think-abstraction-laddering SKILL.md skillA
think-abstraction-laddering from product-on-purpose/thinking-framework-skills is an agent skill: a SKILL.md folder an AI agent loads when a task calls for it.
mdr add product-on-purpose/thinking-framework-skills/think-abstraction-laddering@v0.1.0Pins v0.1.0 in mdr.lock. Pin the fingerprint instead.
- Audit grade
- A, 17 of 17 checks passed
- Kind
- SKILL.md skill
- Repository
- product-on-purpose/thinking-framework-skills
- Path
skills/think-abstraction-laddering/SKILL.md- Versions recorded
- 1
- Latest version
- v0.1.0, committed Jun 1, 2026
- Size
- 6,571 bytes
- Repository stars
- 21
- License
- Apache-2.0
Builds an abstraction ladder that moves a problem up ("why / to what end?") and down ("how / what specifically?") to locate the right altitude to work at, then marks one rung as the working level. Use when a problem is stated as a bare solution with an unstated purpose, as a vague aspiration with no concrete handle, when people are arguing past each other at different levels, or before committing effort at an altitude nobody chose on purpose.
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
<!-- thinking-framework-skills | https://github.com/product-on-purpose/thinking-framework-skills | Apache-2.0 -->
# Abstraction Laddering
Every problem arrives at some altitude, and the altitude is usually accidental: it is wherever someone happened to be standing when they noticed it. Too low and you optimize a detail that does not matter ("make the button blue"); too high and you produce a true but useless aspiration ("delight the customer"). Abstraction laddering moves the problem along one vertical axis - up by asking "why? / to what end?" and down by asking "how? / what specifically?" - to find the altitude at which it is actually workable. The output is an **abstraction ladder**, an ordered set of rungs with one chosen as the working level, not a discussion.
## When to Use
- A request names a bare solution ("add a dashboard", "build an integration") but the purpose it serves is unstated.
- A problem is stated as a vague aspiration ("improve engagement", "be more strategic") with no concrete handle to act on.
- People are arguing past each other and may simply be working at different levels of the same problem.
…Read the whole file at its exact version.
How to install
mdr add product-on-purpose/thinking-framework-skills/think-abstraction-laddering@sha256:08ab50d7881817e1The line at the top of this page pins the label v0.1.0, 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_7oled5a4xjx2srmv)
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Versions
The registry has recorded 1 version of this file, committed on Jun 1, 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 (6571 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
product-on-purpose/thinking-framework-skills · 21 stars · license Apache-2.0 · pushed 2026-10-19 · branch main
API
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_7oled5a4xjx2srmv GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=product-on-purpose/thinking-framework-skills/think-abstraction-laddering GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/08ab50d7881817e14e224deb1bcd784a331559e65c8d618820263bc21ab2d405
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.