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Agent skill

Idea Autopsy

by sickn33 in sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills

Autopsy a business idea before you build it: kill-list check, five hard filters, a free-AI one-prompt test, live ad-market verification, and a verdict with a named kill-pattern.

MITAuto-check passed

Install Idea Autopsy

skills CLI
$ npx skills add sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills --skill idea-autopsy -a claude-code

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

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills idea-autopsy --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/sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/idea-autopsy .claude/skills/idea-autopsy && 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
idea-autopsy
GitHub stars
47k
Used in
1 other repo
Token cost
~1.6k tokens
SKILL.md length
709 words
Files
1
Skills in repo
1,497
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

Autopsy a business idea before you build it: kill-list check, five hard filters, a free-AI one-prompt test, live ad-market verification, and a verdict with a named kill-pattern.

  • Works in 5 steps: Kill-list check → The five filters → The free-AI test → …
  • SKILL.md covers Overview, When to Use This Skill, How It Works and Examples, plus 3 more sections
  • Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md

What it does

Idea Autopsy is an agent skill from sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills. Autopsy a business idea before you build it: kill-list check, five hard filters, a free-AI one-prompt test, live ad-market verification, and a verdict with a named kill-pattern.

Its SKILL.md is about 1.6k 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: AAS Core is the local, agent-first control plane for complete catalog discovery, agent-owned selection, stack validation, and planning, backed by 2,400+ agentic skills. Includes… The licence is MIT.

Example prompts

  • “/idea-autopsy”

Workflow steps

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

  1. Kill-list check
  2. The five filters
  3. The free-AI test
  4. Live-market verification (own eyes)
  5. Verdict

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit b84d35a. 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 (its code samples are markdown).

    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

Idea Autopsy loads about 1.6k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 48 tokens; SKILL.md has 709 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~48
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~1.6k

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 sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills at commit b84d35a, republished under its MIT licence (© sickn33). 709 words, ~1,620 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/idea-autopsy/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).
name
idea-autopsy
description
Autopsy a business idea before you build it: kill-list check, five hard filters, a free-AI one-prompt test, live ad-market verification, and a verdict with a named kill-pattern.
category
product
risk
critical
source
community
source_repo
hafiz-actyte/idea-autopsy
source_type
community
date_added
2026-07-10
author
hafiz-actyte
tags
business-ideas, idea-validation, market-research, startup, founders
tools
claude, cursor, gemini
license
MIT

Idea Autopsy

Overview

Turns the agent into a ruthless business-idea pathologist: instead of encouraging the user, it hunts for the one sentence that kills an idea — before any money or weeks are spent building it. Built from a real founder kill-list of 42 dead ideas (including a 9/10-scored idea and one that turned out to be federally illegal to charge for). Every autopsy ends in a hard verdict: DEAD with a named kill-pattern, or SURVIVED with the one cheapest test that could still kill it.

When to Use This Skill

  • Use when the user proposes a new business, product, or side-project idea
  • Use when the user asks "should I build X?" or "validate this idea"
  • Use when the user says "autopsy my idea"
  • Use before any market-research or build-planning task for a new venture

How It Works

Step 1: Kill-list check

If the project contains a REJECTION.md (the user's personal kill-list), read it first. A NICHE match (same niche as a killed row) = verdict DEAD, cite the row, stop. A KILL-PATTERN match alone (new niche, previously-seen pattern) is a strong prior, NOT a verdict: name the matching pattern, then run the specific check for that pattern (the relevant filter or test below) to confirm it actually applies before declaring death. If no kill-list exists, ask the user for permission to create one with exactly this schema — this autopsy writes its first row:

markdown
# REJECTION.md — my kill-list

## Killed ideas

| # | Idea/Niche | Killed (date) | Hard reason (one line) | Pattern |
|---|-----------|---------------|------------------------|---------|

## Survivors under test

| Idea | Passed filters (date) | Pending test | Deadline |
|------|----------------------|--------------|----------|
Step 2: The five filters

Demand evidence, not optimism. One hard NO = dead.

  1. Real pain? 2am-problem, or a nice-to-have "vitamin"?
  2. Buyer has money? Right now — not after the product helps them.
  3. Proven demand? Can the user name a single live competitor ad?
  4. Legal to charge for? Regulated, licensed, or illegal in the target market? Name the law if suspicion exists.
  5. A moat? What stops the 50th copycat next month?
Step 3: The free-AI test

Try to produce the idea's core deliverable with one prompt to a frontier model. If one prompt produces the whole deliverable free, the verdict is DEAD with kill-pattern free-AI: the user doesn't have a product, they have a prompt.

Step 4: Live-market verification (own eyes)

Desk research lies. Walk the user through the Meta Ad Library (or equivalent) with an explicit checklist: number of ACTIVE advertisers, age of the oldest running ad (90+ days = someone is paying because it works), and the three traps — zero ads (wrong-channel), a few giants (incumbent-owned), or hundreds of ads (crowded commodity knife-fight: demand ≠ room for you).

