ratchet-files SKILL.md skillA
This file is byte-identical to the first copy the registry indexed. Same content hash, so the same checks give both the same grade.
ratchet-files from dzhng/skills is an agent skill: a SKILL.md folder an AI agent loads when a task calls for it.
mdr add dzhng/skills/ratchet-files@git:20261019.29fb983Pins git:20261019.29fb983 in mdr.lock. Pin the fingerprint instead.
- Audit grade
- A, 17 of 17 checks passed
- Kind
- SKILL.md skill
- Repository
- dzhng/skills
- Path
skills/engineering/ratchet-files/SKILL.md- Versions recorded
- 3
- Latest version
- git:20261019.29fb983, committed Oct 19, 2026
- First version recorded
- Oct 19, 2026
- Size
- 6,063 bytes
- Repository stars
- 1,377
- License
- MIT
Ratchet source file size so every file stays small enough for an agent to read whole: find every file over a token budget, split oversized files by concept, and set up the pre-commit ratchet that stops them from growing. Use when a commit is blocked because a file is over the size budget, when asked to find or split oversized/long/god files, when a file you need to change is too large to read in one pass, or when asked to add a file-size limit or hook to a repository.
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
# Ratchet Files A source file is over budget when it is past what an agent can read in one pass (8,000 tokens, counted as bytes / 4, unless the repository sets another). [`scripts/check-file-size.mjs`](scripts/check-file-size.mjs) owns what counts as source, the budget, the ratchet, and the split rules; run it with `--help` before anything else. ## Splitting 1. Run the script with `--all` from the repository root, passing the repository's `--max-tokens` if its hook sets one. Its list is the backlog. 2. Pick the files to split: the one blocking the work in front of you, or with no blocker, the largest ones a change is about to touch. 3. Split each one by the rules the script prints. A seam is a concept the file already owns, not a line count; when [refactor-clean](../refactor-clean/SKILL.md) is installed, use it to find them. 4. Prove the split changed no behaviour with the repository's own checks, and commit it alone, before the change that needed the room. A file whose every split would cost more than it saves (one table or state machine that only reads whole) may opt out instead. Put `@ratchet-files-ignore` in a comment within its first 10 lines, in the …
Read the whole file at its exact version.
How to install
mdr add dzhng/skills/ratchet-files@sha256:a3afd96b16b08788The line at the top of this page pins the label git:20261019.29fb983, 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_gax4m27yzjughxyz)
0 badge image fetches in 30 days. What the badge shows.
Versions
The registry has recorded 3 versions of this file, all committed on Oct 19, 2026.
| version | committed | commit | size | audit | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| git:20261019.29fb983 latest | 2026-10-19 | 29fb983 | 6,063 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20261019.ae7815b | 2026-10-19 | ae7815b | 5,786 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20261019.f14fc86 | 2026-10-19 | f14fc86 | 5,783 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 (6063 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
dzhng/skills · 1,377 stars · license MIT · pushed 2026-10-21 · branch main
API
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_gax4m27yzjughxyz GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=dzhng/skills/ratchet-files GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/a3afd96b16b08788d918d03abe179be254c40b4fc6ce25f8d67e9c1be516c789
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.