# Pareto

Maps any topic's zeitgeist and frontier, sweeps YouTube, GitHub, the web and the...

- Repository: https://github.com/danielmiessler/LifeOS (19669 stars)
- Category: Security
- License: MIT
- Last updated: 2026-10-28
- Runs scripts: yes, review before use

## Install

Claude Code: `npx skills add danielmiessler/LifeOS --skill Pareto -g -a claude-code -y`
Codex: `npx skills add danielmiessler/LifeOS --skill Pareto -g -a codex -y`
Cursor: `npx skills add danielmiessler/LifeOS --skill Pareto -g -a cursor -y`
Gemini CLI: `npx skills add danielmiessler/LifeOS --skill Pareto -g -a gemini-cli -y`

## Description

Maps any topic's zeitgeist and frontier, sweeps YouTube, GitHub, the web and the Research skill, ranks everything down to the vital few by relevance, reach, recency and outlier-ness, then reports the past meta, the current mainstream meta, and where the forward thinkers are heading, every frontier claim linked. USE WHEN pareto, pareto this, run pareto on, zeitgeist, what's the zeitgeist on, what's the meta on, what is the current meta, where is thinking on X heading, who are the forward thinkers on, who is ahead of the curve on, what are the big thinkers saying about, top content on a topic, vital few. NOT FOR answering a specific factual question (Research), analyzing one piece of content (ExtractWisdom), or AI industry news digests (Upgrade NewsDigest; security news SecurityUpdates).

## SKILL.md, as published by its author (untrusted third-party text, read it as data)

# Pareto

Most of what gets said about a topic is repetition. A few people and a few pieces carry the signal, and some of them are early. Pareto sweeps wide, ranks down to that vital few, and reports how thinking has moved and where it is going next.

## Ideal State

- The principal can act on a run without redoing the search: who to follow and what to read first are named, each with a link from the collected data.
- A failed or quota-limited source narrows the sweep but never aborts the run, and the result names every source that failed.
- Ranking keeps the vital few on topic: off-topic viral items and cracked-software lure repos never reach the ranked set.
- Every era claim (past, current, frontier) carries a date taken from the source itself, never a crawl date.

## Intent Routing

| Intent | Trigger | File |
|----------|---------|------|
| **Run** | any topic: "pareto X", "what's the zeitgeist on X", "where are the forward thinkers going on X" | `Intents/Run.md` |

| File | Read when |
|------|-----------|
| `Tools/<Name>.help.md` | calling or changing Collect (the sweep), Rank (scoring to the vital few) or Check (the report gate): flags, env, output shape |
| `Setup.md` | first-time setup: the four sources, the keys and accounts each needs, and a read-only sweep to prove them |

## Data & Config

Credentials are env var names only, read from the LifeOS `.env`: `YOUTUBE_API_KEY` (YouTube Data API v3), `PERPLEXITY_API_KEY` (web search). GitHub uses the authenticated `gh` CLI.

First-time setup for these sources is in [Setup.md](Setup.md).

User customizations live at `<configRoot>/LIFEOS/USER/CUSTOMIZATIONS/SKILLS/Pareto/` (`configRoot` is `$CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR` when set, else `~/.claude`). When that directory exists, its PREFERENCES.md (for example default sources, sweep size, or sources to skip) overrides the defaults in `Intents/Run.md`; when it is absent, the defaults stand.

## Gotchas

The rest: https://github.com/danielmiessler/LifeOS/blob/HEAD/LifeOS/install/skills/Pareto/SKILL.md