Swarma
glitch-rabin/swarma
Agent teams that run growth experiments and build their own playbook.
Help users define, validate, and operationalize a North Star Metric that bridges the gap between customer value and business success while driving team alignment.
Install North Star Metrics
$ npx skills add RefoundAI/lenny-skills --skill north-star-metrics -a claude-codeProject install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.
$ gh skill install RefoundAI/lenny-skills north-star-metrics --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/RefoundAI/lenny-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/north-star-metrics .claude/skills/north-star-metrics && 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 "north-star-metrics" agent skill from https://github.com/RefoundAI/lenny-skills/tree/main/skills/north-star-metrics into .claude/skills/north-star-metrics/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "north-star-metrics", 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/RefoundAI/lenny-skills/tree/main/skills/north-star-metricsType 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 RefoundAI/lenny-skills --skill north-star-metrics -a codexProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.codex/skills/.
$ gh skill install RefoundAI/lenny-skills north-star-metrics --agent codexProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/RefoundAI/lenny-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .agents/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/north-star-metrics .agents/skills/north-star-metrics && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.agents/skills/ instead of .agents/skills for a personal install.
Codex skills documentation · loads skills from .agents/skills/
Install the "north-star-metrics" agent skill from https://github.com/RefoundAI/lenny-skills/tree/main/skills/north-star-metrics into .agents/skills/north-star-metrics/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "north-star-metrics", 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 RefoundAI/lenny-skills --skill north-star-metrics -a cursorProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.cursor/skills/.
$ gh skill install RefoundAI/lenny-skills north-star-metrics --agent cursorProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/RefoundAI/lenny-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .cursor/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/north-star-metrics .cursor/skills/north-star-metrics && 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 "north-star-metrics" agent skill from https://github.com/RefoundAI/lenny-skills/tree/main/skills/north-star-metrics into .cursor/skills/north-star-metrics/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "north-star-metrics", 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/RefoundAI/lenny-skills.git --path skills/north-star-metrics--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 RefoundAI/lenny-skills --skill north-star-metrics -a gemini-cliProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.gemini/skills/.
$ gh skill install RefoundAI/lenny-skills north-star-metrics --agent gemini-cliProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/RefoundAI/lenny-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .gemini/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/north-star-metrics .gemini/skills/north-star-metrics && 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 "north-star-metrics" agent skill from https://github.com/RefoundAI/lenny-skills/tree/main/skills/north-star-metrics into .gemini/skills/north-star-metrics/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "north-star-metrics", 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 RefoundAI/lenny-skills north-star-metricsInstalls 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 RefoundAI/lenny-skills --skill north-star-metrics -a github-copilotProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.copilot/skills/.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/RefoundAI/lenny-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .github/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/north-star-metrics .github/skills/north-star-metrics && 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 "north-star-metrics" agent skill from https://github.com/RefoundAI/lenny-skills/tree/main/skills/north-star-metrics into .github/skills/north-star-metrics/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "north-star-metrics", 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 RefoundAI/lenny-skills --skill north-star-metrics -a opencodeOpenCode documents no install command of its own. Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.config/opencode/skills/.
$ gh skill install RefoundAI/lenny-skills north-star-metrics --agent opencodeProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/RefoundAI/lenny-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .opencode/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/north-star-metrics .opencode/skills/north-star-metrics && 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 "north-star-metrics" agent skill from https://github.com/RefoundAI/lenny-skills/tree/main/skills/north-star-metrics into .opencode/skills/north-star-metrics/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "north-star-metrics", 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
north-star-metrics- GitHub stars
- 1.4k
- Token cost
- ~1.6k tokens
- SKILL.md length
- 940 words
- Files
- 3 (incl. references)
- Skills in repo
- 76
- Repo updated
- First seen
- Licence
- MIT
At a glance
Help users define, validate, and operationalize a North Star Metric that bridges the gap between customer value and business success while driving team alignment.
- Works in 4 steps: Audit current metrics - Review existing… → Define the core action - Identify the… → Deconstruct into inputs - Break down… → …
- Tasks that involve Product metrics
- SKILL.md covers How to Help, Core Principles, Templates & Frameworks and Questions to Help Users, plus 3 more sections
- Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md
What it does
North Star Metrics is an agent skill from RefoundAI/lenny-skills. Help users define, validate, and operationalize a North Star Metric that bridges the gap between customer value and business success while driving team alignment.
Its SKILL.md is about 1.6k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. The skill folder holds 3 other files, including reference files (for example `references/artifacts.md` and `references/guest-insights.md`).
It sits in Product & Project Management, covering Product metrics. The repository describes itself as: 86 product management skills from Lenny's Podcast for Claude Code and AI agents. Hiring, user research, strategy, shipping, and more. The licence is MIT.
