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Kastalien-ResearchKastalien-Research/thoughtbox/.agents/skills/distill/SKILL.md

distill

Skill64 starsChanged 5 months agoMITView on GitHub

Extract reusable principles and decision frameworks from accumulated experience. Use after significant work sessions, project milestones, or when you notice recurring patterns worth codifying.

75 other projects use a version of this.

Adopted by

Most recently taken up by

Used with

Projects with it also use layout, shape and 10 more.

Other files people use alongside this one.

Files found in the same public projects as a version of this one, more often than they turn up anywhere else. Each project counts once, large collections count for less, and this file's own repository is left out.
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  • klauswgSkill

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The file

We split this skill into the rules it gives an agent

5 rules. 0 are common, 4 are distinctive, and 1 is very specific to this project.

  • 0

    Common

    Most of the 71 edited versions we read keep these.

  • 4

    Distinctive

    This author's own choices. Worth a look.

  • 1

    Very specific

    Tied to their project's names, files or tools. Probably skip.

  • Common
  • Distinctive
  • Very specific
  1. Distinctive:

    Read recent git history (git log --oneline -20)

    line 16
  2. Very specific:

    Check .Codex/rules/ for existing principles

    line 18
  3. Distinctive:

    Look at code patterns in the codebase

    line 19
  4. Distinctive:

    Check each principle against past experience:

    line 51
  5. Distinctive:

    Write validated principles to the appropriate location:

    line 58

“Common” is measured: kept by at least 6 in 10 of the 71 edited versions of this file we could read. “Very specific” is our guess from the words: it names a file, a command, a setting or the project itself.

Keep what fits and drop the rest. Your version, ready for your agents.
Files
SKILL.md

Distill wisdom from experience in this area: $ARGUMENTS

Process

1. Experience Inventory

Gather evidence of past decisions and outcomes:

  • Read recent git history (git log --oneline -20)
  • Review agent memory and learnings
  • Check .Codex/rules/ for existing principles
  • Look at code patterns in the codebase

2. Pattern Extraction

For each significant decision or outcome:

  • What was decided? (the choice made)
  • What was the context? (constraints, information available)
  • What happened? (outcome, downstream effects)
  • Was it the right call? (with hindsight)

Look for:

  • Success patterns — conditions that consistently lead to good outcomes
  • Failure patterns — early warning signs of bad paths
  • Evolution patterns — how thinking has changed over time

3. Principle Abstraction

Distill patterns into principles at the right abstraction level:

LevelExample
Tactical"Always run tests before committing database migrations"
Strategic"Prefer reversible changes over irreversible ones"
Philosophical"Optimize for time-to-signal, not time-to-completion"

A good principle is:

  • Actionable — you can act on it right now
  • Falsifiable — you can identify situations where it doesn't apply
  • Bounded — it states when it applies, not just what to do

4. Validation

Check each principle against past experience:

  • Does it explain observed outcomes?
  • Are there counter-examples?
  • Under what conditions does it break?

5. Storage

Write validated principles to the appropriate location:

  • Project-wide: .Codex/rules/ as a new or updated rule file
  • Agent-specific: Agent memory
  • Session-specific: MEMORY.md

Tag with freshness: HOT (just validated) | WARM (reasonable but not recently tested) | COLD (theoretical)

6. Output

## Distillation: [Domain]

### Evidence Base
- [N decisions/outcomes reviewed]
- [Key sources consulted]

### Principles Extracted

#### [Principle Name]
- **Statement**: [Clear, actionable principle]
- **Level**: tactical | strategic | philosophical
- **Evidence**: [What experience supports this]
- **Boundary**: [When this does NOT apply]
- **Freshness**: HOT | WARM | COLD
- **Stored in**: [where it was written]

### Principles Updated
- [Any existing principles promoted, demoted, or retired]

### Open Questions
- [What we still don't know]

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