Home / codybrom / clairvoyance · skills/strategic-mindset/SKILL.md · GitHub

strategic-mindset skillA

strategic-mindset is agent-read markdown (skill) from codybrom/clairvoyance: Assesses whether code reflects strategic or tactical thinking, including the 10-20% investment rule and tactical-tornado patterns. Use when evaluating design investment, when code was written under time pressure, or when working code consistently degrades the system. Not for judging whether a specific diff looks designed-in or bolted-on (use code-evolution)..

Indexed from public GitHub and served as immutable, content-addressed versions. Install it pinned to an exact SHA-256 with the mdr CLI, and every file is verified against the hash recorded here before it reaches your agent. The deterministic audit below grades the latest version, and the same file always earns the same grade.

What the file says

# Strategic Mindset Review Lens

When invoked with $ARGUMENTS, focus the analysis on the specified file, module, or codebase area. Read the target code first, then apply the checks below.

> "The first step towards becoming a good software designer is to realize that working code isn't enough." — John Ousterhout, _A Philosophy of Software Design_

Evaluate whether code invests in design or just gets the job done.

## When to Apply

- When reviewing code written under time pressure
- When assessing technical debt in a codebase
- When a developer consistently produces working code that degrades the system
- When deciding how much time to invest in a design

## Core Principles

### Strategic vs. Tactical

#### Tactical Programming

Get it working, move on. Each shortcut is locally defensible. **This is precisely what makes it dangerous: it doesn't feel dangerous.**

#### Strategic Programming

Produce a great design that also happens to work. Two modes:

- **Proactive**: Explore alternatives before implementing. Write documentation before code to surface interface problems early.
- **Reactive**: When you discover a design problem, fix it.
…

Read the whole file at its exact version.

How to install

Latest version
mdr add codybrom/clairvoyance/strategic-mindset@git:20260722.fcfda01
Exact content
mdr add codybrom/clairvoyance/strategic-mindset@sha256:169b6aaa7b19f242

Pin to a label to follow the author's releases, or to a sha256 to freeze the exact bytes forever. Either way the resolved hash is written to mdr.lock, and mdr install reproduces it on any machine.

Badge

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Versions

versioncommittedcommitsizeaudit
git:20260722.fcfda01 latest2026-07-22 fcfda01 5,019 BA view · diff
git:20260701.ba096c52026-07-01 ba096c5 5,121 BA view · diff
git:20260301.1854d202026-03-01 1854d20 4,966 BA view · diff
git:20260227.455211b2026-02-27 455211b 5,123 BA view · diff
git:20260225.e46f12c2026-02-25 e46f12c 5,161 BA view

Audit of the latest version

A  17 of 17 checks passed. Deterministic, no model, same answer every run.
  • pass: Frontmatter block present
  • pass: Frontmatter declares a name
  • pass: Frontmatter declares a description
  • pass: Size between 200 bytes and 200 KB (5019 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

GitHub

codybrom/clairvoyance · 12 stars · license MIT · pushed 2026-09-20 · branch main

API

GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_4wztx65lmwh4uzdn
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=codybrom/clairvoyance/strategic-mindset
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/169b6aaa7b19f2421d607ef6539ce7c921bca1b3688280fe154639b6df73d457

Your agent 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.

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