Apply to any non-trivial work, not just bulk work: edits, migrations, analyses, checks. Build the tool that does it or proves it (codemod, script, generator, or a skill your subagents follow) instead of working by hand. The tool is the artifact a reviewer can rerun.
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
# Build the Lever
When the work isn't trivial, build the tool that does it instead of doing it by hand.
**Why:** Two payoffs. Throughput: a codemod, generator, or script does the work the same way every time and reruns for free. Confidence: the tool is one artifact a reviewer can read and rerun to check the work. Hand-done changes can only be re-verified by redoing them. A deterministic script turns "trust me" into "run this".
**Pattern:** Default to building the lever. Skip it only when the task is trivial, a couple of obvious edits you can see at a glance.
- Do the first unit by hand to learn the recipe, then build the tool. Prove it by rerunning it on that unit and diffing against your hand-done version. Make the lever safe to rerun.
- Codemod or script for edits, generator for repetitive files, a dump-to-sqlite query for analysis, a rerunnable check for verification.
- A deterministic lever beats fan-out. If the tool can process every unit in one pass, run it yourself. Don't fan out delegates to hand-apply what a script can do.
…
The line at the top of this page pins the label git:20261005.32edae5, 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_kgxqyfgf5nzqqdpv
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=barbieri/local-openfinance/principle-build-the-lever
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/458b269eab8e95a1573276955312f7d2a13ae8599879a9efc748248f6bc34b56
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.
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barbieri/local-openfinance · .agents/skills/automate-me/SKILL.md · Use for "automate me", "create/update/refresh my -mode skill", "turn/capture my preferences or working style into a…
barbieri/local-openfinance · .agents/skills/blast-radius/SKILL.md · Find what a change could break somewhere else before it ships, beyond the diff, and prove the one fact it's safe…
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barbieri/local-openfinance · .agents/skills/cli-for-agents/SKILL.md · Designs or reviews CLIs so coding agents can run them reliably: non-interactive flags, layered --help with examples…
barbieri/local-openfinance · .agents/skills/code-review/SKILL.md · Review the changes since a fixed point (commit, branch, tag, or merge-base) along two axes: Standards (does the code…
cursor/plugins · harness/pstack/claude-code/skills/principle-build-the-lever/SKILL.md · Apply to any non-trivial work, not just bulk work: edits, migrations, analyses, checks. Build the tool that does it or…
cursor/plugins · pstack/skills/principle-build-the-lever/SKILL.md · Apply to any non-trivial work, not just bulk work: edits, migrations, analyses, checks. Build the tool that does it or…
nightly-labs/openbot · marketplace/production-catalog/bundles/pstack/skills/principle-build-the-lever/SKILL.md · Apply to any non-trivial work, not just bulk work: edits, migrations, analyses, checks. Build the tool that does it or…
michael-denyer/pstack-claude · plugins/pstack/skills/principle-build-the-lever/SKILL.md · Apply to any non-trivial work, not just bulk work: edits, migrations, analyses, checks. Build the tool that does it or…
backnotprop/pstack · skills/principle-build-the-lever/SKILL.md · Apply to any non-trivial work, not just bulk work: edits, migrations, analyses, checks. Build the tool that does it or…
iap/pstack-hermes · skills/principle-build-the-lever/SKILL.md · Apply to any non-trivial work, not just bulk work: edits, migrations, analyses, checks. Build the tool that does it or…
j-star-films-studios/vibecode-protocol-suite · assets/.agent/skills/engineering-principles/build-the-lever/SKILL.md · Apply to any non-trivial work, not just bulk work: edits, migrations, analyses, checks. Build the tool that does it or…
theonlyfusioncube/potetos-for-everyone · skills/principle-build-the-lever/SKILL.md · Prefer a script, codemod, generator, benchmark, or verifier that performs or proves the work repeatably over hand…
