How do I install the Principle Build The Lever skill?

Run npx skillmds@latest add sitaggart/principle-build-the-lever 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 Principle Build The Lever safe to use?

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

Which AI agents work with Principle Build The Lever?

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 Principle Build The Lever free to use?

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

Who published Principle Build The Lever?

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

Principle Build The Lever by sitaggart

Name: Principle Build The Lever
Rating: 4.2 (5 reviews)
Author: SiTaggart

Principle Build The Lever

Apply to any non-trivial work, not just bulk work: edits, migrations, analyses, checks. Build the tool that does it or proves it (codemod, script, generator, or a skill your subagents follow) instead of working by hand. The tool is the artifact a reviewer can rerun.

SiTaggart Updated Sep 10, 2026

File contents

Read PStack runtime guidance before this workflow. It defines tool mappings and overrides upstream host assumptions.

Build the Lever

When the work isn't trivial, build the tool that does it instead of doing it by hand.

Why: Two payoffs. Throughput: a codemod, generator, or script does the work the same way every time and reruns for free. Confidence: the tool is one artifact a reviewer can read and rerun to check the work. Hand-done changes can only be re-verified by redoing them. A deterministic script turns "trust me" into "run this".

Pattern: Default to building the lever. Skip it only when the task is trivial, a couple of obvious edits you can see at a glance.

Do the first unit by hand to learn the recipe, then build the tool. Prove it by rerunning it on that unit and diffing against your hand-done version. Make the lever safe to rerun.
Codemod or script for edits, generator for repetitive files, a dump-to-sqlite query for analysis, a rerunnable check for verification.
A deterministic lever beats fan-out. If the tool can process every unit in one pass, run it yourself. Don't fan out delegates to hand-apply what a script can do.
When you fan work out to subagents, write the lever as a skill they all read: the recipe, the verification contract, and the do-not-touch fences in one artifact. Keep it outside the delegates' write scope so they can't quietly edit the contract.
Applying this principle produces a file. If you cited it and there is no codemod, script, generator, or delegate skill in the diff, you didn't apply it.
Commit the lever when the work outlives the session.

Balance: The bar is triviality, not repetition. A one-off still earns a lever when the lever is what makes the work checkable. Per the Laziness Protocol, build the smallest script that does or proves the job, never a framework.

Distinct from Encode Lessons in Structure, which makes a recurring instruction a durable guardrail. This is throughput and reviewability on the work in front of you. For scripting the verification itself, see Prove It Works.

---name: principle-build-the-leverdescription: Apply to any non-trivial work, not just bulk work: edits, migrations, analyses, checks. Build the tool that does it or proves it (codemod, script, generator, or a skill your subagents follow) instead of working by hand. The tool is the artifact a reviewer can rerun.---Read [PStack runtime guidance](../../RUNTIME.md) before this workflow. It defines tool mappings and overrides upstream host assumptions.# Build the LeverWhen the work isn't trivial, build the tool that does it instead of doing it by hand.**Why:** Two payoffs. Throughput: a codemod, generator, or script does the work the same way every time and reruns for free. Confidence: the tool is one artifact a reviewer can read and rerun to check the work. Hand-done changes can only be re-verified by redoing them. A deterministic script turns "trust me" into "run this".**Pattern:** Default to building the lever. Skip it only when the task is trivial, a couple of obvious edits you can see at a glance.- Do the first unit by hand to learn the recipe, then build the tool. Prove it by rerunning it on that unit and diffing against your hand-done version. Make the lever safe to rerun.- Codemod or script for edits, generator for repetitive files, a dump-to-sqlite query for analysis, a rerunnable check for verification.- A deterministic lever beats fan-out. If the tool can process every unit in one pass, run it yourself. Don't fan out delegates to hand-apply what a script can do.- When you fan work out to subagents, write the lever as a skill they all read: the recipe, the verification contract, and the do-not-touch fences in one artifact. Keep it outside the delegates' write scope so they can't quietly edit the contract.- Applying this principle produces a file. If you cited it and there is no codemod, script, generator, or delegate skill in the diff, you didn't apply it.- Commit the lever when the work outlives the session.**Balance:** The bar is triviality, not repetition. A one-off still earns a lever when the lever is what makes the work checkable. Per the [Laziness Protocol](../principle-laziness-protocol/SKILL.md), build the smallest script that does or proves the job, never a framework.Distinct from [Encode Lessons in Structure](../principle-encode-lessons-in-structure/SKILL.md), which makes a recurring instruction a durable guardrail. This is throughput and reviewability on the work in front of you. For scripting the verification itself, see [Prove It Works](../principle-prove-it-works/SKILL.md).

Frequently asked questions