Agent skill

Ouroboros Command Reference

by Q00 in Q00/ouroboros

Reference guide to the Ouroboros commands and agents, covering interviews, seed specs, evaluation, lateral-thinking personas and the evolutionary loop.

MITAuto-check passedAgent Workflows

Install Ouroboros Command Reference

skills CLI
$ npx skills add Q00/ouroboros --skill ouroboros-help -a claude-code

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

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install Q00/ouroboros ouroboros-help --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/Q00/ouroboros.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/help .claude/skills/ouroboros-help && 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
ouroboros-help
GitHub stars
6.2k
Token cost
~1.8k tokens
SKILL.md length
737 words
Files
1
Skills in repo
23
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

Reference guide to the Ouroboros commands and agents, covering interviews, seed specs, evaluation, lateral-thinking personas and the evolutionary loop.

  • Works in 5 steps: Socratic Interview - Exposes hidden… → Seed Generation - Creates immutable… → PAL Routing - Auto-escalates/descends… → …
  • Looking up which Ouroboros command does what
  • SKILL.md covers Usage, What Is Ouroboros?, All Commands and Natural Language Triggers, plus 4 more sections
  • Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md

What it does

This is a help page for Ouroboros, described as a requirement crystallization engine that turns vague ideas into validated specifications. The listed mechanisms are a Socratic interview that exposes hidden assumptions, generation of immutable seed specs, PAL routing that raises or lowers model complexity automatically, five lateral-thinking personas for getting unstuck, and a three-stage evaluation that goes from mechanical to semantic to consensus checks. It is invoked with ooo help or /ouroboros:ouroboros-help.

A long command table gives each command's purpose and whether it works as a plugin, over MCP or from the CLI. Examples include ooo interview, ooo seed, ooo run, ooo evaluate, ooo unstuck, ooo status, ooo setup, ooo config, ooo pm for PRD generation, ooo qa, ooo cancel, ooo update, ooo brownfield, ooo publish for seeds as GitHub Issues and ooo maintain. An evolutionary-loop section covers ooo evolve and ooo ralph. Plugin commands work right after ooo setup, MCP ones need the setup run once with Python 3.12 or later detected, and a table maps natural phrases such as interview me to commands.

When your agent uses it

  • Looking up which Ouroboros command does what
  • Choosing between plugin, MCP and CLI commands
  • Finding the natural-language phrase that triggers a command

Example prompts

  • “Show me all the Ouroboros commands and what each one does.”
  • “Which Ouroboros command should I use to clarify requirements before building?”
  • “What does ooo unstuck do?”

Requirements

  • Ouroboros installed and configured with ooo setup
  • Python 3.12 or later for the MCP commands

Workflow steps

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

  1. Socratic Interview - Exposes hidden assumptions
  2. Seed Generation - Creates immutable specifications
  3. PAL Routing - Auto-escalates/descends model complexity
  4. Lateral Thinking - 5 personas to break stagnation
  5. 3-Stage Evaluation - Mechanical > Semantic > Consensus

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit f587795. 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

Ouroboros Command Reference loads about 1.8k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 17 tokens; SKILL.md has 737 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~17
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~1.8k

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 Q00/ouroboros at commit f587795, republished under its MIT licence (© Q00). 737 words, ~1,756 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/ouroboros-help/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).
name
ouroboros-help
description
Full reference guide for Ouroboros commands and agents

/ouroboros:ouroboros-help

Full reference guide for Ouroboros power users.

Usage

ooo help
/ouroboros:ouroboros-help

What Is Ouroboros?

Ouroboros is a requirement crystallization engine for AI workflows. It transforms vague ideas into validated specifications through:

  1. Socratic Interview - Exposes hidden assumptions
  2. Seed Generation - Creates immutable specifications
  3. PAL Routing - Auto-escalates/descends model complexity
  4. Lateral Thinking - 5 personas to break stagnation
  5. 3-Stage Evaluation - Mechanical > Semantic > Consensus

