Home / yeaight7 / agent-powerups · plugins/memory-optimization/skills/search-before-building/SKILL.md · GitHub

search-before-building skillA

search-before-building is agent-read markdown (skill) from yeaight7/agent-powerups: Use when about to add a new helper, utility, or abstraction, a task sounds like a solved problem, a new external dependency is being considered, or custom code is proposed without checking what already exists..

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

# Search Before Building

Before implementing new functionality, verify it does not already exist and that the best option has been considered.

## When to Use

- About to add a new helper, utility, or abstraction
- Task says "add X" and X sounds like a solved problem
- Considering a new external dependency
- Agent proposes writing something from scratch without checking first

## Four-Step Check

Run in order. Stop when you find a satisfactory answer.

### Step 1 — Repo-first

Search the current codebase before anything else:

```bash
rg "<keyword>" src/ lib/ --type ts --type js -l
rg "<keyword>" --glob "*.py" -l
```

Check: Does equivalent logic already exist? Is it importable as-is, or would it need wrapper work?

### Step 2 — Package registry

Search the relevant registry for the project language:

| Language | Registry | Search method |
| --- | --- | --- |
| TypeScript/JS | npm | `npm search <keyword>` or npmjs.com |
| Python | PyPI | `pip index search <keyword>` or pypi.org |
| Go | pkg.go.dev | web search `site:pkg.go.dev <keyword>` |
| Rust | crates.io | `cargo search <keyword>` |

Score each candidate:

- Maintenance: last commit < 1 year, open issues ratio
…

Read the whole file at its exact version.

How to install

Latest version
mdr add yeaight7/agent-powerups/search-before-building@git:20260606.b54c795
Exact content
mdr add yeaight7/agent-powerups/search-before-building@sha256:5a2016de602420ed

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

mdr badge

[![mdr](https://markdownregistry.com/badge/art_ekduhdehyvjyzsjj.svg)](https://markdownregistry.com/a/art_ekduhdehyvjyzsjj)

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Versions

versioncommittedcommitsizeaudit
git:20260606.b54c795 latest2026-06-06 b54c795 3,965 BA view · diff
git:20260509.04f10fa2026-05-09 04f10fa 3,469 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 (3965 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

yeaight7/agent-powerups · 6 stars · license Apache-2.0 · pushed 2026-09-21 · branch main

API

GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_ekduhdehyvjyzsjj
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=yeaight7/agent-powerups/search-before-building
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/5a2016de602420ed1e6f905443b29a13e8755970f10591a8803d1a407573bc9a

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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Other files named search-before-building

search-before-building skill
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