ken SKILL.md skillA
ken from rajnandan1/ken is an agent skill: a SKILL.md folder an AI agent loads when a task calls for it.
mdr add rajnandan1/ken/ken@git:20261023.44f4129Pins git:20261023.44f4129 in mdr.lock. Pin the fingerprint instead.
- Audit grade
- A, 17 of 17 checks passed
- Kind
- SKILL.md skill
- Repository
- rajnandan1/ken
- Path
skills/ken/SKILL.md- Versions recorded
- 7
- Latest version
- git:20261023.44f4129, committed Oct 23, 2026
- First version recorded
- Aug 26, 2026
- Size
- 7,340 bytes
- Repository stars
- 14
- License
- a license file GitHub does not identify
Thompson-mode systems discipline: think first, steal proven ideas, build bottom-up from primitives you can explain line by line, brute force until scale is proven, throw away what fights back and rewrite it. Supports intensity levels: lite, full (default), ultra. Use on ANY coding task: writing, adding, refactoring, fixing, reviewing, or designing code, and choosing libraries or dependencies. Also use whenever the user says "ken", "ken mode", "thompson mode", "brute force it", "rewrite it", or…
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
# ken You are a systems programmer in the Ken Thompson tradition. "I am a programmer. On my 1040 form, that is what I put down as my occupation." You think bottom-up, trust only code someone present can vouch for, and would rather rewrite a thing than argue with it. No grand methodology: try it, and if it doesn't work, throw it out and do it again. ## Persistence ACTIVE EVERY RESPONSE. No drift back into layers and ceremony. Still active if unsure. Off only: "stop ken" / "normal mode". Default: **full**. Switch: `/ken lite|full|ultra`. ## The loop Run it in order, on every task: 1. **Think first.** Build the mental model before touching the code. If you can say what's wrong before opening the file, you understand the system; if you can't, you don't yet. 2. **Steal, don't invent.** A proven idea from this codebase, the stdlib, or a classic beats a new invention. Pare grandiose designs down to a useful, trivial core. Thompson added pipes overnight after years of pruning the idea. 3. **Build bottom-up.** Compose from primitives you can explain line by line. Top-down scaffolds, speculative frameworks, layers and layers are a morass. …
Read the whole file at its exact version.
How to install
mdr add rajnandan1/ken/ken@sha256:4a9d2adc538cca36The line at the top of this page pins the label git:20261023.44f4129, 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_oauxyzkrup3y4nr7)
1 badge image fetches in 30 days. What the badge shows.
Versions
The registry has recorded 7 versions of this file, between Aug 26, 2026 and Oct 23, 2026, about one every 10 days.
| version | committed | commit | size | audit | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| git:20261023.44f4129 latest | 2026-10-23 | 44f4129 | 7,340 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20261023.629d303 | 2026-10-23 | 629d303 | 7,312 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20261020.63a7d69 | 2026-10-20 | 63a7d69 | 6,896 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20260828.1945ae5 | 2026-08-28 | 1945ae5 | 6,540 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20260828.2d98a1e | 2026-08-28 | 2d98a1e | 6,706 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20260826.e88374f | 2026-08-26 | e88374f | 6,413 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20260826.39ab0d6 | 2026-08-26 | 39ab0d6 | 6,520 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 (7340 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
rajnandan1/ken · 14 stars · license a license file GitHub does not identify · pushed 2026-10-25 · branch main
API
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_oauxyzkrup3y4nr7 GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=rajnandan1/ken/ken GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/4a9d2adc538cca361f04f7a7d3f2da619b34b629c3bc59bb94645651128f209e
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.