nicknisi
- 43 skills
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- 13 hours ago last updated
- ▌ Autoplan · nicknisiUse when the user says "autoplan this", "autoplan", or wants an open-ended design/bugfix problem mined into a multiple-choice decision. Runs the saved autoplan workflow — parallel candidates, holy-grail check, advisor recommendation, human decision gate, plan write.
- ▌ Design · nicknisiCreate and iterate on UI designs, prototypes, decks, and mockups in Claude Design (claude.ai/design) via its official MCP server. Use when the user asks to design something, wants UI mockups or artboard options, says /design, or wants to import a Claude Design project into the codebase.
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- ▌ Add Theme · nicknisiAdd a theme pack or match a wallpaper to an existing theme in the dotfiles theme system (bin/theme). Use when the user pastes a theme repo URL or image, says "add this theme", "new theme pack", or wants another entry for theme next to cycle.
- ▌ Source Drafting · nicknisiUse when drafting documents, reports, posts, presentations, or review comments from source materials, or conducting research across provided documents. Enforces read-first drafting, a source map for every claim, agent verification, and separation of verified from unverified claims.
- ▌ Verify Behavior · nicknisiVerify or reproduce visible product behavior by driving the real UI with pi-computer-use's checked tools, requiring verified expect postconditions and durable state evidence for meaningful UI flows. Use when triage needs visual reproduction, implementation needs behavioral proof, review needs interactive confirmation, or any factory stage asks to verify UI/app behavior.
- ▌ Chart · nicknisiUse when an effort is too big for one agent session and the way from here to the destination isn't visible yet — the route itself is the unknown, not the build. Triggers on: 'this is huge and I can't even see how to get there,' 'too foggy to spec,' 'we need a map before we plan,' 'chart a route,' or any idea whose open decisions span more than one session before the way to a spec is clear. Charts a shared local map of decision tickets and resolves them one at a time (one per session, except research) until the way is clear — then hands off to /ideation:ideation to plan the build, or to whatever the destination names. Distinct from /ideation:brainstorm (deciding WHETHER, in conversation, no files) and /ideation:ideation (planning HOW, one contract, produces specs). Skip when the idea already fits a single ideation contract.
- ▌ Express · nicknisiOne-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.
- ▌ Ideation · nicknisi bundleYou MUST use this before building any new feature, planning a migration, designing a system, or turning a decided-on idea into a plan. Triggers on: feature requests, project ideas, brain dumps, 'help me plan,' 'spec this out,' 'interview me,' 'I want to build,' 'let's design,' or any unstructured idea you're ready to turn into code. Covers small single-spec projects through multi-phase initiatives. Runs a conversational interview, writes an interactive HTML contract, then generates implementation-ready Markdown specs. This is the planning-HOW stage: if the user is still deciding WHETHER to build — weighing options, pressure-testing a rough idea, 'should I…' — that's the lighter-weight /ideation:brainstorm skill, and ideation takes over once they've committed to build — its intake carries a brainstorm conclusion forward as starting evidence. Skip ONLY for well-defined implementation tasks (writing code to a known spec, fixing bugs, refactoring, explaining code).
- ▌ Autopilot · nicknisiOrchestrate full execution of an ideation project — reads the contract, builds an execution manifest, and runs all phases on the deterministic Workflow engine (parallel for independent phases, sequential for dependent ones). Auto-continues on success, gates on failure. Invoke only when the user explicitly asks to run an approved contract, or when an active /goal directs /ideation:autopilot.
- ▌ Brainstorm · nicknisiUse when the user is weighing or pressure-testing an idea rather than committing to build it — 'should I do X', 'which of these approaches', 'is this worth doing', 'what am I missing', 'am I overthinking or over-engineering this'. A lightweight thinking partner for the deciding-WHETHER stage: surfaces hidden assumptions and argues for the simplest version, in conversation — no files, no gates, no spec. This skill is for a question, not a dump: any brain dump, and any 'I want to build' / 'spec this out' / 'help me plan', belongs to the ideation skill's front door regardless of how settled it sounds. Ends by handing off to ideation. Not for writing code to a known spec, bug fixes, or refactors.
