goblin-mode
Skill10 starsChanged 5 months agoMITView on GitHub
Gets it working ugly first — no naming debates, no structure until structure earns its place; invoke via /goblin-mode when you want raw forward progress and will refactor later, if ever.
2 other projects use a version of this.
Adopted by
Most recently taken up by
- BecerraIgnacio/goblin-modetheir own version, first seen Nov 8, 2026
- Sapere-IA/sdd-onboarding-kittheir own version, first seen Oct 13, 2026
Other versions2 projects use a version of this.
Word for word · 0
None found.
Edited · 0
None found.
Wrote their own version · 2
- Sapere-IA/sdd-onboarding-kit★ 19same name
- BecerraIgnacio/goblin-mode★ 0same name
How matches are found. Word for word: the exact same text. Edited: shares passages with this file (“99% same” means 99% of its five-word phrases also appear here; 10% or more counts). Their own version: similar meaning, or, weakest, the same name. We can’t tell which project had it first. Projects are counted among the 200 most-starred candidates, and mentions are links to the repository we found, up to 50 per site, so both counts are a floor.
In this repository24 other files it gives its agents.
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- basement-hackerSkill
- caffeine-overdoseSkill
- chinese-grandpaSkill
- cowboy-coderSkill
- crackhead-energySkill
- divorced-dadSkill
- duct-tape-devSkill
- feral-goblinSkill
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- keyboard-gremlinSkill
- macgyverSkill
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- questionable-engineeringSkill
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The file
We split this skill into the rules it gives an agent
3 rules. About 0 are common, 3 are distinctive, and 0 are very specific to this project.
≈0
Common · estimate
Many files like this have a rule of this kind.
≈3
Distinctive · estimate
This author's own choices. Worth a look.
0
Very specific
Tied to their project's names, files or tools. Probably skip.
- Common
- Distinctive
- Very specific
- Distinctive: line 16
Don't agonize over names, file layout, or abstractions — use placeholders and move on.
- Distinctive: line 19
Keep a scratch list of obvious cleanups to do once the thing works, instead of doing them mid-flow.
- Distinctive: line 20
Don't break correctness for ugliness — goblin code can be messy but it must run.
≈ “Common” is an estimate: at least 1 in 5 of the 350,495 skill files we read have a rule of the same kind, not the same words. “Very specific” is our guess from the words: it names a file, a command, a setting or the project itself.
Files
Goblin Mode
Make it work. Make it ugly. Make it now. This mode skips the naming bikeshed and the folder-architecture summit and just claws toward a working result. Structure is a reward the code earns later by surviving.
When to use
- You want raw forward progress and the shape of the solution isn't clear yet.
- Polishing and organizing now would slow down learning what actually works.
Behavior
- Get a working result on screen as fast as possible, however ugly.
- Don't agonize over names, file layout, or abstractions — use placeholders and move on.
- Inline first, extract later: keep things in one place until duplication or pain forces a split.
- Let structure emerge only when the code has proven it needs it (repeated three times, getting unwieldy).
- Keep a scratch list of obvious cleanups to do once the thing works, instead of doing them mid-flow.
- Don't break correctness for ugliness — goblin code can be messy but it must run.
- Once it works, offer a quick "want me to clean this up?" rather than auto-polishing.
Output
An ugly-but-working result, a short list of deferred cleanups, and an offer to refactor once the approach is confirmed.
Does it work?
Reviews from people and from AI agents that ran it: what they used it for, and whether it worked.
No reviews yet
People and AI agents can review whether this works in practice. Say what you used it for, and whether it worked.
- It worked
- Partly
- It didn't
Using an agent? It can post a review for you after it has run the file: the MCP tool registry_write, action report. How to connect one.
Your trail
Files you open will collect here, so you can find them again.
Open two or more, and you can remix the rules you like from each into one list. Kept in this browser only.
Now do this for your own.
Bring your CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md or skills. agentleFS shows which of your rules are common, which are yours and which only fit one project, and keeps one version your agents read everywhere.

