Agent skill

Brain Taxonomist

by garrytan in garrytan/gbrain

Filing gate for ALL brain writes. An agent skill from garrytan/gbrain.

MITAuto-check passedDevOps & Cloud

Install Brain Taxonomist

skills CLI
$ npx skills add garrytan/gbrain --skill brain-taxonomist -a claude-code

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

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install garrytan/gbrain brain-taxonomist --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/garrytan/gbrain.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/brain-taxonomist .claude/skills/brain-taxonomist && 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
brain-taxonomist
GitHub stars
31k
Token cost
~2.3k tokens
SKILL.md length
1,089 words
Files
2
Skills in repo
47
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

Filing gate for ALL brain writes. An agent skill from garrytan/gbrain.

  • Works in 5 steps: Identify primary subject type → Look up the directory for that type in… → For books — determine sub-category → …
  • Tasks that involve GitOps
  • SKILL.md covers Purpose, Contract, Critical: this skill reads the… and When to Consult (MANDATORY), plus 8 more sections
  • Calls jq

What it does

Brain Taxonomist is an agent skill from garrytan/gbrain. Filing gate for ALL brain writes. Consulted before creating any new brain page to determine the correct path. Reads the ACTIVE schema pack via gbrain schema show --json — no hardcoded directory table. Also runs periodic taxonomy drift detection via gbrain schema review-orphans.

Its SKILL.md is about 2.3k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. The skill folder holds 1 other file.

It sits in DevOps & Cloud, covering GitOps. The repository describes itself as: Garry's Opinionated OpenClaw/Hermes Agent Brain. The licence is MIT.

When your agent uses it

  • Tasks that involve GitOps

Example prompts

  • “/brain-taxonomist”

Workflow steps

5 steps, taken from the step headings in SKILL.md.

  1. Identify primary subject type
  2. Look up the directory for that type in the active pack
  3. For books — determine sub-category
  4. Construct the slug
  5. Validate before writing

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit f250a51. 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

    Shell commands in SKILL.md call:

    • jq

    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

Brain Taxonomist loads about 2.3k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 75 tokens; SKILL.md has 1,089 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~75
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~2.3k

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

The full file from garrytan/gbrain at commit f250a51, republished under its MIT licence (© garrytan). 1,089 words, ~2,327 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/brain-taxonomist/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder). This skill also uses 1 other file; get the full folder from GitHub.
name
brain-taxonomist
description
Filing gate for ALL brain writes. Consulted before creating any new brain page to determine the correct path. Reads the ACTIVE schema pack via `gbrain schema show --json` — no hardcoded directory table. Also runs periodic taxonomy drift detection via `gbrain schema review-orphans`.
version
1.0.0
prompt_version
1
triggers
where does this brain page go, file this in the brain, brain taxonomist, taxonomy check, refile brain page, create brain page, which directory does this go…
mutating
false

brain-taxonomist

Purpose

Gate function: Before creating ANY new brain page, consult this skill to determine the correct filing path. This prevents misfiling at write time rather than cleaning up drift after the fact.

Drift function: Periodic scan for pages that have outgrown their current location.

Contract

This skill guarantees:

  • Every new page is filed at the path determined by the ACTIVE schema pack — never against a hardcoded directory table baked into this skill.
  • The decision is reproducible: invoking brain-taxonomist twice on the same content produces the same recommended path.
  • Ambiguous cases surface to the user via skills/ask-user/ rather than silently picking a default.
  • Per-source overrides via --source <id> are honored — multi-brain users (Persona B) get a different recommendation per source if their packs diverge.
  • When no matching page_types[] entry exists in the active pack, the skill signals to EIIRP Phase 3 (SCHEMA CHECK) rather than picking the closest-fitting fallback.

Critical: this skill reads the ACTIVE schema pack as data

brain-taxonomist has NO hardcoded directory table. Every decision is driven by gbrain schema show --json. This means:

  • A user who runs gbrain schema use gbrain-recommended gets the full recommended directory set (deal, meeting, concept, project, source, daily, personal, civic, original, place, trip, conversation, writing, plus all gbrain-base types).
  • A user who authored a custom pack via gbrain schema init + edit gets filing recommendations based on THEIR taxonomy, not gbrain's defaults.
  • Per-source overrides (tier 3 in the 7-tier resolution chain) are honored when --source <id> is passed to brain-taxonomist.

This is the single-source-of-truth principle (D9 from the v0.39 plan-eng-review).