- ▌ Execute Spec · nicknisi bundleExecute an implementation spec generated by ideation. Invokes Scout for codebase exploration, builds components with feedback loops, then runs a Verify-Review-Fix cycle with the Reviewer agent before committing. Invoke only when the user explicitly asks to execute an ideation spec, or when an autopilot Workflow builder directs /ideation:execute-spec.
- ▌ Get Goal Prompt · nicknisiGenerate a /goal command that runs an ideation project to completion UNATTENDED by driving /ideation:autopilot. The /goal string is owned by scripts/contract-gen.ts (--print-goal); this skill resolves the project's contract-data.json, prints the goal, and copies it to the clipboard. Use when the user says 'goal', 'run as goal', 'goal prompt', or wants to run the project long-haul/unattended rather than watching /ideation:autopilot interactively.
- ▌ Why · nicknisiExplain why a piece of code exists by correlating it to the AI coding sessions behind it. Use when the user asks "why does this exist", "why did we write it this way", "what was the reasoning behind this line/file/commit", "who changed this and why", or points at a file, line, or commit and wants the rationale that git alone does not carry. Use PROACTIVELY before rewriting or removing code whose purpose is unclear — the deciding conversation may still be recoverable.
- ▌ Memory · nicknisiTriage context-memory candidates mined from past AI coding sessions. Use when the user says "triage memory", "review memory", "mine memory", "/memory", or asks what durable facts their session history contains. Runs the mine, clusters paraphrased candidates, judges which facts generalize beyond the session they came from, and walks approve / reject / snooze, including marking standing constraints always-on and assigning project groups.
- ▌ Recall · nicknisiRecall what was done on a specific project or topic from past AI coding sessions. Use when the user says "what did I do on [project]", "recall [topic]", "history of [project]", "when did I last work on [thing]" — but also when they reference prior work without asking for history explicitly: "didn't we already fix this", "what was that approach we tried", "why did we do it this way", "what happened to [file/feature]". Use PROACTIVELY before re-deriving a decision or re-solving a problem a past session likely settled — past conversations hold rationale and dead ends that never made it into git.
- ▌ Context · nicknisiLoad a context primer for the current repo before starting work. Use when the user says "what was I doing here", "catch me up on this repo", "context primer", "what's the open thread", "where did I/we leave off" — and PROACTIVELY when a session opens on work that clearly continues something ("keep going on the refactor", "finish the migration") or when resuming a codebase after a break. Past sessions carry the open thread, prior decisions, and abandoned approaches that code and git history don't show.
- ▌ Standup · nicknisiGenerate a quick standup summary of yesterday and today's AI coding sessions. Use when the user says "standup", "what did I do yesterday", "daily summary", "what have I been working on", or needs a quick recap for a standup meeting.
- ▌ Weekly Summary · nicknisiGenerate a comprehensive summary of AI coding sessions from the past week. Use when the user says "weekly summary", "what did I do this week", "summarize my week", "weekly recap", "week in review", or asks for a summary of recent work across projects.
- ▌ Session Metrics · nicknisiShow usage metrics and analytics for AI coding sessions. Use when the user asks "how much have I been coding", "session stats", "show me metrics", "tool usage", "which tool do I use most", "active hours", or wants analytics about their AI coding tool usage.
- ▌ Orc · nicknisiOrchestrate complex work from kickoff or mid-task. Preserve progress, bring in useful help, choose models by the work and how reliably it can be verified, and own the integrated result. Use when asked to orchestrate, parallelize, bring in agents, or change an ongoing task into a team effort.
- ▌ Eli5 · nicknisiExplain a topic to a complete novice using an HTML artifact with big pictures and few words. Use when the user says "eli5", "explain like I'm 5", or asks for a beginner-friendly visual explanation of any topic.
- ▌ Triage · nicknisi bundleMove issues and external PRs through a state machine of triage roles, categorise, verify, grill if needed, and write agent-ready briefs.
- ▌ Show Me · nicknisiHelp the user understand the current topic visually with concise diagrams, code-shape sketches, and focused HTML artifacts.
