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Official agent skill

Principle Foundational Thinking

by cursor in cursor/plugins

Apply before writing logic: choosing core types and data structures, sequencing scaffold-vs-feature work, asking what concurrent actors share.

OfficialNo licenceAuto-check passedDevelopment

Install Principle Foundational Thinking

skills CLI
$ npx skills add cursor/plugins --skill principle-foundational-thinking -a claude-code

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

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install cursor/plugins principle-foundational-thinking --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-foundational-thinking .claude/skills/principle-foundational-thinking && 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-foundational-thinking
GitHub stars
10k
Used in
8 other repos
Token cost
~383 tokens
SKILL.md length
171 words
Files
1
Skills in repo
99
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
None found

At a glance

Apply before writing logic: choosing core types and data structures, sequencing scaffold-vs-feature work, asking what concurrent actors share.

  • Development work in your project
  • Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md

What it does

Principle Foundational Thinking is an agent skill from cursor/plugins, published by the product's own GitHub organization. Apply before writing logic: choosing core types and data structures, sequencing scaffold-vs-feature work, asking what concurrent actors share. Get the data structures right so downstream code becomes obvious.

Its SKILL.md is about 380 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. The repository describes itself as: Cursor plugin specification and official plugins.

When your agent uses it

  • Development work in your project

Example prompts

  • “/principle-foundational-thinking”

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 9f451cf. 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 Foundational Thinking loads about 383 tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 60 tokens; SKILL.md has 171 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~60
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~383

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 171 words (~383 tokens).

“Structural decisions protect option value. Code-level decisions protect simplicity.”

— opening of SKILL.md by cursor
name
principle-foundational-thinking
disable-model-invocation
true

Read the full SKILL.md on GitHub

Files

Just SKILL.md in pstack/skills/principle-foundational-thinking of cursor/plugins.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 9f451cf

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 Foundational Thinking 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 Foundational Thinking compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Principle Foundational Thinking this skillcursor/plugins10k8 repos~383Automated safety check: PassNone
Finishing a Development Branchobra/superpowers296k5 repos~1.9kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Typescript Advanced Typesrolling-scopes/rsschool-app10k24 repos~4.2kAutomated safety check: PassMPL-2.0
PR Babysitteropeninterpreter/openinterpreter69k3 repos~4.2kAutomated safety check: PassApache-2.0
Code Review ChecklistshareAI-lab/learn-claude-code78k5 repos~1.1kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Greplooponyx-dot-app/onyx32k4 repos~3.3kAutomated safety check: PassMIT

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  • Typescript Advanced Types

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More from cursor/plugins

All 99 skills in this repo

  • Show Me Your Work Decision Log

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  • Code Design Rationale Investigator

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  • Reflect on Session Learnings

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  • Technical Writing Standard

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  • Advisor Mode

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    Adds a second, stronger model that the main agent consults before major decisions, when stuck and before finishing, controlled by /advisor commands.

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  • Make PR Easy To Review

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Categories

Questions about Principle Foundational Thinking

What does Principle Foundational Thinking do?

Apply before writing logic: choosing core types and data structures, sequencing scaffold-vs-feature work, asking what concurrent actors share. Principle Foundational Thinking is an agent skill from cursor/plugins, published by the product's own GitHub organization. Apply before writing logic: choosing core types and data structures, sequencing scaffold-vs-feature work, asking what concurrent actors share.

When should I use Principle Foundational Thinking?

Principle Foundational Thinking fits situations like: development work in your project.

How do I install Principle Foundational Thinking in Claude Code?

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

How do I install Principle Foundational Thinking in Codex?

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

Can I use Principle Foundational Thinking 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-foundational-thinking -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-foundational-thinking, .gemini/skills/principle-foundational-thinking, .github/skills/principle-foundational-thinking and .opencode/skills/principle-foundational-thinking in your project.

What does Principle Foundational Thinking need to run?

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

Does Principle Foundational Thinking 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 Foundational Thinking 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 Foundational Thinking use?

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

How many tokens does Principle Foundational Thinking use?

About 383 tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 1.5k 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 Foundational Thinking?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Principle Foundational Thinking: Finishing a Development Branch (obra/superpowers, 296k stars), Typescript Advanced Types (rolling-scopes/rsschool-app, 10k stars), PR Babysitter (openinterpreter/openinterpreter, 69k stars) and Code Review Checklist (shareAI-lab/learn-claude-code, 78k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Principle Foundational Thinking?

cursor (a GitHub organization, an official publisher) maintains it in cursor/plugins, which has 10,130 GitHub stars. The repository holds 99 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 6, 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.