All Commands

Core Commands
CommandPurposeMode
oooWelcome + quick startPlugin
ooo interviewSocratic requirement clarificationPlugin
ooo seedGenerate validated seed specPlugin
ooo runExecute seed workflowMCP
ooo evaluate3-stage verificationMCP
ooo unstuck5 lateral thinking personasPlugin
ooo statusSession status + drift checkMCP
ooo resume-sessionList in-flight sessions and re-attach commandsCLI
ooo setupInstallation wizardPlugin
ooo configSettings GUI — per-stage agents & models (browser here, TUI in a terminal)CLI
ooo welcomeFirst-touch welcome guidePlugin
ooo tutorialInteractive hands-on learningPlugin
ooo helpThis reference guidePlugin
ooo pmPM-focused interview + PRD generationMCP
ooo qaGeneral-purpose QA verdict for any artifactPlugin
ooo cancelCancel stuck or orphaned executionsCLI
ooo updateCheck for updates + upgrade to latestPlugin
ooo brownfieldScan and manage brownfield repo defaultsMCP
ooo publishPublish Seed as GitHub Issues for teamsPlugin
ooo maintainTriage and resolve maintainer issues and PRsPlugin
Evolutionary Loop
CommandPurposeMode
ooo evolveStart/monitor evolutionary development loopMCP
ooo ralphClient-driven loop until verified (uses background evolve_step jobs)Plugin + MCP

Plugin = Works immediately after ooo setup. MCP = Requires ooo setup (Python >= 3.12 auto-detected). Run setup once to unlock all features.

Natural Language Triggers

PhraseTriggers
"interview me", "clarify requirements", "socratic interview"ooo interview
"crystallize", "generate seed", "create seed", "freeze requirements"ooo seed
"ouroboros run", "execute seed", "run seed", "run workflow"ooo run
"evaluate this", "3-stage check", "verify execution"ooo evaluate
"think sideways", "i'm stuck", "break through", "lateral thinking"ooo unstuck
"am I drifting?", "drift check", "session status"ooo status
Utility Triggers
PhraseTriggers
"write prd", "pm interview", "product requirements", "create prd"ooo pm
"qa check", "quality check"ooo qa
"cancel execution", "stop job", "kill stuck", "abort execution"ooo cancel
"in-flight sessions", "mcp disconnected", "lost Ouroboros execution"ooo resume-session
"update ouroboros", "upgrade ouroboros"ooo update
"open settings", "change model", "change agent", "configure backend"ooo config
"brownfield defaults", "brownfield scan"ooo brownfield
"publish to github", "create issues from seed", "seed to issues"ooo publish
"ooo maintain"ooo maintain
Loop Triggers
PhraseTriggers
"ralph", "don't stop", "must complete", "until it works", "keep going"ooo ralph
"evolve", "evolutionary loop", "iterate until converged"ooo evolve

Available Skills

Show full SKILL.md (312 more words)Show less
Core Skills
SkillPurposeMode
/ouroboros:welcomeFirst-touch welcome experiencePlugin
/ouroboros:interviewSocratic requirement clarificationPlugin
/ouroboros:seedGenerate validated seed specPlugin
/ouroboros:ouroboros-runExecute seed workflowMCP
/ouroboros:evaluate3-stage verificationMCP
/ouroboros:unstuck5 lateral thinking personasPlugin
/ouroboros:ouroboros-statusSession status + drift checkMCP
/ouroboros:resume-sessionList in-flight sessions and re-attach commandsCLI
/ouroboros:setupInstallation wizardPlugin
/ouroboros:tutorialInteractive hands-on learningPlugin
/ouroboros:ouroboros-configSettings GUIPlugin
/ouroboros:ouroboros-helpThis guidePlugin
/ouroboros:pmPM-focused interview + PRD generationMCP
/ouroboros:qaGeneral-purpose QA verdict for any artifactPlugin
/ouroboros:cancelCancel stuck or orphaned executionsCLI
/ouroboros:updateCheck for updates + upgrade to latestPlugin
/ouroboros:brownfieldScan and manage brownfield repo defaultsMCP
/ouroboros:publishPublish Seed as GitHub Issues for teamsPlugin
/ouroboros:maintainTriage and resolve maintainer issues and PRsPlugin
Loop Skills
SkillPurposeBest For
/ouroboros:ralphClient-driven loop over background evolve_step jobs"Don't stop", must complete
/ouroboros:evolveEvolutionary ontology refinementSpec iteration until convergence

Available Agents

AgentPurpose
ouroboros:socratic-interviewerExposes hidden assumptions through questioning
ouroboros:ontologistFinds root problems vs symptoms
ouroboros:seed-architectCrystallizes requirements into seed specs
ouroboros:evaluatorThree-stage verification
ouroboros:contrarian"Are we solving the wrong problem?"
ouroboros:hacker"Make it work first, elegance later"
ouroboros:simplifier"Cut scope to absolute minimum"
ouroboros:researcher"Stop coding, start investigating"
ouroboros:architect"Question the foundation, redesign if needed"

Setup

After installing Ouroboros, run ooo setup once to register the MCP server. This connects your runtime backend to the Ouroboros Python core and unlocks all features.

ooo setup    # One-time setup (~1 minute)

Your final response MUST end with exactly one breadcrumb footer line:

◆ <current state> → next: <recommended action>

Derive <current state> from live session state via ouroboros_session_status when that MCP projection is available; otherwise derive it from this skill's actual outcome. Never use a linear Step N of M footer because Ouroboros is an evolutionary loop. When the next action is genuinely a choice, list 2-3 honest options in the next: clause. The breadcrumb line must be the last line of the response.

