Claims
ruvnet/ruflo
Claims-based authorization for agents and operations. An agent skill from ruvnet/ruflo.
A skill your agent uses when a specific claim may lack grounding.
MITAuto-check passed
Install Thinking Circle Of Competence
$ npx skills add tjboudreaux/cc-thinking-skills --skill thinking-circle-of-competence -a claude-codeProject install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.
$ gh skill install tjboudreaux/cc-thinking-skills thinking-circle-of-competence --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/tjboudreaux/cc-thinking-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/thinking-circle-of-competence .claude/skills/thinking-circle-of-competence && 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 "thinking-circle-of-competence" agent skill from https://github.com/tjboudreaux/cc-thinking-skills/tree/main/skills/thinking-circle-of-competence into .claude/skills/thinking-circle-of-competence/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "thinking-circle-of-competence", 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/tjboudreaux/cc-thinking-skills/tree/main/skills/thinking-circle-of-competenceType 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 tjboudreaux/cc-thinking-skills --skill thinking-circle-of-competence -a codexProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.codex/skills/.
$ gh skill install tjboudreaux/cc-thinking-skills thinking-circle-of-competence --agent codexProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/tjboudreaux/cc-thinking-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .agents/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/thinking-circle-of-competence .agents/skills/thinking-circle-of-competence && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.agents/skills/ instead of .agents/skills for a personal install.
Codex skills documentation · loads skills from .agents/skills/
Install the "thinking-circle-of-competence" agent skill from https://github.com/tjboudreaux/cc-thinking-skills/tree/main/skills/thinking-circle-of-competence into .agents/skills/thinking-circle-of-competence/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "thinking-circle-of-competence", 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 tjboudreaux/cc-thinking-skills --skill thinking-circle-of-competence -a cursorProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.cursor/skills/.
$ gh skill install tjboudreaux/cc-thinking-skills thinking-circle-of-competence --agent cursorProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/tjboudreaux/cc-thinking-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .cursor/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/thinking-circle-of-competence .cursor/skills/thinking-circle-of-competence && 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 "thinking-circle-of-competence" agent skill from https://github.com/tjboudreaux/cc-thinking-skills/tree/main/skills/thinking-circle-of-competence into .cursor/skills/thinking-circle-of-competence/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "thinking-circle-of-competence", 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/tjboudreaux/cc-thinking-skills.git --path skills/thinking-circle-of-competence--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 tjboudreaux/cc-thinking-skills --skill thinking-circle-of-competence -a gemini-cliProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.gemini/skills/.
$ gh skill install tjboudreaux/cc-thinking-skills thinking-circle-of-competence --agent gemini-cliProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/tjboudreaux/cc-thinking-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .gemini/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/thinking-circle-of-competence .gemini/skills/thinking-circle-of-competence && 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 "thinking-circle-of-competence" agent skill from https://github.com/tjboudreaux/cc-thinking-skills/tree/main/skills/thinking-circle-of-competence into .gemini/skills/thinking-circle-of-competence/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "thinking-circle-of-competence", 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 tjboudreaux/cc-thinking-skills thinking-circle-of-competenceInstalls 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 tjboudreaux/cc-thinking-skills --skill thinking-circle-of-competence -a github-copilotProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.copilot/skills/.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/tjboudreaux/cc-thinking-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .github/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/thinking-circle-of-competence .github/skills/thinking-circle-of-competence && 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 "thinking-circle-of-competence" agent skill from https://github.com/tjboudreaux/cc-thinking-skills/tree/main/skills/thinking-circle-of-competence into .github/skills/thinking-circle-of-competence/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "thinking-circle-of-competence", 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 tjboudreaux/cc-thinking-skills --skill thinking-circle-of-competence -a opencodeOpenCode documents no install command of its own. Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.config/opencode/skills/.
