principle-generalize-from-rejection SKILL.md skillA
principle-generalize-from-rejection from edbertchan/catstack is an agent skill: a SKILL.md folder an AI agent loads when a task calls for it.
mdr add edbertchan/catstack/principle-generalize-from-rejection@git:20260825.847374dPins git:20260825.847374d in mdr.lock. Pin the fingerprint instead.
- Audit grade
- A, 17 of 17 checks passed
- Kind
- SKILL.md skill
- Repository
- edbertchan/catstack
- Path
corpus/skills/principle-generalize-from-rejection/SKILL.md- Versions recorded
- 1
- Latest version
- git:20260825.847374d, committed Aug 25, 2026
- Size
- 2,442 bytes
- Repository stars
- 6
- License
- none declared
Apply when a mechanical gate — a lint, validator, blocked-command guard, or CI check — rejects your output for the same reason twice in one session. Fix the generation pattern producing the violation, not just the specific instance.
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
# Generalize from Rejection When a repo-specific gate rejects you, the lesson is the rule it's enforcing, not the one output that tripped it. Fix the pattern that's generating violations, so the next output doesn't need the same correction. **Why:** A rejection with an explanation is free information — the gate already told you what's wrong and often why. Treating each rejection as an isolated retry (change one thing, resubmit, hope) burns turns and tokens re-discovering the same rule against new inputs, when the fix generalizes across all of them. **Pattern:** - On the first rejection, read the full message, not just the pass/fail. Most validators explain the rule, not just that it failed. - Before retrying, ask: does this fix apply only to the thing you just submitted, or to how you've been generating this class of output? If the latter, fix the generation step, not just this instance. - If the same class of rejection fires a second time in the same session, stop and generalize explicitly — don't submit a third variation before checking whether the underlying pattern is still present elsewhere in what you're about to submit. …
Read the whole file at its exact version.
How to install
mdr add edbertchan/catstack/principle-generalize-from-rejection@sha256:46d4f808b446be62The line at the top of this page pins the label git:20260825.847374d, 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_d35gtcng32wlie7w)
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Versions
The registry has recorded 1 version of this file, committed on Aug 25, 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 (2442 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
edbertchan/catstack · 6 stars · license none declared · pushed 2026-10-22 · branch main
API
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_d35gtcng32wlie7w GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=edbertchan/catstack/principle-generalize-from-rejection GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/46d4f808b446be629354788d13cdeea3559088e97ae88eba56e8e002122fd429
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.