When to Consult (MANDATORY)

Run the taxonomist check before writing to the brain in these cases:

  1. New brain page — any type (person, company, concept, book, meeting, etc.)
  2. Bulk import — before committing a batch of new pages
  3. Uncertain filing — when the primary subject is ambiguous

You do NOT need to consult for:

  • Updating an existing page in place (same path)
  • Appending to a Timeline section
  • Meeting entity propagation to existing pages

Decision Protocol

Step 1: Identify primary subject type

Walk these questions in order:

  1. Is the primary subject a NAMED PERSON? → person-typed directory
  2. Is the primary subject a NAMED ORGANIZATION? → company-typed directory
  3. Is it about a TIME-BOUNDED EVENT (meeting, deal, trip)? → temporal-typed directory
  4. Is it a REUSABLE MENTAL MODEL? → concept-typed directory
  5. Is it RAW MEDIA (article, video, book, PDF)? → media-typed directory
  6. Is it BULK SOURCE DATA? → source-typed directory
  7. None of the above → consult EIIRP Phase 3 for schema-pack candidate creation.
Step 2: Look up the directory for that type in the active pack
bash
gbrain schema show --json | jq '.page_types[] | select(.primitive == "entity")'

Each page_types[] entry has a path_prefixes: array. The first prefix is the canonical path. If multiple types match (e.g. both person and founder exist in the pack with expert_routing: true), prefer the more specific one (the one with the more specific path prefix).

Step 3: For books — determine sub-category

The gbrain-recommended pack treats books as media/books/<category>/<slug>.md where category is one of: psychology, philosophy, spirituality, business, media-and-society, family-and-divorce, heritage, science, fiction, biography, arts-and-design. If your active pack has a different scheme, walk it from gbrain schema show --json instead of hardcoding here.

Step 4: Construct the slug
  • kebab-case, descriptive
  • no author name unless disambiguation is needed
  • match the canonical path prefix exactly (no leading slash)
Step 5: Validate before writing
  • Path follows the active pack's page_types[].path_prefixes
  • Slug is kebab-case, descriptive
  • Frontmatter includes type: matching one of the pack's page_types[].name
  • Cross-links to related pages are included

If the active pack doesn't have a type for what you're trying to file, DON'T pick the closest-fitting one. Instead, signal to EIIRP that a new type is needed and let the schema-pack cathedral handle the proposal flow.

Integration with Other Skills

  • eiirp — calls this skill as Phase 2 TAXONOMY for every output in its inventory.
  • ingest — article/media ingestion consults brain-taxonomist for filing.
  • repo-architecture — delegates the filing decision to this skill.
  • book-mirror — after generating a mirror, files it via brain-taxonomist.
Show full SKILL.md (436 more words)Show less

Periodic Drift Detection

bash
# Which pages have no type matching the active pack? Counts untyped pages AND
# pages whose type the pack neither declares nor aliases (undeclared_types).
gbrain schema review-orphans --json

# Per-type audit of the stored corpus (stored_type_undeclared / stored_type_is_alias).
gbrain schema lint --with-db --json

Both commands run locally. Over MCP, the run_doctor report carries the same verdict as its schema_pack_consistency check (an undeclared type warns with code page_type_undeclared).

When undeclared types show up, declare them in the pack (gbrain schema add-type <type> --primitive <p> --prefix <dir/>) or rewrite the pages with a declared type. When more than 10% of a source is untyped, run the EIIRP Phase 3 SCHEMA CHECK flow to surface candidate types via schema detect.

Output Format

Advisory: a single recommendation block plus a one-line reasoning trail.

markdown
**File at:** `<directory>/<slug>.md`
**Reasoning:**
- Primary subject: <person|company|concept|...>
- Matched page_type: <name> (primitive: <entity|temporal|concept|media|annotation>)
- Active pack: <pack-name> v<version>
- Source: <source_id>

When ambiguous, surface 2 candidates via skills/ask-user/ rather than silently choosing.

When the active pack has NO matching type, signal to EIIRP Phase 3 (SCHEMA CHECK) and emit:

markdown
**No match in active pack `<name>`.**
**Suggested next step:** `gbrain schema detect --source <source_id>` then
`gbrain schema review-candidates`.

When it fails

Follow the agent operator protocol for any gbrain error code, exit code, [AGENT] block or notice block. Specific to this skill:

  • gbrain schema show / gbrain schema lint fails because no schema pack is active or the pack is corrupt: report it and route to the schema-author skill; do not guess a directory from memory.
  • A recommendation needs a schema change (gbrain schema add-type, gbrain schema use): this skill is advisory. Hand it to EIIRP or schema-author with the user's agreement; never mutate the active pack from here.