$ gh skill install tjboudreaux/cc-thinking-skills thinking-circle-of-competence --agent opencodeProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/tjboudreaux/cc-thinking-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .opencode/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/thinking-circle-of-competence .opencode/skills/thinking-circle-of-competence && 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 "thinking-circle-of-competence" agent skill from https://github.com/tjboudreaux/cc-thinking-skills/tree/main/skills/thinking-circle-of-competence into .opencode/skills/thinking-circle-of-competence/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "thinking-circle-of-competence", 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
thinking-circle-of-competence- GitHub stars
- 1.6k
- Token cost
- ~733 tokens
- SKILL.md length
- 355 words
- Files
- 1
- Skills in repo
- 26
- Repo updated
- First seen
- Licence
- MIT
At a glance
A skill your agent uses when a specific claim may lack grounding.
- Works in 6 steps: Name the claim. Isolate the assertion… → Classify the zone. → Size wrongness cost. If high-stakes… → …
- A specific claim may lack grounding
- SKILL.md covers When to Use, When NOT to Use, Procedure and Output, plus 1 more section
- Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md
What it does
Thinking Circle Of Competence is an agent skill from tjboudreaux/cc-thinking-skills. Use when a specific claim may lack grounding. Check evidence boundary, size wrongness cost, then answer, fetch, or abstain — never confabulate.
Its SKILL.md is about 730 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: 28 eval-informed mental models and critical-thinking skills for Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, Codex, Cursor, and other Agent Skills-compatible tools. The licence is MIT.
When your agent uses it
- A specific claim may lack grounding
Example prompts
- “/thinking-circle-of-competence”
Workflow steps
6 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.
- Name the claim. Isolate the assertion that would be treated as fact.
- Classify the zone.
- Size wrongness cost. If high-stakes (security, data loss, irreversible ops), treat Partial as Ungrounded until verified.
- Act by zone.
- Refuse competence creep. Adjacent code, prior versions, or general capability do not ground the unread target.
- Stop. Emit answer, fetch request, or abstention. Do not round "probably" to a flat assertion.
What it can do on your machine
Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 7b8fece. 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
Thinking Circle Of Competence loads about 733 tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 43 tokens; SKILL.md has 355 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 tjboudreaux/cc-thinking-skills at commit 7b8fece, republished under its MIT licence (© tjboudreaux). 355 words, ~733 tokens.
Download SKILL.mdSave it as
.claude/skills/thinking-circle-of-competence/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).- name
- thinking-circle-of-competence
- description
- Use when a specific claim may lack grounding. Check evidence boundary, size wrongness cost, then answer, fetch, or abstain — never confabulate.
- disable-model-invocation
- true
Circle of Competence
Treat competence as an evidence boundary, not self-image. Answer only when grounded; otherwise fetch, mark uncertainty, or abstain. The failure mode is a fluent fabrication treated as fact.
When to Use
- About to assert a specific fact (API, path, number, config, version behavior) without a citable source from this session.
- The claim is about this codebase or system and you have not read or run the relevant artifact.
- Pattern reconstruction would sound complete but is unconfirmed.
- Cost of a wrong confident answer is material (security, data, irreversible action, trust).
When NOT to Use
- Claim is grounded in something you read, ran, or can cite this session, or is stable universal knowledge — answer without false humility.
- Error cost is trivial and reversible and you will flag the claim as unverified.
- Grounding is one cheap fetch away — fetch first; abstention is not an excuse to skip a check.
- User explicitly wants labeled brainstorming or hypotheticals.
Procedure
- Name the claim. Isolate the assertion that would be treated as fact.
- Classify the zone.
- Grounded: citeable session source (read/run) or stable non-version-specific knowledge.
- Partial: general shape known; version/repo/config detail unconfirmed.
- Ungrounded: would invent a concrete value with no source.
- Size wrongness cost. If high-stakes (security, data loss, irreversible ops), treat Partial as Ungrounded until verified.
- Act by zone.
- Grounded → answer; cite when useful; do not hedge verified facts.
- Partial → cheap fetch then answer; else answer only with explicit uncertainty and a check path.
- Ungrounded → fetch if possible; else ask or abstain with what would enable an answer. Never invent.
- Refuse competence creep. Adjacent code, prior versions, or general capability do not ground the unread target.
- Stop. Emit answer, fetch request, or abstention. Do not round "probably" to a flat assertion.