© Q00, 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/help of Q00/ouroboros.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit f587795

Compare with similar skills

Ouroboros Command Reference 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.

Ouroboros Command Reference compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Ouroboros Command Reference this skillQ00/ouroboros6.2k—~1.8kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Skill Seekers Builderyusufkaraaslan/Skill_Seekers15k—~760Automated safety check: PassMIT
Ask User QuestionMemTensor/MemOS12k—~1kAutomated safety check: PassApache-2.0
MCP Apps Builderawslabs/cli-agent-orchestrator1.4k—~1.7kAutomated safety check: PassApache-2.0
Releasejgravelle/jcodemunch-mcp2.7k—~6.5kAutomated safety check: PassCustom licence
Open PRArcadeAI/arcade-mcp1k—~2.9kAutomated safety check: PassMIT

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More from Q00/ouroboros

All 23 skills in this repo
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    6.2k GitHub starsUsed in 1 repo~5.7k tokens
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  • Triages and works through GitHub issues and pull requests in the Q00/ouroboros repo as a maintainer, within a stated review boundary and clear limits on what it may change.

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  • Scans a directory for existing git repositories and worktrees, then registers and manages which ones serve as default context during interviews.

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  • Scores an agent's finished work with a three-stage pipeline: free mechanical checks, an advisory semantic review, and an optional multi-model consensus vote.

    6.2k GitHub stars~2.2k tokensUpdated yesterday
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  • Starts, monitors or rewinds an evolutionary development loop that refines an ontology and acceptance criteria generation by generation until it converges, using the Ouroboros MCP tools.

    6.2k GitHub stars~3.2k tokensUpdated yesterday
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  • Opens or drives the Ouroboros settings GUI, picking a browser, TUI or chat-based approach depending on whether the user can reach a browser window.

    6.2k GitHub stars~1.2k tokensUpdated yesterday
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Categories

Questions about Ouroboros Command Reference

What does Ouroboros Command Reference do?

Reference guide to the Ouroboros commands and agents, covering interviews, seed specs, evaluation, lateral-thinking personas and the evolutionary loop. This is a help page for Ouroboros, described as a requirement crystallization engine that turns vague ideas into validated specifications. The listed mechanisms are a Socratic interview that exposes hidden assumptions, generation of immutable seed specs, PAL routing that raises or lowers model complexity automatically, five lateral-thinking personas for getting unstuck, and a three-stage evaluation that goes from mechanical to semantic to consensus checks.

When should I use Ouroboros Command Reference?

Ouroboros Command Reference fits situations like: looking up which Ouroboros command does what; choosing between plugin, MCP and CLI commands; finding the natural-language phrase that triggers a command.

How do I install Ouroboros Command Reference in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add Q00/ouroboros --skill ouroboros-help -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/help in Q00/ouroboros) into .claude/skills/ouroboros-help in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Ouroboros Command Reference in Codex?

Run `npx skills add Q00/ouroboros --skill ouroboros-help -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/help in Q00/ouroboros) into .agents/skills/ouroboros-help in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Ouroboros Command Reference 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 Q00/ouroboros --skill ouroboros-help -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/ouroboros-help, .gemini/skills/ouroboros-help, .github/skills/ouroboros-help and .opencode/skills/ouroboros-help in your project.

What does Ouroboros Command Reference need to run?

SKILL.md names no scripts, command-line tools or credentials: Ouroboros Command Reference is instructions for the agent only. Our summary lists: Ouroboros installed and configured with ooo setup; Python 3.12 or later for the MCP commands.

Does Ouroboros Command Reference 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 Ouroboros Command Reference 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 Ouroboros Command Reference use?

Ouroboros Command Reference 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 Ouroboros Command Reference use?

About 1.8k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 7k 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 Ouroboros Command Reference?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Ouroboros Command Reference: Skill Seekers Builder (yusufkaraaslan/Skill_Seekers, 15k stars), Ask User Question (MemTensor/MemOS, 12k stars), MCP Apps Builder (awslabs/cli-agent-orchestrator, 1.4k stars) and Release (jgravelle/jcodemunch-mcp, 2.7k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Ouroboros Command Reference?

Q00 (a GitHub user) maintains it in Q00/ouroboros, which has 6,194 GitHub stars. The repository holds 23 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 7, 2026.

Source: Q00/ouroboros on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.