When your agent uses it
- Tasks that involve Product metrics
Example prompts
- “/north-star-metrics”
Workflow steps
4 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.
- Audit current metrics - Review existing KPIs to identify if they are lagging indicators or vanity metrics that don't reflect true value.
- Define the core action - Identify the specific user behavior that signals the user has found utility in your product.
- Deconstruct into inputs - Break down high-level outcomes into specific, controllable input metrics that individual teams can influence.
- Set quality guardrails - Establish counter-metrics to ensure growth efforts do not degrade the long-term user experience.
What it can do on your machine
Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 13598cc. 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
North Star Metrics loads about 1.6k tokens when it runs, and up to ~26k if it reads all its reference files. Until then it costs about 45 tokens; SKILL.md has 940 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 RefoundAI/lenny-skills at commit 13598cc, republished under its MIT licence (© RefoundAI). 940 words, ~1,620 tokens.
Download SKILL.mdSave it as
.claude/skills/north-star-metrics/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder). This skill also uses 2 other files; get the full folder from GitHub.- name
- north-star-metrics
- description
- Help users define, validate, and operationalize a North Star Metric that bridges the gap between customer value and business success while driving team alignment.
North Star Metrics
Align your team and strategy around a single, quantifiable measure of customer value and business success.
Help the user with north star metrics using insights from 14 guests and posts across Lenny's Podcast and Newsletter.
How to Help
- Audit current metrics - Review existing KPIs to identify if they are lagging indicators or vanity metrics that don't reflect true value.
- Define the core action - Identify the specific user behavior that signals the user has found utility in your product.
- Deconstruct into inputs - Break down high-level outcomes into specific, controllable input metrics that individual teams can influence.
- Set quality guardrails - Establish counter-metrics to ensure growth efforts do not degrade the long-term user experience.
Core Principles
Manage specific input metrics
Bill Carr: "When you're measuring things, you're trying to understand what actions or reactions are creating the good outputs that you want, revenue, customer growth. But by putting them all together, you basically obfuscate that. And what really we realized is we need to just break each one of these out individually and manage them each in its own way."
Avoid managing compound metrics like revenue directly. Instead, deconstruct high-level goals into specific, controllable inputs that teams can influence on a daily basis.
Optimize for leading indicators
Jess Lachs: "Retention is a terrible thing to goal on. It's almost impossible to drive in a meaningful way in a short term. Ultimately, you want to find a short-term metric you can measure that drives a long-term output."
Identify and focus on short-term input metrics that serve as strong proxies for long-term strategic outcomes like retention and revenue.
Establish quality guardrails
Nickey Skarstad: "One of the things Airbnb did for experiences is we had this balancing metric, which was basically using the review rate as sort our end all, be all top line goal. So you can imagine a business like that. Obviously we needed to have revenue kind of moving through the platform, and we cared about high level bookings. But really at the end of the day in the beginning, we were obsessed with making sure every person who booked actually had a good experience when they showed up to experiences."
Set high-standard quality metrics as top-line goals to protect the end-user experience from the pressures of aggressive scaling.
Focus on the core action
Sarah Tavel: "What you realize when you look at social products is that they're almost is this action which I call the core action of that product that forms the foundation of the product. When a user completes this action, it's clear that they both understand the utility of the product, they understand what that product is all about, and it's an action that, if they perform the action, they're very likely to come back."
The most effective metrics track the completion of a fundamental core action that proves a user understands the product's underlying utility.
Show full SKILL.md (456 more words)Show less
Templates & Frameworks
- Consumer Metrics by Business Model Framework (The most important consumer metrics to track) - A comprehensive framework mapping five consumer business model types to their most important metrics, with specific metrics prioritized for each type. Designed
- Performance Metrics/KPI Definition Prompt (DoorDash Example) (How close is AI to replacing product managers?) - Full prompt used to define North Star and supporting metrics that beat a human PM's answer 68% to 32%
- North-Star Metric to Team KRs Hierarchy (Fostering a culture of experimentation) - A framework for cascading a company-level north-star metric down to team-level key results
- Metric Framework (Ecosystem-First Approach) (The definitive guide to mastering analytical thinking interviews) - Structured approach to defining metrics by starting with ecosystem players rather than jumping straight to metrics
- NSM Anti-Patterns (What NOT to Do) (The definitive guide to mastering analytical thinking interviews) - Common mistakes when selecting North Star metrics that can give false positive signals
- Data as Company Org Chart (Six rules of hiring for growth) - A mental model for structuring your company's data hierarchy, making it intuitive to prioritize which metrics to build and track first.
- Active User Definition Evaluation Matrix (How to measure cohort retention) - Five common events used to define 'active users' with pros and cons of each
- Starter Metrics Checklist by Subscription Type (The most important consumer subscription metrics to track) - Prioritized short list of the most important metrics to track first, tailored to each of the three consumer subscription business types
See references/artifacts.md for the full list with details.
