Field guide · AI coding skills

The map is not the territory

Six skills for recovering context and closing the gap between what you planned and what actually happens — one for recall, one before you start, one for mid-build, three for when you think you're done. Built after reading Thariq's field guide to Fable.

blind-spot-pass deviation-log spot-check merge-quiz pitch-me PRE DURING POST

install all six

for s in blind-spot-pass deviation-log spot-check merge-quiz pitch-me; do
  mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills/$s
  curl -fLsS https://mrcoder.github.io/skills/$s/SKILL.md -o ~/.claude/skills/$s/SKILL.md
done

dest=~/.claude/skills/search-conversation-history
base=https://mrcoder.github.io/skills/search-conversation-history
mkdir -p "$dest/scripts" "$dest/agents"
for f in SKILL.md scripts/extract_history.py agents/openai.yaml; do
  curl -fLsS "$base/$f" -o "$dest/$f"
done

— recall · anytime

search-conversation-history

Searches Codex, Claude Code, and Cursor histories together — normalising three incompatible local stores into dated, source-linked evidence. Extraction is read-only and disposable; raw conversations are never uploaded.

  • "search conversation history"
  • "how did we handle this before?"
  • "find the earlier discussion about X"
dest=~/.claude/skills/search-conversation-history
base=https://mrcoder.github.io/skills/search-conversation-history
mkdir -p "$dest/scripts" "$dest/agents"
for f in SKILL.md scripts/extract_history.py agents/openai.yaml; do
  curl -fLsS "$base/$f" -o "$dest/$f"
done

— pre

blind-spot-pass

Surfaces what you don't know to ask before you start. Give it your experience level and it greps the codebase's own history — commit messages, docs, past incidents — for the landmines you can't see yet.

  • "blind spot pass"
  • "unknown unknowns"
  • "what am I missing"
mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills/blind-spot-pass
curl -fLsS https://mrcoder.github.io/skills/blind-spot-pass/SKILL.md \
  -o ~/.claude/skills/blind-spot-pass/SKILL.md

— during

deviation-log

A live log of every place the plan met an edge case it didn't account for. Picks the conservative option, writes down why, keeps building — so the deviation is visible instead of buried in a diff.

  • "keep a deviation log"
  • "track deviations"
mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills/deviation-log
curl -fLsS https://mrcoder.github.io/skills/deviation-log/SKILL.md \
  -o ~/.claude/skills/deviation-log/SKILL.md

— post

spot-check

Confirms the behavior actually works — drives a live browser or CLI against a deployed site, not a local fixture. Writes the pass/fail plan before touching anything, then observes a real signal for each check. Ephemeral by design: no new spec file, no green test that proves nothing.

  • "spot check this fix"
  • "verify on staging"
  • "does it actually work in prod"
mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills/spot-check
curl -fLsS https://mrcoder.github.io/skills/spot-check/SKILL.md \
  -o ~/.claude/skills/spot-check/SKILL.md

— post

merge-quiz

Blocks the merge until you can pass a quiz on your own change. Reading a diff isn't the same as understanding the behavior it produces — this checks the difference before it ships.

  • auto-triggers before land-pr / ship-branch
  • any non-trivial logic change
mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills/merge-quiz
curl -fLsS https://mrcoder.github.io/skills/merge-quiz/SKILL.md \
  -o ~/.claude/skills/merge-quiz/SKILL.md

— post

pitch-me

Packages the prototype, the plan, and the deviation log into one document for the person who wasn't in the room — leads with the demo, answers the objections a reviewer would already have.

  • "pitch me"
  • "buy-in doc"
  • "write this up for review"
mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills/pitch-me
curl -fLsS https://mrcoder.github.io/skills/pitch-me/SKILL.md \
  -o ~/.claude/skills/pitch-me/SKILL.md