- ▌ Brainrot · nicknisi bundleTurn any topic, doc, article, README, or wall of text into "sludge content": a split-screen web page with a narrated ELI5-style lesson on the left (browser text-to-speech, one-word-at-a-time TikTok captions) and an endless pixel platformer or Subway-Surfers-style gameplay video on the right. USE WHEN the user says brainrot, sludge, subway surfers, smooth brain, "I can't focus on this", "too much text", "read this to me", "teach me X but make it fun / unhinged", "explain this like a TikTok", "help me get through this doc", or pastes something long and wants to actually absorb it rather than skim. Also for "eli5 with audio" or "narrate this". NOT FOR: a plain summary or TL;DR, a serious reference document, a diagram-first explanation (use eli5 or show-me), or deep comprehension with quizzes (use explain-this).
- ▌ Explain This · nicknisi bundleExplain any digital artifact — a paper, PDF, article, or codebase — so the person actually understands it, not just skims it. Explanations are shaped by a persistent learner profile, gated by comprehension quizzes, and feed a spaced-repetition review loop. USE WHEN: explain this, explain this paper / PDF / article / codebase, help me understand this, what does this mean, what is this really saying, break this down, review my cards, explain-this review, explain-this interview. NOT FOR: plain summarization when the user only wants a TL;DR, writing new content, reviewing code for defects, explaining a diff or PR (use explain-diff), or quizzing on work just completed (use socratic-tutor).
- ▌ Content Machine · nicknisi bundleTurn Nick Nisi's raw material into content drafts in his voice — blog posts and conference talks, primarily. Use when the user says "write a post," "draft a talk," "write about [topic]," "turn my notes into writing," or provides scattered ideas that need shaping — or when he asks "what should I write about?" / "any content ideas in my recent work?" (idea sourcing). Produces a deliberately flat draft with sourced facts and tagged gaps — never a finished post.
- ▌ Domain Modeling · nicknisi bundleBuild and sharpen a project's domain model. Use when discussing codebase terminology, writing or editing a CONTEXT.md, or recording or editing an ADR.
- ▌ Llms Visibility · nicknisiMake websites, docs, blogs, or landing pages visible and readable to LLMs and AI agents — ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Cursor, Claude Code, and other coding agents that fetch URLs. Use this for any request involving llms.txt, llms-full.txt, serving .md/Markdown versions of pages, Accept text/markdown content negotiation, Link rel="alternate" headers, Cloudflare Content-Signal in robots.txt, GEO (generative engine optimization), AI-friendly / AI-readable / LLM-discoverable sites, getting cited in ChatGPT or Perplexity answers, or fixing pages where AI tools fetch JavaScript bundles or empty React roots instead of content. Also use to push back on debunked patterns: ai.txt, AI meta tags, hidden HTML comments, AI toggle buttons, User-Agent sniffing, JSON-LD aimed at LLMs. Do NOT use for traditional Google SEO, sitemap.xml, schema.org rich snippets for search engines, WCAG/accessibility audits, or CSP/security headers.
- ▌ Tmux · nicknisi bundleRead and drive other tmux panes when Claude runs inside tmux. Use whenever the user points at something running in another pane/split/window — their dev server, test watcher, build, logs, REPL, or another shell — e.g. "errors in my dev server", "read/tail my other pane", "is my server up and on what port", "run this in my other split", "restart the watcher". Also for driving interactive/long-running CLIs (Node REPL, vite/next dev, vitest, node inspect) and spawning isolated background tmux sessions.
- ▌ Handoff · nicknisiCompact the current conversation into a handoff document for another agent to pick up. Use when the user says "hand this off", "wrap up", "save context", "continue later", "pass this to another session", "I need to stop here", "pick this up later", or when a session is ending with unfinished work. Also use when context is getting long and the user wants to start fresh without losing progress.
- ▌ Image Gen · nicknisi bundleGenerate or edit images via Google Gemini (nano-banana-pro) or OpenAI gpt-image-2. Trigger on "generate image", "create diagram", "edit image", or "make illustration". Supports 1K/2K/4K resolution, masked inpainting, and text-accurate generation.
- ▌ Link Reader · nicknisiFetch tweets, Twitter/X articles, and Reddit posts via proxy APIs. Use when the user provides a twitter.com, x.com, or reddit.com URL, or asks to read a tweet, post, article, or thread from Twitter/X or Reddit.
