aside SKILL.md skillA
aside from gufranco/claude-engineering-rules is an agent skill: a SKILL.md folder an AI agent loads when a task calls for it.
mdr add gufranco/claude-engineering-rules/aside@git:20261012.84ebb18Pins git:20261012.84ebb18 in mdr.lock. Pin the fingerprint instead.
- Audit grade
- A, 17 of 17 checks passed
- Kind
- SKILL.md skill
- Repository
- gufranco/claude-engineering-rules
- Path
skills/aside/SKILL.md- Versions recorded
- 2
- Latest version
- git:20261012.84ebb18, committed Oct 12, 2026
- First version recorded
- Jun 1, 2026
- Size
- 3,406 bytes
- Repository stars
- 3
- License
- MIT
Mid-task side question handler. Freezes the active task state, answers a side question without state mutation, then resumes the task exactly where it stopped. Lighter than /checkpoint save. Use when user says "aside", "quick question", "side question", "while we're at it", "before you continue", or interrupts mid-implementation with an unrelated question. For new scope, use /plan; for a retro, use /retro; for a true context switch, use /checkpoint save.
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
Sidebar conversation that preserves the in-flight task. Read-only by design: no file edits, no shell commands. Answer, then return to the work that was interrupted. ## Overview Mid-task interruptions are a documented source of dropped work. The common failure modes are forgetting where work stopped, mixing the side answer's state into the main task, and silently switching scope without the user noticing. This skill defines an answer-only protocol: freeze, answer, resume. ## When to Use - User asks a clarifying question while implementation is in progress - User asks "before you continue, what about X?" or "quick question" - A side topic arises that does not change the active task's scope - Read-only investigation is enough to answer Do NOT use when: - The interruption changes the active task's scope (use `/plan` instead) - The interruption ends the task (use `/checkpoint save` instead) - The question requires editing files (use the normal flow, not aside) - The user is asking for a retrospective (use `/retro`) ## Process 1. **Freeze.** State the active task in one sentence and the immediate next step that was about to execute. Do not edit, do not run shell commands. …
Read the whole file at its exact version.
How to install
mdr add gufranco/claude-engineering-rules/aside@sha256:b3b08a1bafd6a1acThe line at the top of this page pins the label git:20261012.84ebb18, 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_6pptlqco3g5yl7hs)
3 badge image fetches in 30 days. What the badge shows.
Versions
The registry has recorded 2 versions of this file, between Jun 1, 2026 and Oct 12, 2026, about one every 134 days.
| version | committed | commit | size | audit | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| git:20261012.84ebb18 latest | 2026-10-12 | 84ebb18 | 3,406 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20260601.697bdc4 | 2026-06-01 | 697bdc4 | 3,434 B | A | view |
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 (3406 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
gufranco/claude-engineering-rules · 3 stars · license MIT · pushed 2026-10-30 · branch main
API
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_6pptlqco3g5yl7hs GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=gufranco/claude-engineering-rules/aside GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/b3b08a1bafd6a1ac0f7d89b0ab27d62130389217cf4ab64f905e7230fcb1f53d
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.