Questions to Help Users
- "What is the single core action a user takes that proves they received value from your product?"
- "How does your current North Star metric relate to your long-term business strategy?"
- "Which input metrics do your teams have the most direct control over in a single quarter?"
- "What quality or 'guardrail' metrics are you tracking to ensure growth doesn't hurt the user experience?"
- "If your North Star metric goes up, does it guarantee your business is getting healthier?"
- "Are your active user definitions based on noise like 'app opens' or value-based core actions?"
Common Mistakes to Flag
- Using lagging indicators as team goals - Teams cannot directly control revenue or ARR in the short term, leading to frustration and lack of focus.
- Relying on vanity engagement metrics - Metrics like sign-ups or page views often mask fundamental flaws in retention and actual product utility.
- Choosing compound metrics - Teams struggle to influence metrics that are the result of many different variables acting together.
- Ignoring the ecosystem health - Focusing on a single side of a marketplace or one user type can lead to imbalance and long-term failure.
Deep Dive
For all 39 sourced insights from 14 guests, see references/guest-insights.md
Related Skills
- Defining Product Strategy
- Product Vision
- Positioning
- Pricing Strategy
© RefoundAI, 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 2 other files (references) in skills/north-star-metrics of RefoundAI/lenny-skills.
- SKILL.md
- references/artifacts.md
- references/guest-insights.md
Open the folder on GitHubat commit 13598cc
Compare with similar skills
North Star Metrics 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| North Star Metrics this skillRefoundAI/lenny-skills | 1.4k | — | ~1.6k | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT | |
| Swarmaglitch-rabin/swarma | 173 | — | ~4.4k | Automated safety check: Notes | MIT | |
| Prdjuanandresgs/claude-ctrl | 193 | — | ~2.9k | Automated safety check: Pass | None | |
| AI Product Strategy InterviewerPrepLabsAI/InterviewMentor | 112 | — | ~4.5k | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT | |
| Investigate MetricPostHog/posthog | 40k | — | ~1.9k | Automated safety check: Pass | Custom licence | |
| Weekly Creative Reportreal-simple-labs/parker-brain | 102 | — | ~4.7k | Automated safety check: Pass | Custom licence |
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AI Product Strategy Interviewer
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Investigate Metric
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Diagnose why a product metric changed (dropped, spiked, or plateaued) by orchestrating breakdowns, actors, paths, lifecycle, retention, and annotations queries.
Weekly Creative Report
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Build the brand's weekly creative report, a polished, shareable page an agency can send straight to the brand's CMO and team.
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Questions about North Star Metrics
What does North Star Metrics do?
Help users define, validate, and operationalize a North Star Metric that bridges the gap between customer value and business success while driving team alignment. North Star Metrics is an agent skill from RefoundAI/lenny-skills. Help users define, validate, and operationalize a North Star Metric that bridges the gap between customer value and business success while driving team alignment.
When should I use North Star Metrics?
North Star Metrics fits situations like: tasks that involve Product metrics.
How do I install North Star Metrics in Claude Code?
Run `npx skills add RefoundAI/lenny-skills --skill north-star-metrics -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/north-star-metrics in RefoundAI/lenny-skills) into .claude/skills/north-star-metrics in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.
How do I install North Star Metrics in Codex?
Run `npx skills add RefoundAI/lenny-skills --skill north-star-metrics -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/north-star-metrics in RefoundAI/lenny-skills) into .agents/skills/north-star-metrics in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.
Can I use North Star Metrics 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 RefoundAI/lenny-skills --skill north-star-metrics -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/north-star-metrics, .gemini/skills/north-star-metrics, .github/skills/north-star-metrics and .opencode/skills/north-star-metrics in your project.
What does North Star Metrics need to run?
SKILL.md names no scripts, command-line tools or credentials: North Star Metrics is instructions for the agent only.
Does North Star Metrics 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 North Star Metrics 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 North Star Metrics use?
North Star Metrics 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 North Star Metrics use?
About 1.6k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 6.5k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full. Its references folder adds about 25k tokens, read only when the agent opens those files.
What are the alternatives to North Star Metrics?
Skills that share tags, products or a category with North Star Metrics: Swarma (glitch-rabin/swarma, 173 stars), Prd (juanandresgs/claude-ctrl, 193 stars), AI Product Strategy Interviewer (PrepLabsAI/InterviewMentor, 112 stars) and Investigate Metric (PostHog/posthog, 40k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.
Who maintains North Star Metrics?
RefoundAI (a GitHub organization) maintains it in RefoundAI/lenny-skills, which has 1,382 GitHub stars. The repository holds 76 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on July 16, 2026.
Source: RefoundAI/lenny-skills on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.