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Official agent skill

Principle The Algorithm

by cursor in cursor/plugins

Apply to any non-trivial change before designing it. An agent skill from cursor/plugins.

OfficialNo licenceAuto-check passed

Install Principle The Algorithm

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

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

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install cursor/plugins principle-the-algorithm --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/dyl-stack/skills/principle-the-algorithm .claude/skills/principle-the-algorithm && 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-the-algorithm
GitHub stars
10k
Token cost
~601 tokens
SKILL.md length
332 words
Files
1
Skills in repo
99
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
None found

At a glance

Apply to any non-trivial change before designing it. An agent skill from cursor/plugins.

  • Works in 5 steps: Make the requirements less dumb. Assume… → Delete the part or process step. Try… → Optimize what survived. Third step, not… → …
  • Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md

What it does

Principle The Algorithm is an agent skill from cursor/plugins, published by the product's own GitHub organization. Apply to any non-trivial change before designing it. Make the requirement less dumb, delete, optimize, accelerate, automate, in that order, then run it again on the result. The reply names the requirement you questioned and what you deleted.

Its SKILL.md is about 600 tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. It is a single SKILL.md file with no bundled scripts.

The repository describes itself as: Cursor plugin specification and official plugins.

Example prompts

  • “/principle-the-algorithm”

Workflow steps

5 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.

  1. Make the requirements less dumb. Assume the requirement is wrong and make it less wrong. It comes from a person, not a department. "The…
  2. Delete the part or process step. Try hardest to delete the part, flag, layer, retry, or step entirely before touching step 3. Optimizing…
  3. Optimize what survived. Third step, not first. Have one part do many things instead of a parallel copy per caller. Look hardest at…
  4. Accelerate. Be the part: walk one change through edit, build, check, and review yourself and note where you wait, crawl, or bounce…
  5. Automate last, or you automate something that should not exist. Volume alone does not justify it; precision and reviewability do. pstack…

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 The Algorithm loads about 601 tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 66 tokens; SKILL.md has 332 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~66
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~601

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 332 words (~601 tokens).

“Five steps, in order, for any change bigger than an edit you can see at a glance. The order is the principle. Each step is cheap only after the one before it, and the common failure is doing a late…”

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

Read the full SKILL.md on GitHub

Files

Just SKILL.md in dyl-stack/skills/principle-the-algorithm of cursor/plugins.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 9f451cf

Compare with similar skills

Principle The Algorithm 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 The Algorithm compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Principle The Algorithm this skillcursor/plugins10k—~601Automated safety check: PassNone
Design Audit Against Rams' Principlesthedotmack/claude-mem97k—~4.6kAutomated safety check: PassApache-2.0
Design Systemaffaan-m/ECC274k—~698Automated safety check: PassMIT
Design Guidepaperclipai/paperclip98k1 repos~3.1kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Figma Design to Codewarpdotdev/warp65k4 repos~2.9kAutomated safety check: PassAGPL-3.0
Design Consultationgarrytan/gstack136k—~15kAutomated safety check: NotesMIT

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  • Reflect on Session Learnings

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  • Technical Writing Standard

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Questions about Principle The Algorithm

What does Principle The Algorithm do?

Apply to any non-trivial change before designing it. An agent skill from cursor/plugins. Principle The Algorithm is an agent skill from cursor/plugins, published by the product's own GitHub organization. Apply to any non-trivial change before designing it.

How do I install Principle The Algorithm in Claude Code?

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

How do I install Principle The Algorithm in Codex?

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

Can I use Principle The Algorithm 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-the-algorithm -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-the-algorithm, .gemini/skills/principle-the-algorithm, .github/skills/principle-the-algorithm and .opencode/skills/principle-the-algorithm in your project.

What does Principle The Algorithm need to run?

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

Does Principle The Algorithm 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 The Algorithm 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 The Algorithm use?

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

How many tokens does Principle The Algorithm use?

About 601 tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 2.4k 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 The Algorithm?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Principle The Algorithm: Design Audit Against Rams' Principles (thedotmack/claude-mem, 97k stars), Design System (affaan-m/ECC, 274k stars), Design Guide (paperclipai/paperclip, 98k stars) and Figma Design to Code (warpdotdev/warp, 65k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Principle The Algorithm?

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.