How do I install the Express skill?

Run npx skillmds@latest add nicknisi/express in your terminal (requires Node.js), paste this page's agent-chat prompt into Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-connected agent, or download the SKILL.md file and copy it into your agent's skills directory.

Is Express safe to use?

This skill has not completed SkillMD's automated safety review yet. SkillMD never runs a skill's scripts for you; review the SKILL.md before installing.

Which AI agents work with Express?

This skill is tagged as working with Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex. SKILL.md is an open format, so most agents that read a skills directory can load it too.

Is Express free to use?

Yes. Installing skills from SkillMD is free, and the skill stays under its author's original license.

Who published Express?

nicknisi (@nicknisi) published this skill. Their other Agent Skills are listed on their SkillMD profile.

Express by nicknisi — Agent Skill

Name: Express
Author: nicknisi

Express

One-pass ideation for well-understood work: a thin alias that pre-commits /ideation's post-interview routing to the express finish. Identical evidence-gated interview, one consolidated confirmation (scope tier + run mode), then contract and specs generated without per-artifact approval loops and executed immediately on an isolation branch. Use when the user says 'express ideation', 'one-shot this', 'interview me then just build it', or wants planning that flows straight into execution without reviewing the contract. For exploratory or unfamiliar territory, prefer the full ideation skill — per-artifact review gates earn their keep there.

nicknisi 721ac83 2.0 KB Updated Sep 17, 2026

File contents

Express Ideation

Express is a pre-commit of /ideation's post-interview routing — same interview, same critics, same artifacts (contract-data.json, specs, generator-rendered contract.html + contract.md via --md-output); the only difference is that the express finish is chosen here, up front, instead of at the routing question.

Clean-tree check — now, before the interview. Run git status --porcelain. Uncommitted changes would ride along on phase commits, and stopping costs one question here, not a completed interview. Dirty tree → ask: stash/commit first, accept the risk, or abort. A clean tree proceeds silently.
Run ideation. Read and follow ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/ideation/SKILL.md end to end with the routing question pre-answered to "Approve — express finish" (fold the run-mode question into the approval call, and skip the routing-time clean-tree check — it already ran above). Everything else — branch handling, resume semantics, strict fail-closed execution, completion lines — lives in ideation's Express finish path, the single owner of express semantics.
Scope guard (advisory). For exploratory or unfamiliar work, recommend the full /ideation flow instead — its evidence-derived routing recommendation makes the same call, with reasons.

---name: expressdescription: One-pass ideation for well-understood work: a thin alias that pre-commits /ideation's post-interview routing to the express finish. Identical evidence-gated interview, one consolidated confirmation (scope tier + run mode), then contract and specs generated without per-artifact approval loops and executed immediately on an isolation branch. Use when the user says 'express ideation', 'one-shot this', 'interview me then just build it', or wants planning that flows straight into execution without reviewing the contract. For exploratory or unfamiliar territory, prefer the full ideation skill — per-artifact review gates earn their keep there.---# Express IdeationExpress is a **pre-commit** of `/ideation`'s post-interview routing — same interview, same critics, same artifacts (`contract-data.json`, specs, generator-rendered `contract.html` + `contract.md` via `--md-output`); the only difference is that the express finish is chosen here, up front, instead of at the routing question.1. **Clean-tree check — now, before the interview.** Run `git status --porcelain`. Uncommitted changes would ride along on phase commits, and stopping costs one question here, not a completed interview. Dirty tree → ask: stash/commit first, accept the risk, or abort. A clean tree proceeds silently.2. **Run ideation.** Read and follow `${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/ideation/SKILL.md` end to end with the routing question pre-answered to "Approve — express finish" (fold the run-mode question into the approval call, and skip the routing-time clean-tree check — it already ran above). Everything else — branch handling, resume semantics, strict fail-closed execution, completion lines — lives in ideation's Express finish path, the single owner of express semantics.3. **Scope guard (advisory).** For exploratory or unfamiliar work, recommend the full `/ideation` flow instead — its evidence-derived routing recommendation makes the same call, with reasons.

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