Show full SKILL.md (296 more words)Show less
Step 5: Verdict
VERDICT: DEAD | SURVIVED
KILL-PATTERN: <name>            (if dead)
THE ONE SENTENCE: <the single finding that decided it>
EVIDENCE: <2-4 hard facts with sources/numbers>
NEXT: <if survived: the ONE cheapest test that could still kill it>

Then record the result — gated on consent: if REJECTION.md exists, or the user approved creating it in Step 1, append a one-line row (dead) or note the survivor with the date and pending test. If the user declined the kill-list, do NOT create or write the file — print the proposed row as text so they can save it wherever they prefer. The kill-list is the compounding asset — every autopsy makes the next one faster, but only with the user's consent.

Examples

Example 1: Idea that dies on the free-AI test
User: Should I build a chargeback-response kit for Shopify sellers? Ready-to-send
      evidence packets, $29 one-time.
Agent: Running the autopsy... Step 3 kills it: one prompt to a frontier model
      produces a complete, usable evidence packet for free.
      VERDICT: DEAD. KILL-PATTERN: free-AI.
      THE ONE SENTENCE: If AI ships your whole deliverable in one prompt, you
      don't have a product — you have a prompt.
Example 2: Proven demand that still dies
User: An app that identifies plants from a photo — there are over a thousand
      active ads for these, demand is proven!
Agent: Step 4 confirms ~1,100 active advertisers — and that's the trap. The AI is
      free, the datasets are public, everyone could build it, so everyone did.
      VERDICT: DEAD. KILL-PATTERN: no-moat.
      THE ONE SENTENCE: Demand tells you a market exists; it doesn't tell you
      there's room for you.

Best Practices

  • ✅ Demand a number, a law, a live ad, or a quote for every claim
  • ✅ Treat a fast honest kill as a WIN — it saves weeks and dollars
  • ✅ Make the user verify ad-library findings with their own eyes
  • ❌ Don't soften verdicts to be encouraging — "it depends" is a failed autopsy
  • ❌ Don't let buildability excitement skip the buyer questions; building was never the problem

Limitations

  • This skill does not replace legal advice, financial advice, or professional market research.
  • Kill-patterns are priors, not verdicts — a new niche matching an old pattern still deserves a fresh check that the pattern applies.
  • Ad-library checks reflect one acquisition channel; some categories legitimately sell through search or app stores.
  • Stop and ask for clarification if the idea's target market, buyer, or deliverable is unclear.

Security & Safety Notes

  • This skill performs no shell commands, network calls, or credential handling.
  • It modifies project state in exactly one place: creating or appending rows to the project's own REJECTION.md (hence risk: critical). It never edits other files; ask permission before creating the file on first run.
  • Web checks (ad libraries) are performed by the USER in their own browser; the skill only provides the checklist.

© sickn33, 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/idea-autopsy of sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit b84d35a

Used in 1 other repository

We found 5 copies of this SKILL.md (exact, near-identical or edited) in other folders, from 1 other GitHub owner. This page covers the copy in sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills, which our catalogue first saw on October 7, 2026.

Compare with similar skills

Idea Autopsy 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.

Idea Autopsy compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Idea Autopsy this skillsickn33/agentic-awesome-skills47k1 repos~1.6kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Idea Refinementaddyosmani/agent-skills104k6 repos~2kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Idea Discoverywanshuiyin/Auto-claude-code-research-in-sleep17k1 repos~6.9kAutomated safety check: WarnMIT
IdeaChorus-AIDLC/Chorus1.2k—~7.2kAutomated safety check: PassAGPL-3.0
Marketing Ideasdavila7/claude-code-templates33k4 repos~6.1kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Idea Ingestgarrytan/gbrain31k—~1.6kAutomated safety check: PassMIT

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Questions about Idea Autopsy

What does Idea Autopsy do?

Autopsy a business idea before you build it: kill-list check, five hard filters, a free-AI one-prompt test, live ad-market verification, and a verdict with a named kill-pattern. Idea Autopsy is an agent skill from sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills. Autopsy a business idea before you build it: kill-list check, five hard filters, a free-AI one-prompt test, live ad-market verification, and a verdict with a named kill-pattern.

How do I install Idea Autopsy in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills --skill idea-autopsy -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/idea-autopsy in sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills) into .claude/skills/idea-autopsy in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Idea Autopsy in Codex?

Run `npx skills add sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills --skill idea-autopsy -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/idea-autopsy in sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills) into .agents/skills/idea-autopsy in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Idea Autopsy 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 sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills --skill idea-autopsy -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/idea-autopsy, .gemini/skills/idea-autopsy, .github/skills/idea-autopsy and .opencode/skills/idea-autopsy in your project.

What does Idea Autopsy need to run?

SKILL.md names no scripts, command-line tools or credentials: Idea Autopsy is instructions for the agent only.

Does Idea Autopsy 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 Idea Autopsy 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 Idea Autopsy use?

Idea Autopsy is published under the MIT licence (declared in SKILL.md). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Idea Autopsy 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.

What are the alternatives to Idea Autopsy?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Idea Autopsy: Idea Refinement (addyosmani/agent-skills, 104k stars), Idea Discovery (wanshuiyin/Auto-claude-code-research-in-sleep, 17k stars), Idea (Chorus-AIDLC/Chorus, 1.2k stars) and Marketing Ideas (davila7/claude-code-templates, 33k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Idea Autopsy?

sickn33 (a GitHub user) maintains it in sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills, which has 47,405 GitHub stars. The repository holds 1,497 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 9, 2026.

Source: sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.