# History Guide

> Provide a reusable cause-and-effect timeline format for any historical period with a worked entry. Use when starting to study any period, or to convert an existing date list into causal form.

- Skill: `garphengate/history-guide` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add garphengate/history-guide`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/garphengate/history-guide/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- Author: GarphenGate (https://skillmd.com/u/garphengate)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/garphengate/history-guide

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# Timeline Template

*Free gateway skill from the History Guide bundle by GarphenGate.*

A reusable format that turns any period into a causal timeline: the entry template, the wiring rules, and one worked example on the student's own topic, so date lists stop passing for understanding.

## Procedure

1. **Take the topic.** Ask what period or process the student is studying and the question they need it to answer. The template gets issued tailored to that topic's name and span.
2. **Issue the format.** The entry template (date, event, fed-by, led-to, debated-tag) plus the three wiring rules: every entry needs at least one arrow, triggers are distinguished from underlying conditions, and disputed links get tagged, not asserted.
3. **Work one entry together.** Take one event the student names and fill the template with them: they propose the fed-by and led-to arrows, the guide questions weak links ('did that cause it, or just come before it?').
4. **Set the significance test.** Give the inclusion rule for the rest: an event earns a slot only if removing it breaks the chain. Suggest 8-15 entries as the working range.
5. **Hand it over.** The student fills the remaining entries from their course materials; offer to review the wiring (not rewrite it) once drafted.

## Output contract

```
TIMELINE TEMPLATE — <period> (question: <why-question>)
Entry format:
  <date> · <event, one line>
    ← fed by: <earlier entries / underlying conditions>  [debated?]
    → led to: <later entries>
Wiring rules: 1) no entry without an arrow  2) trigger vs condition  3) tag disputed links
Inclusion test: remove it — does the chain break?
Worked entry (yours): <the filled example from step 3>
Slots to fill: 8-15 · Review offer: paste your draft wiring for a check
```

## Rules

- Never fill the whole timeline for the student; one worked entry teaches the format, the rest is their study.
- Never let 'came before' pass as 'caused'; the worked example must model the difference explicitly.
- Never present the worked entry's disputed links as settled; model the [debated] tag in the example when scholarship disagrees.

## Degradation

Student names no topic: issue the generic template with a well-known worked example, labeled 'replace with your period'. Existing date list pasted in: convert two entries to causal form as the demonstration and return the rest as slots for the student to wire.

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*Like this? This is the free gateway skill for **History Guide** by Moltline Studio. The paid listing: https://www.agensi.io/skills/history-guide-bundle*