Os Big Picture

What it does

When your agent uses it

• Asks where the project as a whole stands - where are we
• Whats the big picture
• What have we built
• What is in this project

Example prompts

• “where are we”
• “s the big picture”
• “what have we built”
• “/os-big-picture”

Requirements

• A Bash shell
• Pre-approved tools (allowed-tools): Read(~/.claude/open-steps/**), Edit(BIG-PICTURE.md), Bash(bash ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/census.sh *), Bash(git rev-parse --git-dir), Bash(gh repo view *), Bash(gh issue list *), Bash(gh issue create *)

Workflow steps

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

1. 1find the file, and never clobber it
2. 2the census, measured by the script
3. 3reading what it printed
4. 4the backlog, sourced and never invented
5. 5the tracker, if there is one
6. 6plain words, before it is written

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 4fa744b. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

• Tool permissions

  Pre-approves these tools, so the agent can use them without asking each time:

  • Read(~/.claude/open-steps/**)
  • Edit(BIG-PICTURE.md)
  • Bash(bash ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/census.sh *)
  • Bash(git rev-parse --git-dir)
  • Bash(gh repo view *)
  • Bash(gh issue list *)
  • Bash(gh issue create *)

  From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

• Runs code

  Ships 1 file in scripts/ (Shell), which the agent can run.

  Shell commands in SKILL.md call:

  • git
  • bash

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

• Network

  No URLs in SKILL.md. Its commands use git, which can reach the network depending on how they are called.

  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

Os Big Picture loads about 1.9k tokens when it runs, and up to ~4.5k if it reads all its reference files. Until then it costs about 191 tokens; SKILL.md has 878 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it

~191

When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches

~1.9k

With references · SKILL.md plus every file in references/, read only if the agent opens them

~4.5k

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

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); the scripts in this folder are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from kharmanskyi/open-steps at commit 4fa744b, republished under its MIT licence (© kharmanskyi). 878 words, ~1,902 tokens.

name

os-big-picture

description

ALWAYS invoke this skill when the user asks where the project as a whole stands - "where are we", "what's the big picture", "what have we built", "what is in this project", "map the project", "what does this thing even do", "what is stale", "what can we delete", "update the roadmap" - in any language, and whenever a session report has just been written. It keeps one file, BIG-PICTURE.md: what the product is, every feature with how far it got, which parts nobody has touched, and what is queued next. Age and wiring are measured from git; how far a feature got comes from the reports or says "not checked". Where a tracker is connected it offers to open the queue as tickets, after a yes and never before. Never invents work, never deletes code.

allowed-tools

Read(~/.claude/open-steps/**), Edit(BIG-PICTURE.md), Bash(bash ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/census.sh *), Bash(git rev-parse --git-dir), Bash(gh repo view *), Bash(gh issue list *), Bash(gh issue create *)

f=BIG-PICTURE.md; e="$(git rev-parse --git-dir)/info/exclude"
git check-ignore -q "$f" || git ls-files --error-unmatch "$f" >/dev/null 2>&1 \
  || grep -qxF "$f" "$e" 2>/dev/null || printf '%s\n' "$f" >> "$e"

bash ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/census.sh .

<!-- open-steps:begin -->
_Measured <date>. Stages are dated where they stand; anything undated in this
file is not measured._

## What this is

<Three or four sentences. What the product does, who runs it, what it runs
on. No jargon - a reader who has never seen the code.>

## What is in it

| Feature | What it does | Stage | Last worked on | Signal |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| <plain name> | <one line> | live (1 Sep) | 1 Sep | active |
| <plain name> | <one line> | not checked | 28 May | stable |

## Worth retiring

<One line each: what it is, how long unused, what would break. Empty is a
result - write "nothing found" and keep the heading.>

## What is next

- <item> - <source>
- <item> - <source> - #<ticket number, once one exists>

_Age and wiring measured <date>, fresh this pass. Stage comes from session
reports and is only as current as the date beside it._
<!-- open-steps:end -->

© kharmanskyi, 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 3 other files (scripts, references) in skills/os-big-picture of kharmanskyi/open-steps.

• SKILL.md
• references/01-quiet-is-not-dead.md
• references/rationale.md
• scripts/census.sh

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 4fa744b