Throwaway experiments to validate an idea before build.
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
# Spike
Use this skill when the user wants to **feel out an idea** before committing to a real build — validating feasibility, comparing approaches, or surfacing unknowns that no amount of research will answer. Spikes are disposable by design. Throw them away once they've paid their debt.
Load this when the user says things like "let me try this", "I want to see if X works", "spike this out", "before I commit to Y", "quick prototype of Z", "is this even possible?", or "compare A vs B".
## When NOT to use this
- The answer is knowable from docs or reading code — just do research, don't build
- The work is production path — use `writing-plans` / `plan` instead
- The idea is already validated — jump straight to implementation
## If the user has the full GSD system installed
…
The line at the top of this page pins the label v1.0.0, 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.
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_dcrfwfmb7xf2tdq3
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=mateaix/mateclaw/spike
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/d1b495d8915b0be83f51d1161691181bc3d3beaf3ac0a25d4f8d8794f538ee64
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.
dcouple/pane · main/src/services/paneChatBundle/skills/spike/SKILL.md · Use only when a decision is blocked on a fact nobody has. One time-boxed question, one answer.
greenfield-inc/pane · main/src/services/paneChatBundle/skills/spike/SKILL.md · Use only when a decision is blocked on a fact nobody has. One time-boxed question, one answer.
ffroliva/gflow-cli · skills/spike/SKILL.md · Gather EVIDENCE from the live Flow surface — DOM, network, HAR — before claiming a feature is broken, missing, or…
metaspartan/cybara · skills/spike/SKILL.md · Run a throwaway spike/prototype to validate feasibility or compare approaches, then report a clear verdict. Use when…
ulises-jeremias/agent-toolkit · plugins/agent-toolkit-complete/.github/skills/spike/SKILL.md · WHAT - Produce spike and research findings using the spike template; captures purpose, findings,
ulises-jeremias/agent-toolkit · plugins/agent-toolkit-complete/.opencode/skills/spike/SKILL.md · WHAT - Produce spike and research findings using the spike template; captures purpose, findings,
varun-singhh/lfg · plugin/skills/spike/SKILL.md · Builds a throwaway prototype to answer one design question, in a scratch folder inside the run folder, then deletes it…
cryndoc/polisade-orchestrator · skills/spike/SKILL.md · Create a timeboxed research SPIKE-NNN for answering an open technical / product question before committing to…
