Principle Redesign From First Principles
cursor/plugins
Apply when integrating a new requirement into an existing design.
Strip a problem down to what's actually true — the physics, economics, and human basics — and rebuild the answer from there, ignoring 'how it's normally done'.
MITAuto-check passed
Install From First Principles
$ npx skills add mohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills --skill from-first-principles -a claude-codeProject install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.
$ gh skill install mohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills from-first-principles --agent claude-codeProject scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/mohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/from-first-principles .claude/skills/from-first-principles && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.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/
Install the "from-first-principles" agent skill from https://github.com/mohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills/tree/main/skills/from-first-principles into .claude/skills/from-first-principles/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "from-first-principles", then confirm the skill loads.Claude Code copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$skill-installer install https://github.com/mohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills/tree/main/skills/from-first-principlesType this inside Codex. $skill-installer <name> installs a curated skill from openai/skills. The installer writes to $CODEX_HOME/skills (default ~/.codex/skills). Restart Codex if the skill does not show up.
$ npx skills add mohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills --skill from-first-principles -a codexProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.codex/skills/.
$ gh skill install mohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills from-first-principles --agent codexProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/mohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .agents/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/from-first-principles .agents/skills/from-first-principles && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.agents/skills/ instead of .agents/skills for a personal install.
Codex skills documentation · loads skills from .agents/skills/
Install the "from-first-principles" agent skill from https://github.com/mohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills/tree/main/skills/from-first-principles into .agents/skills/from-first-principles/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "from-first-principles", then confirm the skill loads.Codex copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$ npx skills add mohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills --skill from-first-principles -a cursorProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.cursor/skills/.
$ gh skill install mohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills from-first-principles --agent cursorProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/mohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .cursor/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/from-first-principles .cursor/skills/from-first-principles && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.cursor/skills/ instead of .cursor/skills for a personal install.
Cursor skills documentation · loads skills from .cursor/skills/, .agents/skills/, .claude/skills/, .codex/skills/
Install the "from-first-principles" agent skill from https://github.com/mohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills/tree/main/skills/from-first-principles into .cursor/skills/from-first-principles/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "from-first-principles", then confirm the skill loads.Cursor copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$ gemini skills install https://github.com/mohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills.git --path skills/from-first-principles--scope user (default) or --scope workspace; --path is the subfolder of the repo that holds the skill; --consent skips the security confirmation prompt.
$ npx skills add mohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills --skill from-first-principles -a gemini-cliProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.gemini/skills/.
$ gh skill install mohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills from-first-principles --agent gemini-cliProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/mohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .gemini/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/from-first-principles .gemini/skills/from-first-principles && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.gemini/skills/ instead of .gemini/skills for a personal install, then run /skills reload.
Gemini CLI skills documentation · loads skills from .gemini/skills/, .agents/skills/
Install the "from-first-principles" agent skill from https://github.com/mohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills/tree/main/skills/from-first-principles into .gemini/skills/from-first-principles/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "from-first-principles", then confirm the skill loads.Gemini CLI copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$ gh skill install mohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills from-first-principlesInstalls for Copilot at project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Preview a skill first with gh skill preview. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).
$ npx skills add mohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills --skill from-first-principles -a github-copilotProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.copilot/skills/.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/mohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .github/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/from-first-principles .github/skills/from-first-principles && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.copilot/skills/ instead of .github/skills for a personal install. Commit .github/skills so cloud agent and code review can use it.
GitHub Copilot skills documentation · loads skills from .github/skills/, .claude/skills/, .agents/skills/
Install the "from-first-principles" agent skill from https://github.com/mohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills/tree/main/skills/from-first-principles into .github/skills/from-first-principles/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "from-first-principles", then confirm the skill loads.GitHub Copilot copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$ npx skills add mohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills --skill from-first-principles -a opencodeOpenCode documents no install command of its own. Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.config/opencode/skills/.
$ gh skill install mohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills from-first-principles --agent opencodeProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/mohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .opencode/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/from-first-principles .opencode/skills/from-first-principles && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.config/opencode/skills/ instead of .opencode/skills for a personal install.
OpenCode skills documentation · loads skills from .opencode/skills/, .claude/skills/, .agents/skills/
Install the "from-first-principles" agent skill from https://github.com/mohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills/tree/main/skills/from-first-principles into .opencode/skills/from-first-principles/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "from-first-principles", then confirm the skill loads.OpenCode copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
Facts
- Skill name
from-first-principles- GitHub stars
- 1.4k
- Token cost
- ~964 tokens
- SKILL.md length
- 455 words
- Files
- 1
- Skills in repo
- 1,348
- Repo updated
- First seen
- Licence
- MIT
At a glance
Strip a problem down to what's actually true — the physics, economics, and human basics — and rebuild the answer from there, ignoring 'how it's normally done'.
