priorart
Skill1 starsChanged 4 months agoMITView on GitHub
Use when about to build something new (a script, service, wrapper, cache, retry layer, scheduler, integration, or helper), when asked to "write a script that…" or "add a … layer", or when patching a vendored or third-party install to add behavior.
1 other project uses a version of this.
Adopted by
Most recently taken up by
- duthaho/skillhubtheir own version, first seen Oct 31, 2026
Other versions1 project uses a version of this.
Word for word · 0
None found.
Edited · 0
None found.
Wrote their own version · 1
- duthaho/skillhub★ 9same 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 repository10 other files it gives its agents.
- AGENTS.mdAGENTS.md
- CLAUDE.mdCLAUDE.md
- llms.txtllms.txt
- biascheckSkill
- crew-consultSkill
- crew-reviewSkill
- experimentSkill
- multiplechoiceSkill
- secure-researchSkill
- unbiasSkill
The file
We split this skill into the rules it gives an agent
8 rules. About 0 are common, 8 are distinctive, and 0 are very specific to this project.
≈0
Common · estimate
Many files like this have a rule of this kind.
≈8
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
- could be automatic: a setting could enforce it
- Distinctive: line 10
Before you build, look for what already exists.
- Distinctive: line 18
The project's own record: Read the decision log, notes, README, and design docs, and grep for the problem's keywords.
- Distinctive: line 22
Existing code and scripts: Search for existing helpers, scripts, and scheduled jobs that do this or nearly this.
- Distinctive: line 24
The components on either side: Check whether the dependency you'd wrap already does it: read its full config or constructor options and its …
- Distinctive: line 28
Tools the platform already ships: Look for OS or runtime facilities for the job, such as a log rotator, a scheduler, or a package's …
- Distinctive: line 30
Maintained projects: When nothing local fits, name one to three maintained open-source options.
- Distinctive: line 42
Vendored or managed code: never edit a file marked vendored, generated, or "do not edit".
- Distinctive: line 45
Existing target design: if one exists, don't spend effort on a component it will replace.
≈ “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
priorart
Overview
Before you build, look for what already exists. The fix is often a config key, an existing script, a recorded decision, or a maintained project. Finding it costs a few reads. Missing it costs a duplicate that someone has to maintain and later delete.
The search, in order
Report each step as done, with where you looked, before you propose any new code.
- The project's own record. Read the decision log, notes, README, and design docs, and grep for the problem's keywords. A recorded decision can settle the approach ("rotation is handled by X, no cron scripts"). An existing mechanism may be present but broken, for example pointed at a stale path. If so, fixing it is the task.
- Existing code and scripts. Search for existing helpers, scripts, and scheduled jobs that do this or nearly this.
- The components on either side. Check whether the dependency you'd wrap already does it: read its full config or constructor options and its source, not your memory of it. Check the caller or client too. Caches, retries, validation, and refusals often already exist one layer up or down, sometimes switched off by default.
- Tools the platform already ships. Look for OS or runtime facilities for the job, such as a log rotator, a scheduler, or a package's built-in feature.
- Maintained projects. When nothing local fits, name one to three maintained open-source options. Give each one's fit against the actual requirements, its maintenance state, and your reason to adopt or reject it.
Then choose, in this order of preference
- Turn on or fix what exists, with config over code.
- Extend it through its supported extension point, such as a config escape hatch, plugin directory, or hook.
- Adopt a maintained project.
- Build new, and say why steps 1 to 3 didn't fit.
Vendored or managed code: never edit a file marked vendored, generated, or "do not edit". Use its options or an extension point, or re-vendor it.
Existing target design: if one exists, don't spend effort on a component it will replace. The only exception is a stopgap for correctness or safety, labelled as a stopgap.
Adopting something: list the custom pieces it now makes redundant and propose removing them.
Output
Open your reply with what you found, citing file:line or the source. Then give the smallest change that uses it. If you still build new code, include one line per rejected alternative.
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.