# Signal From Expert > Surface the few passages from a world-class expert's body of work that hit the user's exact current situation — with verbatim quotes and source pointers — plus at least one gap where the expert shows the user is wrong or missing something. Use when the user says "signal from expert", "what would say about this", "pull on ", or wants an outside authority pressure-tested against their own raw thinking. Invoke with /signal. Differentiator vs /research: not a neutral memo — a targeted match between one expert's real words and the user's real notes, ending in a challenge. - Skill: `nightdreams-bat/signal-from-expert` (Agent Skill) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add nightdreams-bat/signal-from-expert` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/nightdreams-bat/signal-from-expert/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: Research & Search - Author: Nightdreams-bat (https://skillmd.com/u/nightdreams-bat) - Updated: 2026-09-17 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/nightdreams-bat/signal-from-expert --- # Signal from Expert Read the user's raw thinking in full, find what a specific expert actually wrote that speaks to it, and report only the passages that land — then name where the expert says the user is wrong. ## What to get from the user (ask once, only for what's missing) 1. **Corpus** — the user's own raw thinking to analyse. A file, a folder, a date range of daily notes, or "this conversation". Example: `/Daily/` last 14 days, or a pasted brain-dump. 2. **Expert + topic** — who, and on what. Example: "Paul Graham on what to build", "Rich Hickey on simplicity", "Charlie Munger on this pricing decision". 3. **URLs (optional)** — specific essays/talks/threads the user wants included for certain. ## Procedure **1 — Read the corpus completely.** No skimming. Also check the Obsidian vault (`$OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH`) for related notes via `obsidian_search` — the user's own past conclusions are part of the corpus. Write a 3–5 line statement of the user's actual situation, position, and open questions. Show it to the user before going further only if the corpus was ambiguous. **2 — Find 5–8 real sources from the expert.** Use `WebSearch` for essays, talks, interviews, long-form threads. Prefer primary writing over summaries of it. Add any URLs the user gave. `WebFetch` each one and **read it in full**. If a source turns out irrelevant, drop it and find another — aim for 5–8 genuinely on-point pieces, not 5–8 links. **3 — Match.** Pull only the passages that hit the user's exact situation. For each: - the **verbatim quote** (short — the load-bearing sentence or two, not a paragraph) - the source (title + URL, and the section if long) - one line: *how* it applies to the user's situation, pointing at the corpus (`daily/2026-09-01.md`: "…their line about X"). A passage that's merely on-topic doesn't qualify. It has to change how the user should act. **4 — The gap (required).** Name at least one place where the expert's work shows the user is **wrong, missing something, or asking the wrong question**. This is the most valuable part — do not soften it or skip it because the match section already looks useful. **5 — Read-out.** 3–5 sentences on what the passages mean *together* for the user's next move. ## Output shape ```markdown **Situation** — 2–3 sentences, in the user's own framing. **Signal** (3–6 items max) - "" — , → **Where you're off** - **Together** — 3–5 sentences. The synthesised move. ``` ## Rules - Quotes must be verbatim and real. If you can't fetch a real source, say so — never paraphrase-then-quote or reconstruct a passage from memory. - Scrape wide, report narrow. A long list of quotes is a failure. 3–6 that matter. - No "I searched", "I found", "I read 8 essays" narration. Just the signal. - If the expert genuinely has nothing precise to say about the situation, say that plainly rather than stretching loose passages to fit. - Save the read-out to the vault (`obsidian_capture` or a note under `Learning/` or the relevant project) so the challenge compounds.