# Figure It Out

Design an auditable playbook when no narrower one fits: a large migration, an ambitious...

- Repository: https://github.com/nightly-labs/openbot (4509 stars)
- Category: Design
- License: see repository
- Last updated: 2026-11-01
- Runs scripts: no, instructions only

## Install

Claude Code: `npx skills add nightly-labs/openbot --skill figure-it-out -g -a claude-code -y`
Codex: `npx skills add nightly-labs/openbot --skill figure-it-out -g -a codex -y`
Cursor: `npx skills add nightly-labs/openbot --skill figure-it-out -g -a cursor -y`
Gemini CLI: `npx skills add nightly-labs/openbot --skill figure-it-out -g -a gemini-cli -y`

## Description

Design an auditable playbook when no narrower one fits: a large migration, an ambitious multi-part change, or work a human reviews after stepping away. Scales rigor to the task, runs a hypothesis loop, and logs decisions. Use for /figure-it-out or 'figure it out'.

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

# Figure it out

When the task matches no playbook, design one. The deliverable before any code is the workflow itself: a sequence of phases that scales rigor to the task, runs the scientific method, and leaves a decision trail a human can audit after stepping away.

## Start

Open a todolist whose first item is to read the Principles section of the **poteto-mode** skill. Then add the phases below as todos.

## Phase A: Frame

Ground first, then commit. Don't start the run until you can state:

- The definition of done as a falsifiable predicate (the **prove-it-works** principle skill).
- Scope, quantified: rough units and effort, plus the blockers grounding surfaced.
- The rigor level, biased high. One-way doors and high blast radius get more. Reversible low-stakes steps get less. Rigor is gates and artifacts, not "try harder".

Present the framing and tradeoffs before committing to a long run. Reversible work proceeds (the **never-block-on-the-human** principle skill), but a multi-hour run earns one checkpoint.

## Phase B: Design the workflow

Decompose into atomic, independently-landable units. Sequence riskiest-unknown-first. Scaffold and verification come before features (the **foundational-thinking** principle skill).

- Build the verification harness before the work, with the baseline captured from the pre-change state, so the check reads as "old value vs new value".
- For one-way-door design decisions, run the **architect** skill (it runs **arena**). Skip it for mechanical work whose shape is already concrete. A second arena over a settled design is over-engineering (the **laziness-protocol** principle skill).
- Decide what fans out. Parallelize only across seams, and give each worker its own worktree or branch (the **separate-before-serializing-shared-state** principle skill). Don't over-fan.
- Write the designed phase list down. That list is what the human reviews.

The rest: https://github.com/nightly-labs/openbot/blob/HEAD/marketplace/production-catalog/bundles/pstack/skills/figure-it-out/SKILL.md