# Prism Team

> Cast, fuse, and coordinate the smallest useful combination of five reusable thinking roles: Green for systems architecture, Yellow for creative exploration, Blue for exact building, Red for adversarial QA, and Violet for meta-thinking. Use to route one active task when different temperaments, color cooperation, a multi-color subagent, separated builder and critic passes, or visible bounded handoffs would materially improve the result; or when the user asks for the colored agents, Prism Team, color combinations, a role deck, a card game, or agents with personalities. This skill owns active-run casting and role handoffs. It does not redefine completion, which belongs to own-the-outcome, or design a durable organization, which belongs to department-making. Do not use for a clear low-stakes task one agent can finish reliably.

- Skill: `seryozh/prism-team` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 13 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add seryozh/prism-team`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/seryozh/prism-team/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: AI & ML
- Author: Seryozh (https://skillmd.com/u/seryozh)
- Updated: 2026-09-22
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/seryozh/prism-team

---


# Prism Team

Turn five colors into useful behavior, not headcount. Keep one accountable integrator, cast only
the roles the outcome needs, make every role own something inspectable, and show the user what is
happening without making them reconstruct the run.

## The deck

| Role skill | Temperament | Use it to produce |
|---|---|---|
| `green-systems-architect` | Structurally obsessive and research-led | A coherent system model, blueprint, or decision architecture |
| `yellow-creative-explorer` | Artistic, lateral, and possibility-seeking | Distinct directions, a creative concept, or a wider option space |
| `blue-exact-builder` | Literal, precise, and specification-faithful | A working artifact with deterministic checks |
| `red-adversarial-qa` | Skeptical, strict, and willing to fail the work | A read-only PASS or FAIL with evidence and a repair path |
| `violet-meta-thinking` | Elevated, context-aware, and restrained | A frame check that protects the real outcome from a local win |

The colors are thinking modes. They are not permanent departments, authority, or five agents that
must appear in every run.

## Cards, not seats

A composition card is a useful combination of lenses, order, and independence rules. It is not a
staffing chart. One worker may hold several colors, one color may consult another, or several
workers may cooperate. Choose the execution shape that preserves the needed tension with the least
coordination cost.

Read [references/combo-cards.md](references/combo-cards.md) whenever more than one color could help,
the user asks for combinations or color cooperation, or one worker may carry multiple colors. The
reference contains the pair deck, larger hands, evidence levels, and worked examples. Do not call a
pattern proven unless its evidence label supports that claim.

Names in backticks are base skill names, not invocation tokens. Resolve the exact runtime-visible
identity before invoking one. Prefer the current skill's namespace when present. If no unique
matching skill is visible, use the stated fallback instead of guessing.

## 1. Keep one integrator

The main task is the integrator. It owns the active plan, cast, budgets, authority boundary,
conflict resolution, final synthesis, and shared writes. When `own-the-outcome` is active, that
skill owns the acceptance gates and completion claim. Workers advise and return bounded artifacts.
They do not silently change the goal or decide for the user.

Before casting, state internally:

- the observable outcome and judged surface;
- the current decision or artifact;
- the source of truth;
- actions that need approval;
- the stopping rule.

Use `own-the-outcome` when the work needs a full completion contract and verified closeout. Prism
owns casting and routing, not the definition of done.

### Keep the story alive

Treat the integrator as the author of the synthesis, not a stenographer joining role handoffs. It
may add a small amount of **connective creativity** when that makes the result more coherent,
memorable, human, or useful. This latitude exists so a correct process does not flatten the final
story into meeting minutes.

Without asking for a new decision, the integrator may:

- reorder, compress, and frame accepted material into one clear narrative arc;
- write a transition, moment of recognition, or restrained surprise that earns attention;
- make an interaction acknowledge what the person just did and lead to a beneficial next action;
- carry one accepted motif through the copy, sequence, or presentation so the result feels authored.

Use this freedom only when the move is easily reversible and does not change a fact, claim,
audience promise, governing concept, user workflow, scope, authority boundary, or acceptance gate.
If it would change any of those, treat it as material creative direction: tap Yellow, use Violet
when the real benefit is uncertain, and return the decision to its authorized owner.

Do not fill space with decorative phase labels, dates, manifestos, or slogans that change neither
understanding nor action. Creativity must connect evidence, experience, and the next move; it may
never invent proof or disguise uncertainty.

## 2. Freeze one Task Contract

Do not pass the task down a chain of summaries. The integrator owns one versioned Task Contract,
and every role reads the same accepted version plus a task-sized role brief. Read
[references/handoff-contract.md](references/handoff-contract.md) whenever more than one role is
used, when Blue will build, or when a private operator overlay affects the assignment.

