How do I install the Precedent skill?

Run npx skillmds@latest add ronniepinnell/precedent 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 Precedent 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 Precedent?

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 Precedent free to use?

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

Who published Precedent?

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

Precedent by ronniepinnell — Agent Skill

Name: Precedent
Author: ronniepinnell

Precedent

Precedent lookup before deciding. Greps prior rulings — the verdicts ledger, decision stores, the adjudicated escalation queue — for anything bearing on a pending decision, then either FOLLOWS the precedent or explicitly DISTINGUISHES the case. Use before any /door call, gate override, or decision in a domain the project has ruled on before. No silent departures.

File contents

/precedent — Has This Already Been Decided?

The ledger only compounds if it's consulted. A team that re-litigates settled questions wastes frontier effort; a team that silently contradicts its own rulings is worse — it has two answers in production. This skill makes the lookup mandatory and the departure explicit.

Invocation

/precedent uuid vs bigint for the new events table
/precedent                 # look up the decision currently under discussion

Procedure

Name the domain and 2–4 keywords for the pending decision (e.g. "ID format": uuid, bigint, pk, id).
Grep the ruling stores, in order:
- .claude/verdicts.log — DOOR / GATE / ESCALATE lines
- .claude/escalation-queue.md ## Adjudicated section — burned escalations
- any project decisions store (DECISIONS_INDEX, docs/decisions/, a decisions DB) Paste the matching lines. Zero hits in all three → verdict none-found, decide fresh (via /door if it's weighty) and move on.
Cite what's found. Quote the ruling(s) verbatim with ref (date/ID/file). If rulings conflict with each other, that's the finding — escalate the conflict via /escalate, don't pick a favorite.
Follow or distinguish — exactly one:
- FOLLOW — apply the prior ruling. One line saying so. Done; this is the cheap, common case.
- DISTINGUISH — state the material difference between this case and the precedent's facts, in one or two sentences. "It feels different" and "that was a while ago" are not material differences; changed constraints, changed scale, or a ruling whose kill-gate has since tripped are.
Verdict line (log via /verdict): PRECEDENT: followed <ref> or PRECEDENT: distinguished <ref> — <material difference> or PRECEDENT: none-found.

Rules

No silent departures. Any decision that contradicts a found ruling without a logged DISTINGUISH line is a judgment override — declare it (see the Judgment override rule in the repo CLAUDE.md).
A DISTINGUISH is itself precedent: it narrows the old ruling. Log it.
If the same precedent gets distinguished three times, the ruling is wrong — send it to /escalate for re-adjudication instead of a fourth carve-out.

Composes with

/door — run this first; a found precedent often collapses a one-way-door analysis to FOLLOW. No precedent on a one-way door is an /escalate trigger.
/verdict — the primary store this greps, and where its own verdicts land.
/escalate — conflicting or thrice-distinguished precedents go there.

---name: precedentdescription: Precedent lookup before deciding. Greps prior rulings — the verdicts ledger, decision stores, the adjudicated escalation queue — for anything bearing on a pending decision, then either FOLLOWS the precedent or explicitly DISTINGUISHES the case. Use before any /door call, gate override, or decision in a domain the project has ruled on before. No silent departures.---# /precedent — Has This Already Been Decided?The ledger only compounds if it's consulted. A team that re-litigates settledquestions wastes frontier effort; a team that silently contradicts its ownrulings is worse — it has two answers in production. This skill makes thelookup mandatory and the departure explicit.## Invocation```/precedent uuid vs bigint for the new events table/precedent # look up the decision currently under discussion```## Procedure1. **Name the domain and 2–4 keywords** for the pending decision (e.g. "ID format": `uuid`, `bigint`, `pk`, `id`).2. **Grep the ruling stores**, in order: - `.claude/verdicts.log` — DOOR / GATE / ESCALATE lines - `.claude/escalation-queue.md` `## Adjudicated` section — burned escalations - any project decisions store (DECISIONS_INDEX, docs/decisions/, a decisions DB) Paste the matching lines. Zero hits in all three → verdict `none-found`, decide fresh (via `/door` if it's weighty) and move on.3. **Cite what's found.** Quote the ruling(s) verbatim with ref (date/ID/file). If rulings conflict with each other, that's the finding — escalate the conflict via `/escalate`, don't pick a favorite.4. **Follow or distinguish** — exactly one: - **FOLLOW** — apply the prior ruling. One line saying so. Done; this is the cheap, common case. - **DISTINGUISH** — state the *material* difference between this case and the precedent's facts, in one or two sentences. "It feels different" and "that was a while ago" are not material differences; changed constraints, changed scale, or a ruling whose kill-gate has since tripped are.5. **Verdict line** (log via `/verdict`): `PRECEDENT: followed <ref>` or `PRECEDENT: distinguished <ref> — <material difference>` or `PRECEDENT: none-found`.## Rules- No silent departures. Any decision that contradicts a found ruling without a logged DISTINGUISH line is a judgment override — declare it (see the Judgment override rule in the repo CLAUDE.md).- A DISTINGUISH is itself precedent: it narrows the old ruling. Log it.- If the same precedent gets distinguished three times, the ruling is wrong — send it to `/escalate` for re-adjudication instead of a fourth carve-out.## Composes with- `/door` — run this first; a found precedent often collapses a one-way-door analysis to FOLLOW. No precedent on a one-way door is an `/escalate` trigger.- `/verdict` — the primary store this greps, and where its own verdicts land.- `/escalate` — conflicting or thrice-distinguished precedents go there.

Frequently asked questions