principle-explain-the-number SKILL.md skillA
principle-explain-the-number from backnotprop/pstack is an agent skill: a SKILL.md folder an AI agent loads when a task calls for it.
mdr add backnotprop/pstack/principle-explain-the-number@git:20261012.f3afb70Pins git:20261012.f3afb70 in mdr.lock. Pin the fingerprint instead.
- Audit grade
- A, 17 of 17 checks passed
- Kind
- SKILL.md skill
- Repository
- backnotprop/pstack
- Path
skills/principle-explain-the-number/SKILL.md- Versions recorded
- 2
- Latest version
- git:20261012.f3afb70, committed Oct 12, 2026
- First version recorded
- Oct 4, 2026
- Size
- 1,663 bytes
- Repository stars
- 2,481
- License
- MIT
Apply before you trust, report, or act on a number you measured: a speedup, a regression, a throughput, a latency, or an eval result. Find what limits it, and rule out that it measured something other than the work you think.
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
# Explain the Number - **Ask "why not double?"** Name the resource or code path that bounds the result, such as a core, a lock, the disk, the network, or the load generator itself. Get it from a profile or from system counters taken during a run, then map it to source. A guess from reading the code is not a limiter. If you cannot say why the number is not twice as good, you do not know what you measured. - **List what else the number could be measuring, and rule out each one with evidence.** The usual suspects are errors, skipped or cached work, code that never ran, an untuned side (one left on default settings), noise, and a piece too small to matter end to end. - **Keep the evidence with the number.** Put the run count, the spread, and the limiter in the notes or a linked artifact. For a performance number, run the full procedure with the [benchmark-checklist](../benchmark-checklist/SKILL.md) skill. For an eval result, ask the same of the trials: did every run do the task, does the gap hold across trials and models, and does the scenario matter. …
Read the whole file at its exact version.
How to install
mdr add backnotprop/pstack/principle-explain-the-number@sha256:cd5a25f9e7cf0236The line at the top of this page pins the label git:20261012.f3afb70, 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_tbdz2f6gg7tkrzpc)
3 badge image fetches in 30 days. What the badge shows.
Versions
The registry has recorded 2 versions of this file, between Oct 4, 2026 and Oct 12, 2026, about one every 8 days.
| version | committed | commit | size | audit | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| git:20261012.f3afb70 latest | 2026-10-12 | f3afb70 | 1,663 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20261004.c0c3f13 | 2026-10-04 | c0c3f13 | 2,109 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 (1663 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
backnotprop/pstack · 2,481 stars · license MIT · pushed 2026-10-20 · branch main
API
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_tbdz2f6gg7tkrzpc GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=backnotprop/pstack/principle-explain-the-number GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/cd5a25f9e7cf023627ccb470dc5faa97542f29b4319496a32b839a8e1e988047
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.
More from backnotprop/pstack
Every file in backnotprop/pstack