- ▌ Prototype · nicknisi bundleBuild a throwaway prototype to answer a design question before committing to real implementation. Generates either a runnable terminal app (for state machines, data models, business logic) or several radically different UI variations on one route (for visual/layout decisions). Use when the user wants to prototype, spike, POC, sanity-check a data model, mock up a UI, explore design options, or says "prototype this", "spike this out", "let me play with it", "try a few designs", "sketch this in code", "I want to try something before building it for real", "quick and dirty version", or "validate this approach" — even if they don't use the word "prototype."
- ▌ Tighten Prose · nicknisi bundleThis skill should be used when the user asks to "tighten this up", "tighten the prose", "clean up the writing", "check for AI tells", "make this sound more human", "de-slop this", "run a writing pass", or when completing a writing task that should not read like AI output. Scans prose for statistically overrepresented AI writing patterns and rewrites flagged sections.
- ▌ Youtube Notes · nicknisi bundlePull captions from a YouTube video and turn them into chapter-aligned notes where every claim carries a clickable timestamp. Use this whenever a youtube.com or youtu.be link appears, including a bare pasted link with no instructions attached, and whenever the user wants to summarize, digest, triage, or take notes on a video, talk, lecture, keynote, podcast, or interview: "is this worth watching", "TL;DR this talk", "what do they say about X", "find the part where they discuss Y", "save this to my notes", "get me the transcript". Prefer this over generic web fetching or page readers for YouTube links, because the page HTML carries no transcript. Not for downloading video or audio files, and not for local media.
- ▌ Explain Diff · nicknisiProduce a rich, self-contained HTML explainer for a code change — deep background, core intuition with diagrams, a guided code walkthrough, and an interactive quiz. Use whenever the user asks to explain or deeply understand a diff, PR, branch, or commit — "explain this PR", "walk me through this change", "what does this diff actually do", "make an explainer for this branch" — or wants a shareable document that teaches someone else what changed and why. Output is an HTML file opened in the browser, not a chat reply.
- ▌ Squad Review · nicknisi bundleReview the current branch with six specialist lenses (security, correctness, conventions, tests, architecture, duplication), then put every finding through an adversarial verifier that tries to refute it — so what reaches you has already survived a skeptic. Use when the user asks for a thorough, deep, or paranoid review, a review before merging or shipping, a "real" review, or wants to know what a review would catch that a quick pass misses. Costs 12 agents; for a fast single-pass read, use the built-in code-review skill instead.
- ▌ Blog Post Writer · nicknisi bundleTurn Nick Nisi's raw material into a blog post draft in his voice. Use when the user says "write a blog post," "draft a post," "write about [topic]," "turn my notes into a blog post," or provides scattered ideas that need shaping. Produces a deliberately flat draft with sourced facts and tagged gaps — never a finished post.
- ▌ Socratic Tutor · nicknisiSocratic tutor that drills the user until they deeply understand a change — the problem, the solution, the design decisions, the edge cases, and what it impacts. Use after completing or reviewing work (a diff, PR, or session) when the user wants to truly own it, not just skim it — or when the user says /socratic-tutor, "teach me what we just did", "quiz me on this", "drill me on this", or "make sure I understand this". Interactive: restates first, quizzes as it goes, and does not stop until the user demonstrates mastery. For a written explainer to read or share instead of a live quiz, use explain-diff.
- ▌ Conference Talk Builder · nicknisi bundleCreate conference talk outlines and slide-by-slide content plans using narrative frameworks. Use when the user wants to structure a tech talk, create presentation content, or needs help organizing talk ideas into a story-driven format. Tool-agnostic — outputs a talk script, not slides.
- ▌ Thermo Nuclear Code Quality Review · nicknisiRun an extremely strict maintainability review for abstraction quality, giant files, and spaghetti-condition growth. Use when the user explicitly asks for a thermo-nuclear review, thermonuclear review, deep code quality audit, or an especially harsh maintainability review. Not for ordinary review requests — those belong to the built-in code-review skill. This file is also the canonical rubric loaded by the thermo-nuclear-code-quality-review agent.
- ▌ Verify · nicknisiHow to launch and drive Diff Dad for runtime verification — daemon on a scratch port, config/test-connection API, and the single-PR server.