Official agent skill

Principle Build The Lever

by cursor in cursor/plugins

Apply to any non-trivial work, not just bulk work: edits, migrations, analyses, checks.

OfficialNo licenceAuto-check passedDevelopment

Install Principle Build The Lever

skills CLI
$ npx skills add cursor/plugins --skill principle-build-the-lever -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install cursor/plugins principle-build-the-lever --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/cursor/plugins.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/pstack/skills/principle-build-the-lever .claude/skills/principle-build-the-lever && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.

Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/

Facts

Skill name
principle-build-the-lever
GitHub stars
11k
Used in
8 other repos
Token cost
~615 tokens
SKILL.md length
334 words
Files
1
Skills in repo
99
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
None found

At a glance

Apply to any non-trivial work, not just bulk work: edits, migrations, analyses, checks.

  • Tasks that involve Code migrations
  • Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md
  • Tasks that involve Subagents

What it does

Principle Build The Lever is an agent skill from cursor/plugins, published by the product's own GitHub organization. Apply to any non-trivial work, not just bulk work: edits, migrations, analyses, checks. Build the tool that does it or proves it (codemod, script, generator, or a skill your subagents follow) instead of working by hand. The tool is the artifact a reviewer can rerun.

Its SKILL.md is about 620 tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. It is a single SKILL.md file with no bundled scripts.

It sits in Development, covering Code migrations and Subagents. The repository describes itself as: Cursor plugin specification and official plugins.

When your agent uses it

  • Tasks that involve Code migrations
  • Tasks that involve Subagents

Example prompts

  • “/principle-build-the-lever”

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit d73344b. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

  • Tool permissions

    Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

    From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

  • Runs code

    No scripts in the folder and no shell commands in SKILL.md.

    From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

  • Network

    No URLs in SKILL.md.

    From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

  • Credentials

    Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

    From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Principle Build The Lever loads about 615 tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 73 tokens; SKILL.md has 334 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~73
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~615

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Auto-check passed

The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

Without a licence we can't republish the file, so here is its outline and opening line. It has 334 words (~615 tokens).

“When the work isn't trivial, build the tool that does it instead of doing it by hand.”

— opening of SKILL.md by cursor
name
principle-build-the-lever
disable-model-invocation
true

Read the full SKILL.md on GitHub

Files

Just SKILL.md in pstack/skills/principle-build-the-lever of cursor/plugins.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit d73344b

Used in 8 other repositories

We found 8 copies of this SKILL.md (exact, near-identical or edited) in other folders, from 8 other GitHub owners. This page covers the copy in cursor/plugins, which our catalogue first saw on October 7, 2026.

Compare with similar skills

Principle Build The Lever next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.

Principle Build The Lever compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Principle Build The Lever this skillcursor/plugins11k8 repos~615Automated safety check: PassNone
Swarm Migrateyonatangross/orchestkit292—~3.7kAutomated safety check: NotesMIT
Batch Orchestrationrohitg00/pro-workflow2.9k—~1.2kAutomated safety check: PassNone
Migrate Core Code to Submodulestinyhumansai/openhuman42k—~2.6kAutomated safety check: PassGPL-3.0
Migrate Internal Package into GhostTryGhost/Ghost56k—~3.8kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
ast-grep Structural Searchcode-yeongyu/oh-my-openagent70k—~3.3kAutomated safety check: PassMIT

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    yonatangross/orchestkit

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    292 GitHub stars~3.7k tokensUpdated today
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  • Batch Orchestration

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    42k GitHub stars~2.6k tokensUpdated today
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  • Moves a package from another TryGhost repository into Ghost as an internal workspace package while keeping its Git history, with checkpoints for the steps that need an administrator.

    56k GitHub stars~3.8k tokensUpdated today
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  • ast-grep Structural Search

    code-yeongyu/oh-my-openagent

    Searches and rewrites code by syntax-tree shape across 25 languages with ast-grep, for codemods, structural queries and YAML lint rules, using a Python wrapper script.

    70k GitHub stars~3.3k tokensUpdated today
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  • Official

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  • Advisor Mode

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  • Official

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Categories

Questions about Principle Build The Lever

What does Principle Build The Lever do?

Apply to any non-trivial work, not just bulk work: edits, migrations, analyses, checks. Principle Build The Lever is an agent skill from cursor/plugins, published by the product's own GitHub organization. Apply to any non-trivial work, not just bulk work: edits, migrations, analyses, checks.

When should I use Principle Build The Lever?

Principle Build The Lever fits situations like: tasks that involve Code migrations; tasks that involve Subagents.

How do I install Principle Build The Lever in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add cursor/plugins --skill principle-build-the-lever -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (pstack/skills/principle-build-the-lever in cursor/plugins) into .claude/skills/principle-build-the-lever in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Principle Build The Lever in Codex?

Run `npx skills add cursor/plugins --skill principle-build-the-lever -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (pstack/skills/principle-build-the-lever in cursor/plugins) into .agents/skills/principle-build-the-lever in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Principle Build The Lever in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?

Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add cursor/plugins --skill principle-build-the-lever -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/principle-build-the-lever, .gemini/skills/principle-build-the-lever, .github/skills/principle-build-the-lever and .opencode/skills/principle-build-the-lever in your project.

What does Principle Build The Lever need to run?

SKILL.md names no scripts, command-line tools or credentials: Principle Build The Lever is instructions for the agent only.

Does Principle Build The Lever access the network?

SKILL.md contains no URLs. Any network use would come from the scripts or tools the agent runs. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Principle Build The Lever safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.

What licence does Principle Build The Lever use?

No licence was found for Principle Build The Lever or its repository. Without one, default copyright applies: ask the author before reusing or redistributing it.

How many tokens does Principle Build The Lever use?

About 615 tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 2.5k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full.

What are the alternatives to Principle Build The Lever?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Principle Build The Lever: Swarm Migrate (yonatangross/orchestkit, 292 stars), Batch Orchestration (rohitg00/pro-workflow, 2.9k stars), Migrate Core Code to Submodules (tinyhumansai/openhuman, 42k stars) and Migrate Internal Package into Ghost (TryGhost/Ghost, 56k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Principle Build The Lever?

cursor (a GitHub organization, an official publisher) maintains it in cursor/plugins, which has 10,636 GitHub stars. The repository holds 99 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 10, 2026.

Source: cursor/plugins on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.