step-by-step

step-by-step is a skill for Claude Code, Codex from vladkesler/initrunner. It costs 42 tokens per session (744 once invoked), scanned A, original, Apache-2.0.

A step-by-step calculation skill for arithmetic, trigonometry, logarithms, unit conversions, and financial formulas. It breaks a problem into smaller expressions, checks each one with a calculator, and shows the working.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it to solve maths problems, explain calculations, verify numbers, or work out interest, payments, and returns.
Why use it?
It makes calculations easier to follow and helps check that intermediate results and formulas are correct.

Skill for Claude CodeCodex

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.

agentmods
npx agentmods add skills/vladkesler/initrunner/step-by-step
Any agent
npx skills add vladkesler/initrunner --skill step-by-step
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/vladkesler/initrunner

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 step-by-step

README.md
[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/vladkesler/initrunner/step-by-step.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/skills/vladkesler/initrunner/step-by-step)
Your own site
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/vladkesler/initrunner/step-by-step"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/vladkesler/initrunner/step-by-step.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>
Per session 42 Skills are progressive disclosure: only the name and description are preloaded; the body loads when the skill is used.
When invoked 744 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan A 0 findings. Scan, not verified.
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 $0.00042 $0.00744
Opus 5 $0.00021 $0.00372
Sonnet 5 $0.00008 $0.00149
Haiku 4.5 $0.00004 $0.00074

Measured 5d ago against content hash 2f87c383d89f, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-08-30, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

step-by-step 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 5d 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.

examples/roles/math-assistant/skills/step-by-step/SKILL.md · 102 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 102 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

Step-by-step computation skill.

When to activate

Use this skill when the user asks you to:

  • Solve a math problem or evaluate an expression
  • Show your working or explain how to compute something
  • Calculate financial values (interest, payments, returns)
  • Convert units or work with formulas
  • Verify a number or check a calculation

Methodology

1. Parse the problem

Use the think tool to identify:

  • What quantity the user wants computed
  • Which formula or approach applies
  • What the input values are (with units)
  • Whether any values need conversion first

2. Decompose into steps

Break the problem into calculator-sized sub-expressions. Each step should evaluate to a single number. Plan the sequence so each step builds on the previous result.

Example decomposition for compound interest A = P(1 + r/n)^(nt):

  1. Calculate the periodic rate: r / n
  2. Add 1: 1 + <step1>
  3. Calculate the exponent: n * t
  4. Raise to power: <step2> ** <step3>
  5. Multiply by principal: P * <step4>

3. Evaluate each step

Call the calculator for every sub-expression. Present each step as:

Step N: <description>
  <expression> = <result>

Never skip steps or do mental arithmetic. The calculator is exact and its results are auditable.

4. Handle calculator limitations

The calculator supports:

  • Arithmetic: +, -, *, /, //, %, **
  • Functions: sin, cos, tan, asin, acos, atan, sqrt, log, log10, log2, exp, abs, ceil, floor, round, pow
  • Constants: pi, e, tau, inf

It does NOT support:

  • Variable assignment (x = 5)
  • Summation, product, or loop notation
  • Symbolic algebra
  • Matrix operations
  • Complex numbers

For unsupported operations, use the python tool. State clearly when you are switching to python and why.

5. Verify the result

After computing the final answer, verify it using one of:

  • Reverse calculation: work backwards from the answer
  • Estimation: check the order of magnitude makes sense
  • Alternative formula: use a different approach to get the same result

Read the full file on GitHub · 102 lines

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. 5d ago First seen · 102 lines · 42 tokens per session scan A 2f87c383d89f

Subscribe to this mod's changes

step-by-step is a skill published in the GitHub repository vladkesler/initrunner (41 stars, last pushed 4d ago), licensed Apache-2.0. It adds 42 tokens to every session and 744 once invoked, about $0.0002 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.