- Works in 5 steps: Reduce to fundamentals. Ask "what do we… → Separate laws from conventions. Some… → Question the conventions. For each… → …
- Asked to think from first principles
- SKILL.md covers What This Skill Produces, Required Inputs, Framework: Reduce, Question,… and Output Format, plus 3 more sections
- Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md
What it does
From First Principles is an agent skill from mohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills. Strip a problem down to what's actually true — the physics, economics, and human basics — and rebuild the answer from there, ignoring 'how it's normally done'. Use when asked to think from first principles, why is this done this way, challenge the assumptions here, or rebuild this from scratch. Produces the problem reduced to its fundamental truths, the inherited assumptions and conventions named and questioned, and a solution reasoned up from the basics — which often looks nothing like the default because the…
Its SKILL.md is about 960 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: 1255 professional Agent Skills for Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Cursor & Codex — PRDs, postmortems, leases, medical bills, layoffs, go-bags, new countries. Plain markdown, MIT, in… The licence is MIT.
When your agent uses it
- Asked to think from first principles
- Why is this done this way
- Challenge the assumptions here
- Rebuild this from scratch
Example prompts
- “how it”
- “/from-first-principles”
Workflow steps
5 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.
- Reduce to fundamentals. Ask "what do we know is actually true here?" — the real physical, economic, and human constraints, not the…
- Separate laws from conventions. Some constraints are unbreakable (physics, budget); many "constraints" are just how it's always been done…
- Question the conventions. For each inherited assumption, ask why — often the original reason is gone, or never applied to you.
- Rebuild from the base. Reason a solution up from the fundamentals alone, ignoring the default path.
- Compare to the default. Show where the first-principles answer diverges — and fairly consider why the convention exists (sometimes it's…
What it can do on your machine
Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 1cbf1f0. 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
From First Principles loads about 964 tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 141 tokens; SKILL.md has 455 words of instructions outside code blocks.
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 mohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills at commit 1cbf1f0, republished under its MIT licence (© mohitagw15856). 455 words, ~964 tokens.
Download SKILL.mdSave it as
.claude/skills/from-first-principles/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).- name
- from-first-principles
- description
- Strip a problem down to what's actually true — the physics, economics, and human basics — and rebuild the answer from there, ignoring 'how it's normally done'. Use when asked to think from first principles, why is this done this way, challenge the assumptions here, or rebuild this from scratch. Produces the problem reduced to its fundamental truths, the inherited assumptions and conventions named and questioned, and a solution reasoned up from the basics — which often looks nothing like the default because the default was just copied.
From First Principles
Most answers are reasoned by analogy — "this is how it's done, so we do it too." First-principles thinking throws that out: it breaks the problem down to what's actually, physically, economically true, then rebuilds from those basics. The result often diverges sharply from convention, because the convention was inherited, not derived.
What This Skill Produces
- The fundamentals — the problem reduced to what's genuinely true (constraints from physics, math, economics, human needs), not what's assumed
- The inherited assumptions — the "that's just how it's done" beliefs, named and questioned (which are real constraints, which are just convention?)
- The rebuild — a solution reasoned upward from the fundamentals
- The divergence — where this differs from the default, and why the default existed anyway
Required Inputs
Ask for these if not provided:
- The problem or decision — what you're rethinking
- The current/default approach — how it's normally done
- The real goal — what you're actually trying to achieve
- The constraints you believe exist — so we can test which are real
Framework: Reduce, Question, Rebuild
- Reduce to fundamentals. Ask "what do we know is actually true here?" — the real physical, economic, and human constraints, not the conventional wisdom.
- Separate laws from conventions. Some constraints are unbreakable (physics, budget); many "constraints" are just how it's always been done. Sort them.
- Question the conventions. For each inherited assumption, ask why — often the original reason is gone, or never applied to you.
- Rebuild from the base. Reason a solution up from the fundamentals alone, ignoring the default path.
- Compare to the default. Show where the first-principles answer diverges — and fairly consider why the convention exists (sometimes it's right; sometimes it's inertia).
Show full SKILL.md (179 more words)Show less
Output Format
Problem: [what we're rethinking]
Fundamentals (actually true): [the real constraints/basics]. Assumptions to question
| "It's done this way because…" | Real constraint or just convention? |
|---|
Rebuilt from basics: [the solution reasoned up from fundamentals]. Vs. the default: [where it diverges, and whether the convention still has a point].
Quality Checks
- The problem is genuinely reduced to fundamental truths
- Real constraints are separated from mere conventions
- Each inherited assumption is questioned with "why"
- The solution is rebuilt from the base, not tweaked from the default
- It fairly considers why the convention exists before dismissing it
Anti-Patterns
- Reasoning by analogy dressed up as first principles.
- Treating conventions as laws without testing them.
- Throwing out a convention that actually has a good reason.
- Stopping at "question everything" without rebuilding an answer.
Example Trigger Phrases
- "Think about this from first principles."
- "Why is this industry done this way — does it have to be?"
