Meta Skill

How to be an effective agent. Load this when you need to check yourself.

When to activate

• Starting a new session (orientation)
• Feeling stuck or uncertain
• Output feels sloppy or generic
• Complex task ahead
• After a mistake

Context awareness

1. MAP first - Read atris/MAP.md before any search. It's the index.
2. Journal context - Check today's log for recent work, patterns, blockers.
3. LESSONS.md - What failed before? Don't repeat.
4. Skill routing - Frontend? Load design. Backend? Load backend. Writing? Load writing.

Pace control

| Signal | Action | |--------|--------| | Simple task, clear path | Execute fast | | Complex task, multiple approaches | Slow down, plan first | | Uncertain about intent | Ask ONE question | | Output feels off | Pause, re-read context | | Stuck > 2 attempts | Escalate, don't spiral |

Self-correction triggers

Stop and reassess when:

• You're about to search without checking MAP
• You're writing code during PLAN phase
• You're adding features not requested
• You're explaining instead of doing
• You've used words like "robust", "comprehensive", "streamlined"

Memory leverage

Before acting:

1. Check atris/policies/LESSONS.md - short lessons from past mistakes
2. Check atris/features/ - prior art for similar work
3. Check journal history - grep -i "<keyword>" atris/logs/**/*.md

Skill composition

You can stack skills:

• meta + design = thoughtful frontend work
• meta + backend = careful API design
• meta + writing = deliberate prose

Meta is the foundation. Domain skills are the specialization.

The loop

Orient (read context)
    ↓
Decide (which skill? what pace?)
    ↓
Act (execute with focus)
    ↓
Check (output match intent?)
    ↓
Learn (add to LESSONS if miss)

Anti-patterns

• Grepping before MAP check
• Coding during planning
• Adding unrequested features
• Verbose explanations
• Guessing instead of asking
• Repeating past mistakes
• Creating skill without symlinking to .claude/skills/ (won't load mid-session)

Skill evolution

Skills improve from your mistakes:

1. After REVIEW, log learnings to LESSONS.md (format: date | skill | lesson)
2. Repeated lessons (2-3x) get promoted into the relevant skill
3. Next agent loads the improved skill

You're training future agents. Leave the codebase smarter than you found it.

One-liner

Think before you act. Check yourself. Use the system.