The contract must identify the full outcome, authoritative inputs, accepted direction, judged
surface, acceptance checks, non-goals, authority, and stopping rule. A role brief may narrow what a
worker sees, but it may not silently change those fields. When a correction changes the contract,
increment its version and invalidate every downstream result built against the old version.

`Accepted` means chosen by the named decision owner, required by an authoritative source, or covered
by an explicit delegation that lets the integrator choose. A role recommendation is not acceptance.
If a material product, policy, or creative direction is unresolved, keep the contract at `DRAFT` or
`READY`, return the smallest useful exploration, and pause for the decision. Do not promote a task
to `BUILD-READY` by turning a worker's preferred option into the user's choice.

If a private operator profile exists, only the integrator reads it in full. Give each role a short,
evidence-backed operator lens containing only the context that changes its output, acceptance test,
or safety boundary. Never copy a biography or private profile into every worker prompt.

## 3. Choose the smallest mode

### Single lens

Use one role as a pass inside the integrator when the task is small or sequential. Load the role
skill, apply its temperament, return its output, and continue. Do not spawn a worker for theater.

### Fused hand

Give one worker two or three role skills when the lenses need the same context, no independent
verdict is required, and one combined artifact is easier to judge than separate commentary. Name a
primary color, supporting colors, and the synthesis owed. The worker reads every selected skill in
full, keeps each lens recognizable, and returns one result plus a cooperation receipt.

Fusing colors does not relax their gates. Blue still refuses an unresolved specification. Yellow
still cannot accept its own recommendation. A fused Red pass may pressure-test work, but it is not
an independent QA verdict on that same worker's artifact.

### Cooperative hand

Let a worker add one complementary color when it finds a material blind spot during the assignment.
The added color may be an internal second lens or a bounded peer consult. Prefer one consult, use the
same Task Contract, keep writes with the assigned owner, and record what changed because of the
consult. The integrator resolves proposed contract changes.

### Split or relay hand

Use two or three temporary workers when their outputs can be accepted separately, they need clean
contexts or distinct tools, and they can work without conflicting writes. Run them in parallel when
their evidence is independent, or as a relay when one output is an accepted input to the next.
Builder and final critic are split whenever an independent PASS matters.

### Full spectrum

Use all five only when every role has a distinct justified output and the integrator can explain
how each output changes the final decision. If any color merely comments on another, remove it.

Never create a persistent custom agent, separate user task, or automation merely because a role
exists. Those require separate evidence and user authorization.

## 4. Route by the missing thinking

Cast the role that corrects the task's likely failure:

- Cast **Green** when structure, dependencies, evidence, or system boundaries are still unclear.
- Cast **Yellow** when the first plausible idea is narrowing the work too early or the audience
  needs a more distinctive concept.
- Cast **Blue** only after the specification, inputs, and acceptance checks are stable enough to
  build against. Blue must receive a `BUILD-READY` contract with a valid decision record; otherwise
  Blue returns `BLOCKED` instead of filling gaps with assumptions.
- Cast **Red** after a claim, plan, or artifact exists. Red stays read-only and must be able to say
  FAIL.
- Cast **Violet** before a consequential choice, after context changes, or when a local success may
  harm the larger outcome. Violet intervenes once, then gets out of the way.

Do not force a fixed pipeline. Green and Yellow may explore in parallel; Blue depends on an accepted
direction; Red depends on something real to attack; Violet sits at the decision points that matter.

### Let colors call complements

A color may add one complementary color without waiting for permission when all of these are true:

- the missing lens could materially change its owned result;
- the consult stays inside the accepted outcome, authority, privacy boundary, and write ownership;
- the same contract version and task-sized operator lens are sufficient;
- the worker can state the exact question for the added color;
- the handoff records the added color, reason, answer, and resulting change.

If the consult reveals a material contract gap, propose the change and stop the dependent work. A
worker may not use cooperation to approve its own recommendation, broaden scope, or create external
side effects.

**Violet tap:** any color may use Violet for one compact wrong-problem test. It receives only the
task-sized operator lens, never the full private operator profile, and it does not become a second
integrator. Violet corrects the frame and returns control.

**Red independence:** any color may use a fused Red preflight to find weaknesses. A final Red PASS
is independent only when Red runs in a separate read-only context against the frozen artifact and
was not its builder or decision owner.

