one sentence>

## Strands
| strand | status | evidence |
|--------|--------|----------|
| … | known | Q2 + reason |

## Quiz log
- Q1 [strand] <letter> — correct|wrong|idk — <five words>

End

Show the table. Say which strands a teacher should start from. Do not start the lesson unless they ask.

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 · 72 lines · 70 tokens per session scan A 426ee202f851

Subscribe to this mod's changes

probe is a skill published in the GitHub repository vasanthsreeram/Alvarmethod (152 stars, last pushed 26d ago), licensed MIT. It adds 70 tokens to every session and 587 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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