Anti-Patterns

  • Hardcoded directory table in this skill. Every decision goes through gbrain schema show --json. v0.39+ broke the old hardcoded table on purpose so users on gbrain-recommended or custom packs get the right routing automatically.
  • Picking the closest-fitting type when no type matches. Closest-fit silently degrades user filing. Surface to EIIRP Phase 3 instead.
  • Ignoring --source <id> on multi-brain setups. Per-source overrides are tier-3 in the 7-tier resolution chain; missing the flag silently uses the brain-wide active pack.
  • Auto-applying a gbrain schema review-candidates --apply decision. Even high-confidence suggestions need user approval — this skill is a GATE, not an automator.

Hard Rules

  • Never hardcode a directory table in this skill. Every decision goes through gbrain schema show --json. The active pack is canonical.
  • Per-source flag is first-class. Pass --source <id> to every CLI call when working with a non-default source.
  • Confidence-floor honor. EIIRP's Phase 3 produces suggestions with confidence < 0.6 that brain-taxonomist must surface to the user rather than auto-apply. Don't silently promote a low-confidence schema delta.

Changelog

v1.0.0 — gbrain v0.39.0.0
  • Initial port from upstream OpenClaw. Genericized — no references to private fork names per CLAUDE.md privacy rules.
  • Hardcoded directory table REMOVED. Every decision now reads the active schema pack via gbrain schema show --json. Single source of truth.
  • Book taxonomy moved from skill-text to the gbrain-recommended pack's media/books/ branch (see src/core/schema-pack/base/gbrain-recommended.yaml).
  • --source <id> propagation documented for multi-brain users (Persona B).

© garrytan, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

SKILL.md and 1 other file in skills/brain-taxonomist of garrytan/gbrain.

  • SKILL.md
  • routing-eval.jsonl

Open the folder on GitHubat commit f250a51

Compare with similar skills

Brain Taxonomist 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.

Brain Taxonomist compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Brain Taxonomist this skillgarrytan/gbrain31k—~2.3kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Kubernetes SpecialistJeffallan/claude-skills12k1 repos~2.1kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Kubernetes ArchitectCybereason-Public/owLSM2809 repos~2.6kAutomated safety check: PassGPL-2.0
Docs Corpus Auditmicrosoft/apm4k—~2.6kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Devopsnicepkg/auto-company1952 repos~814Automated safety check: PassMIT
Gitops Repo Auditfluxcd/agent-skills231—~3.8kAutomated safety check: PassApache-2.0

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  • Schema Unify

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Categories

Questions about Brain Taxonomist

What does Brain Taxonomist do?

Filing gate for ALL brain writes. An agent skill from garrytan/gbrain. Brain Taxonomist is an agent skill from garrytan/gbrain. Filing gate for ALL brain writes.

When should I use Brain Taxonomist?

Brain Taxonomist fits situations like: tasks that involve GitOps.

How do I install Brain Taxonomist in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add garrytan/gbrain --skill brain-taxonomist -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/brain-taxonomist in garrytan/gbrain) into .claude/skills/brain-taxonomist in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Brain Taxonomist in Codex?

Run `npx skills add garrytan/gbrain --skill brain-taxonomist -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/brain-taxonomist in garrytan/gbrain) into .agents/skills/brain-taxonomist in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Brain Taxonomist 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 garrytan/gbrain --skill brain-taxonomist -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/brain-taxonomist, .gemini/skills/brain-taxonomist, .github/skills/brain-taxonomist and .opencode/skills/brain-taxonomist in your project.

What does Brain Taxonomist need to run?

Going by SKILL.md and its folder, Brain Taxonomist needs the command-line tools its instructions call (jq).

Does Brain Taxonomist 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 Brain Taxonomist 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 Brain Taxonomist use?

Brain Taxonomist is published under the MIT licence (the repository's licence). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Brain Taxonomist use?

About 2.3k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 9.3k 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 Brain Taxonomist?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Brain Taxonomist: Kubernetes Specialist (Jeffallan/claude-skills, 12k stars), Kubernetes Architect (Cybereason-Public/owLSM, 280 stars), Docs Corpus Audit (microsoft/apm, 4k stars) and Devops (nicepkg/auto-company, 195 stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Brain Taxonomist?

garrytan (a GitHub user) maintains it in garrytan/gbrain, which has 30,736 GitHub stars. The repository holds 47 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 10, 2026.

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