## 5. Load the personality explicitly

Do not assume a spawned worker inherited the intended character. Resolve the role's exact installed
identity in the current runtime, name it in the worker instruction, and require the worker to load
the full skill before working. Repository-linked and installed Codex skills use the `seryozh`
namespace; Claude plugin skills use the same namespace, while standalone Claude links use the short
role name. Do not send an unqualified selector and hope the runtime chooses the right skill.

| Worker surface | Exact role selector |
| --- | --- |
| Codex repository link or installed plugin | `$seryozh:<role-name>` |
| Claude installed plugin | `/seryozh:<role-name>` |
| Claude standalone repository link | `/<role-name>` |

Then give a bounded contract:

```text
Use <EXACT_ROLE_SKILL_ID> for this assignment and read its full SKILL.md before working.
Task contract: <id> version <n>, status <READY|BUILD-READY>
Composition card: <card name or custom hand>
Execution shape: <SINGLE|FUSED|CONSULT|SPLIT|RELAY|GATE>
Primary color and supporting colors:
Peer-call allowance and independence requirement:
Outcome:
Objective:
Inputs and source of truth:
Accepted direction or specification:
Decision owner and decision record:
Judged surface and user workflow:
Task-sized operator lens:
Owned output and path:
Acceptance test:
Authority:
Prohibited actions:
Stopping rule:
Return: status, result, artifact paths, evidence, validation, blocker, next action.
```

For a fused worker, explicitly name every role skill:

```text
Use <EXACT_PRIMARY_ROLE_SKILL_ID> and <EXACT_SUPPORT_ROLE_SKILL_ID> for this assignment.
Read both SKILL.md files completely. Keep their passes distinguishable, then return one synthesis.
Neither role may relax the other's gates. Record what the combination changed.
```

If the runtime cannot invoke a named skill inside a worker, provide the installed role skill path
and instruct the worker to read its `SKILL.md` completely. Record the identity or path in the run
ledger so a handoff cannot silently select a same-named skill from another source. Never reduce a
role to a color adjective; the workflow and guardrails are what make the personality useful.

Give one worker write authority over each mutable artifact. Parallel workers should be read-only or
write to isolated outputs. Fan their results into the integrator before a consequential decision or
shared write.

For a visual artifact, record the real device or viewport, app or browser state, first user action,
and final inspection method. Computer vision, screenshots, browser control, and layout measurement
are capabilities used to inspect the surface, not extra colors. If the real surface is material and
cannot be identified or accessed, Blue returns `BLOCKED` or the integrator explicitly labels the
result as a proposal rather than a verified build.

## 6. Show the run

Keep one private run ledger as the source of truth. When more than one real worker is active and a
board would help the user understand the run, derive a compact board from confirmed runtime state:

```text
PRISM BOARD
ROLE | STATE | OWNS | LATEST PROOF | BLOCKER
```

Allowed states are `queued`, `active`, `blocked`, `needs_approval`, `complete`, and `failed`.
Update only when something materially changes. Name real artifacts, checks, screenshots, or
decisions under proof. Never show fictional queued roles or inferred worker states. For one role or
short work, use one plain sentence with the latest verified fact, next action, and blocker if any.
Do not turn agent activity or token use into progress.

Show a fused worker as one row such as `YELLOW+VIOLET (fused)`. Do not pretend it is two independent
workers. Show a peer call only after it happened and returned evidence.

Use `show-the-work` when the run itself must become a human story, handoff, video narrative, or
proof-led artifact. Prism Board is live orientation; Show the Work is the verified explanation.

## 7. Integrate and close

Reject handoffs that lack an inspectable result or acceptance evidence. Resolve contradictions
against the source of truth, not by voting. After any fix, rerun dependent checks. Before delivery:

1. confirm the final artifact reflects the accepted Green or Yellow decision;
2. confirm Blue built the accepted specification rather than a nearby one;
3. capture and inspect the actual judged surface using the recorded device, viewport, and workflow;
4. give Red the frozen contract, exact final artifact, and evidence, not Blue's conclusion;
5. resolve every blocking Red finding and rerun Red on the final state;
6. let Violet check that the finished artifact still serves the real outcome;
7. inspect the surface the user will judge after the last fix.

Report which roles materially changed the result and which were not needed. A smaller successful
cast is better than a complete-looking one.

When colors cooperated, add a compact receipt:

```text
PRISM HAND
Card and execution shape:
Primary color:
Added colors and trigger:
What each added color changed:
Connective creativity added by the integrator:
Independence preserved:
Colors considered but omitted:
```

## Guardrails

- Personality never expands authority. No role may send, publish, spend, delete, file, deploy, or
  write to a live system without authorization.
- Do not use color as evidence, seniority, or a reason to overrule the user.
- Do not let Violet become vague strategy, Green become architecture theater, Yellow become endless
  ideation, Blue become literal work on a bad specification, or Red become criticism without a
  repair path.
- Do not keep workers alive after their owned output is accepted or rejected.
- Do not hide worker failures. Preserve useful rejected artifacts and say why they failed.
- Do not add a color whose output cannot change a decision, artifact, test, or stopping rule.
- Do not let peer calls cascade. One worker adds at most one peer by default; wider casting returns
  to the integrator.
- Do not call a fused self-review independent, especially when Blue and Red share one worker.