Show full SKILL.md (61 more words)Show less
Stop condition: Claim answered with grounding, marked partial with a check path, or refused with missing-evidence note.
Output
Claim: <assertion>
Zone: grounded | partial | ungrounded
Evidence: <source or none>
Wrongness cost: low | medium | high
Action: answer | fetch-then-answer | answer-with-uncertainty | abstain/ask
Response: <wording or missing artifact>Verification
- Falsify if a specific value was asserted with no session source and no uncertainty marker.
- Falsify if Partial/high-stakes was treated as Grounded, or a cheap fetch was skipped for abstention theater.
- Over-application guard: do not hedge or refuse claims verified this session.
© tjboudreaux, 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/thinking-circle-of-competence of tjboudreaux/cc-thinking-skills.
Open the folder on GitHubat commit 7b8fece
Compare with similar skills
Thinking Circle Of Competence 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thinking Circle Of Competence this skilltjboudreaux/cc-thinking-skills | 1.6k | — | ~733 | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT | |
| Claimsruvnet/ruflo | 74k | 1 repos | ~1.1k | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT | |
| Competency Matrixsickn33/agentic-awesome-skills | 47k | 1 repos | ~3.7k | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT | |
| Grounded CitationsNousResearch/hermes-agent | 253k | — | ~3.1k | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT | |
| Dos Verify Done Claimssickn33/agentic-awesome-skills | 47k | 1 repos | ~2.1k | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT | |
| Think Tankdavila7/claude-code-templates | 33k | — | ~3k | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT |
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Competency Matrix
sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills
Competency matrix of expected proficiency by job title and grade, with assessment method and linked skill area.
Grounded Citations
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Attaches a numbered, URL-backed citation to every outside fact in an answer or document, rejecting quotes that aren't real.
Dos Verify Done Claims
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Questions about Thinking Circle Of Competence
What does Thinking Circle Of Competence do?
A skill your agent uses when a specific claim may lack grounding. Thinking Circle Of Competence is an agent skill from tjboudreaux/cc-thinking-skills. Use when a specific claim may lack grounding.
When should I use Thinking Circle Of Competence?
Thinking Circle Of Competence fits situations like: A specific claim may lack grounding.
How do I install Thinking Circle Of Competence in Claude Code?
Run `npx skills add tjboudreaux/cc-thinking-skills --skill thinking-circle-of-competence -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/thinking-circle-of-competence in tjboudreaux/cc-thinking-skills) into .claude/skills/thinking-circle-of-competence in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.
How do I install Thinking Circle Of Competence in Codex?
Run `npx skills add tjboudreaux/cc-thinking-skills --skill thinking-circle-of-competence -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/thinking-circle-of-competence in tjboudreaux/cc-thinking-skills) into .agents/skills/thinking-circle-of-competence in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.
Can I use Thinking Circle Of Competence 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 tjboudreaux/cc-thinking-skills --skill thinking-circle-of-competence -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/thinking-circle-of-competence, .gemini/skills/thinking-circle-of-competence, .github/skills/thinking-circle-of-competence and .opencode/skills/thinking-circle-of-competence in your project.
What does Thinking Circle Of Competence need to run?
SKILL.md names no scripts, command-line tools or credentials: Thinking Circle Of Competence is instructions for the agent only.
Does Thinking Circle Of Competence 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 Thinking Circle Of Competence 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 Thinking Circle Of Competence use?
Thinking Circle Of Competence 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 Thinking Circle Of Competence use?
About 733 tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 2.9k 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 Thinking Circle Of Competence?
Skills that share tags, products or a category with Thinking Circle Of Competence: Claims (ruvnet/ruflo, 74k stars), Competency Matrix (sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills, 47k stars), Grounded Citations (NousResearch/hermes-agent, 253k stars) and Dos Verify Done Claims (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 Thinking Circle Of Competence?
tjboudreaux (a GitHub user) maintains it in tjboudreaux/cc-thinking-skills, which has 1,613 GitHub stars. The repository holds 26 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on August 7, 2026.
Source: tjboudreaux/cc-thinking-skills on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.