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alexderzalexderz/agentic-toolbox/skills/yagni/SKILL.md

yagni

Skill5 starsChanged 47 days agoMITView on GitHub

use this when scoping a change, adding a helper, or expanding a skill or AGENTS.md — ship the smallest thing that satisfies the current ask; defer speculative generality.

6 other projects use a version of this.

Adopted by

Most recently taken up by

The file

We split this skill into the rules it gives an agent

9 rules. 0 are common, 9 are distinctive, and 0 are very specific to this project.

  • 0

    Common

    Most of the 6 edited versions we read keep these.

  • 9

    Distinctive

    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
  1. Distinctive:

    Do not ship speculative generality: If the ask does not need it, leave it out.

    line 12
  2. Distinctive:

    Prefer one focused PR: one idea, ~≤300–400 lines.

    line 16
  3. Distinctive:

    Delete or skip each dead code path you replace.

    line 17
  4. Distinctive:

    Keep AGENTS.md thin: ids and repo rules only.

    line 19
  5. Distinctive:

    Before you do any of these, ask the operator per Asking the operator:

    line 23
  6. Distinctive:

    Never remint a MERGED skill body without a new security cut.

    line 32
  7. Distinctive:

    Never add marketplace installers or auto-update upstream into skills.

    line 33
  8. Distinctive:

    Never add “just in case” helpers for personal finance, mail, password stores, or extra hosts.

    line 34
  9. Distinctive:

    Red flags: If your plan says one of these, stop.

    line 36

“Common” is measured: kept by at least 6 in 10 of the 6 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

YAGNI

The ask is what the current task asks for. Speculative generality is anything built for a need the ask does not have (a future need). Use restraint. Prefer the smallest change that meets this ask. Do not build for a need the ask does not have. This skill is compatible with tdd and verify-before-done. This skill has no scripts/.

Iron law

Do not ship speculative generality. If the ask does not need it, leave it out.

Always

  • Prefer one focused PR: one idea, ~≤300–400 lines.
  • Delete or skip each dead code path you replace. Never leave dual routers; keep one path.
  • Reuse an existing skill id before you write a parallel procedure.
  • Keep AGENTS.md thin: ids and repo rules only. Put procedures in skills.

Ask first

Before you do any of these, ask the operator per Asking the operator:

  • New abstraction “for later reuse” with no second caller yet.
  • New config flag or feature toggle with no current consumer.
  • Expanding a skill past ~250 lines or adding scripts/ to a skill dir.
  • Second toolkit that overlaps an installed skill id: a dual-router risk.

Never

  • Never remint a MERGED skill body without a new security cut; get the cut first.
  • Never add marketplace installers or auto-update upstream into skills; take third-party content through INTAKE.md.
  • Never add “just in case” helpers for personal finance, mail, password stores, or extra hosts; leave them out.

Red flags. If your plan says one of these, stop. Shrink the change. Ship the ask.

  • “We will need this eventually”
  • “Keep both routers until we migrate”
  • “Add a flag so we can turn it on later”
  • “Copy the full vendor skill and trim later”

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