- "Challenge the assumptions behind how I'm approaching this."
- "Rebuild my morning routine from scratch, ignoring how I do it now."
- "Strip this problem to basics and reason it back up."
© mohitagw15856, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file
Files
Just SKILL.md in skills/from-first-principles of mohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills.
Open the folder on GitHubat commit 1cbf1f0
Compare with similar skills
From First Principles 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.
| Skill | Stars | Used in | Tokens | Auto-check | Licence | Repo updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| From First Principles this skillmohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills | 1.4k | — | ~964 | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT | |
| Principle Redesign From First Principlescursor/plugins | 11k | 8 repos | ~211 | Automated safety check: Pass | None | |
| Is This A Problemanthropics/claude-for-legal | 9.6k | 2 repos | ~2.3k | Automated safety check: Pass | Apache-2.0 | |
| Physical Addressthedaviddias/Front-End-Checklist | 74k | — | ~574 | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT | |
| Uxui Principlessickn33/agentic-awesome-skills | 47k | 2 repos | ~548 | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT | |
| First Principles Thinkingmindfold-ai/Trellis | 15k | — | ~4.1k | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT |
Similar skills
- Official
- Official
Is This A Problem
anthropics/claude-for-legal
Fast "is this a problem?" answer for the quick Slack question — pattern-matches against your calibration.
Physical Address
thedaviddias/Front-End-Checklist
A skill your agent uses when auditing local business websites, e-commerce sites, or any site where a physical presence affects trust or local search visibility.
Uxui Principles
sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills
Evaluate interfaces against 168 research-backed UX/UI principles, detect antipatterns, and inject UX context into AI coding sessions.
First Principles Thinking
mindfold-ai/Trellis
Systematic first principles thinking for any problem domain.
Statistical Problem Formulation
aiming-lab/AutoResearchClaw
Formulate statistical research problems with formal notation, target parameters, assumptions, hypotheses, evaluation criteria, and theory targets.
More from mohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills
All 1,348 skills in this repoCar Tco
mohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills
Compare the total cost of car ownership across buy-new, buy-used, lease, and keep-your-current-car — depreciation, insurance, maintenance ramp, and fuel over a real horizon, not just the monthly…
Cs Health Scorecard
mohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills
Build a customer health scorecard for a specific account. An agent skill from mohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills.
Exit Waterfall
mohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills
Compute who gets what at each exit price from a cap table — liquidation preferences, conversion points, and where the founders' share collapses.
Feature Prioritisation
mohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills
Apply prioritisation frameworks (RICE, MoSCoW, Kano, ICE, Opportunity Scoring) to rank features and backlog items.
Fire Number
mohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills
Compute a financial-independence (FIRE) target and years-to-reach with every assumption labeled as an assumption — plus a sensitivity table instead of a single false-precision answer.
Freelance Rate
mohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills
Derive a freelance day/hourly rate backwards from target income, honest billable utilization, overhead, and the self-employment tax premium — the arithmetic that proves a rate is not salary÷2000.
Questions about From First Principles
What does From First Principles do?
Strip a problem down to what's actually true — the physics, economics, and human basics — and rebuild the answer from there, ignoring 'how it's normally done'. From First Principles is an agent skill from mohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills. Strip a problem down to what's actually true — the physics, economics, and human basics — and rebuild the answer from there, ignoring 'how it's normally done'.
When should I use From First Principles?
From First Principles fits situations like: asked to think from first principles; why is this done this way; challenge the assumptions here; rebuild this from scratch.
How do I install From First Principles in Claude Code?
Run `npx skills add mohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills --skill from-first-principles -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/from-first-principles in mohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills) into .claude/skills/from-first-principles in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.
How do I install From First Principles in Codex?
Run `npx skills add mohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills --skill from-first-principles -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/from-first-principles in mohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills) into .agents/skills/from-first-principles in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.
Can I use From First Principles 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 mohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills --skill from-first-principles -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/from-first-principles, .gemini/skills/from-first-principles, .github/skills/from-first-principles and .opencode/skills/from-first-principles in your project.
What does From First Principles need to run?
SKILL.md names no scripts, command-line tools or credentials: From First Principles is instructions for the agent only.
Does From First Principles 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 From First Principles 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 From First Principles use?
From First Principles 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 From First Principles use?
About 964 tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 3.9k 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 From First Principles?
Skills that share tags, products or a category with From First Principles: Principle Redesign From First Principles (cursor/plugins, 11k stars), Is This A Problem (anthropics/claude-for-legal, 9.6k stars), Physical Address (thedaviddias/Front-End-Checklist, 74k stars) and Uxui Principles (sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills, 47k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.
Who maintains From First Principles?
mohitagw15856 (a GitHub user) maintains it in mohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills, which has 1,434 GitHub stars. The repository holds 1,348 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 9, 2026.
Source: mohitagw15856/pm-claude-skills on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.