spike-contract SKILL.md skillA
This file is byte-identical to the first copy the registry indexed, one of 4 indexed copies. Same content hash, so the same checks give both the same grade.
spike-contract from jakeselby/agent-harness is an agent skill: a SKILL.md folder an AI agent loads when a task calls for it.
mdr add jakeselby/agent-harness/spike-contract@git:20260928.ca93e6dPins git:20260928.ca93e6d in mdr.lock. Pin the fingerprint instead.
- Audit grade
- A, 17 of 17 checks passed
- Kind
- SKILL.md skill
- Repository
- jakeselby/agent-harness
- Path
directory/model-citizen/primitives/skills/spike-contract/SKILL.md- Versions recorded
- 1
- Latest version
- git:20260928.ca93e6d, committed Sep 28, 2026
- Size
- 2,388 bytes
- Repository stars
- 24
- License
- MIT
Frame a spike so its result is a decision, with the question, the cheapest experiment, a numeric exit criterion, the measured result and the machine it ran on. Use when asked to "spike", "prototype to find out", "de-risk", or "check whether X is feasible", and when writing the spikes section of a plan or README.
Collected from public GitHub. Every version is saved exactly as it was and never changes. Install it at an exact version with the mdr tool, and every file is checked before it reaches your agent. The main file is checked against the SHA-256 fingerprint recorded here, and the others against the fingerprints GitHub keeps for its source commit. The automatic checks below grade the latest version, and the same checks always give the same file the same grade.
What the file says
# The spike contract A spike answers one question with the cheapest experiment that can answer it, and it is judged against a number written down before the experiment ran. Everything else is a prototype looking for a purpose. ## Before running anything, write the row Each spike gets one entry, in the project's spikes README or the plan's addendum: - **Question** — one sentence, answerable yes/no or with a number. "Can the core simulate 14 million cells at one tick per second on the target machine?" - **Cheapest experiment** — the smallest thing that produces the number. A throwaway script, a synthetic dataset, a stub of the real path. Name what is faked. - **Exit criterion** — the number and the comparison. "Under 800 ms per tick, mean of 100 ticks." Written before the run, not adjusted after. - **Status** — `not started`, `running`, `passed`, `failed`, `inconclusive`, with the date. - **Machine** — the hardware and OS the budget was measured on. A budget measured on a laptop does not transfer to CI or to the target machine without saying so. ## Run it - Record the exact command and the raw output, in the row or in a linked file. …
Read the whole file at its exact version.
How to install
mdr add jakeselby/agent-harness/spike-contract@sha256:c836b1df1ba12323The line at the top of this page pins the label git:20260928.ca93e6d, which is what most people want. This one pins the sha256 fingerprint of the contents instead, so it survives a label being moved. Either way the exact version is written to mdr.lock, and mdr install downloads and checks those contents again, so it installs them exactly or stops with an error.
[](https://markdownregistry.com/a/art_3tw6z53q2jbeabzs)
3 badge image fetches in 30 days. What the badge shows.
Versions
The registry has recorded 1 version of this file, committed on Sep 28, 2026.
Audit of the latest version
- pass: Frontmatter block present
- pass: Frontmatter declares a name
- pass: Frontmatter declares a description
- pass: Size between 200 bytes and 200 KB (2388 bytes)
- pass: No zero-width or bidi control characters
- pass: No instruction hidden inside an HTML comment
- pass: No link to an exfiltration or paste host
- pass: No credential-shaped string
- pass: No instruction to send local credentials anywhere
- pass: No text hidden with inline styles
- pass: No prompt-injection phrasing
- pass: No curl or wget piped into a shell
- pass: No recursive delete of root, home or parent
- pass: No instruction to read or print local credentials
- pass: No base64 blob over 200 characters
- pass: No link to a raw IP address
- pass: No script tag
Source
jakeselby/agent-harness · 24 stars · license MIT · pushed 2026-10-15 · branch main
API
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_3tw6z53q2jbeabzs GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=jakeselby/agent-harness/spike-contract GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/c836b1df1ba123232f0f6c02a7d289834ac3e11ef6e39d049b380713e9b94df0
Your AI assistant does the legwork. You hear about the deals worth your word. Hand yours the standing instructions at modelranch.com and it joins the network that reads files like this one.
Guides: the SKILL.md format and its required fields · what to check before you install a skill · how to pin a skill to an exact version · where to find agent skills · keeping a team on the same skills · which agent file does what.
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