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 skills add yeaight7/agent-powerups --skill search-before-buildinggit clone --depth 1 https://github.com/yeaight7/agent-powerupsWrote 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.
[](https://agentmods.dev/skills/yeaight7/agent-powerups/search-before-building)<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/yeaight7/agent-powerups/search-before-building"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/yeaight7/agent-powerups/search-before-building/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.
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/yeaight7/agent-powerups/search-before-building"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/yeaight7/agent-powerups/search-before-building.svg" alt="Reviewed on agentmods" width="80" height="20"></a>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.
| Model | Per session | Once invoked |
|---|---|---|
| Fable 5.1 | $0.00045 | $0.00927 |
| Opus 5 | $0.00023 | $0.00464 |
| Sonnet 5 | $0.00009 | $0.00185 |
| Haiku 4.5 | $0.00005 | $0.00093 |
Grade C, and why
search-before-building scanned grade C with 2 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 9d 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.
Reads agent configuration directoriesmediumAgent snooping
.claude/, .codex/, .gemini/ hold keys, settings and other credentials a mod has no legitimate need for.
cat .mcp.json 2>/dev/null || cat ~/.claude/settings.json | grep -A5 '"mcpServers"' Reads MCP configurationmediumAgent snooping
mcp.json carries server URLs and auth tokens; reading it lets a mod discover and abuse other integrations.
cat .mcp.json 2>/dev/null || cat ~/.claude/settings.json | grep -A5 '"mcpServers"' How it starts
The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 110 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.
Search Before Building
Before implementing new functionality, verify it does not already exist and that the best option has been considered.
When to Use
- About to add a new helper, utility, or abstraction
- Task says "add X" and X sounds like a solved problem
- Considering a new external dependency
- Agent proposes writing something from scratch without checking first
Four-Step Check
Run in order. Stop when you find a satisfactory answer.
Step 1 — Repo-first
Search the current codebase before anything else:
rg "<keyword>" src/ lib/ --type ts --type js -l
rg "<keyword>" --glob "*.py" -l
Check: Does equivalent logic already exist? Is it importable as-is, or would it need wrapper work?
Step 2 — Package registry
Search the relevant registry for the project language:
| Language | Registry | Search method |
|---|---|---|
| TypeScript/JS | npm | npm search <keyword> or npmjs.com |
| Python | PyPI | pip index search <keyword> or pypi.org |
| Go | pkg.go.dev | web search site:pkg.go.dev <keyword> |
| Rust | crates.io | cargo search <keyword> |
Score each candidate:
- Maintenance: last commit < 1 year, open issues ratio
- Popularity: weekly downloads or GitHub stars
- License: MIT / Apache-2.0 / BSD preferred; check for GPL/commercial constraints
- Size: avoid heavy packages for a single feature
Step 3 — MCP / tool servers
Check whether an MCP server already provides this capability:
# List currently configured MCP servers
cat .mcp.json 2>/dev/null || cat ~/.claude/settings.json | grep -A5 '"mcpServers"'
Check the Agent Powerups catalog for MCP configs:
apx list --type mcp-config
If a server covers the need, prefer configuring it over writing code.
Step 4 — Maintenance and license risk
Before adopting a package, verify:
- Not abandoned (last release within 18 months)
- License compatible with this project
- No known critical CVEs (
npm audit/pip-audit/cargo audit) - Dependency count is reasonable (< 20 transitive for small utilities)
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.
- 9d ago First seen · 110 lines · 45 tokens per session scan C 5a2016de6024
search-before-building is a skill published in the GitHub repository yeaight7/agent-powerups (6 stars, last pushed 1mo ago), licensed Apache-2.0. It adds 45 tokens to every session and 927 once invoked, about $0.0002 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it C with 2 findings (reads agent configuration directories, reads mcp configuration). No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-31.
Other skills, from other repositories
skill-authoring
Author SKILL.md: frontmatter, structure, writing principles.
systematic-debugging
4-phase root cause debugging: understand bugs before fixing.
github-code-review
Review PRs: diffs, inline comments via gh or REST.
requesting-code-review
Pre-commit review: security scan, quality gates, auto-fix.
simplify-code
Sequential 3-lens cleanup of recent code changes.
test-driven-development
TDD: enforce RED-GREEN-REFACTOR, tests before code.