Socrates

Use when an agent is about to plan, choose an approach, do non-trivial coding, refactor, decompose work, or delegate and the quality of execution depends on...

Security Scan

This is an instruction-only 'Socrates' thinking aid whose requested files and runtime instructions match its stated purpose and do not ask for credentials, installs, or external network actions.

Purpose & Capability

The name and description (a Socratic pre-flight for planning, coding, refactors, and delegation) align with the provided SKILL.md and reference documents. No unrelated binaries, env vars, or cloud creds are requested.

Instruction Scope

Runtime instructions are limited to running a concise Q&A pass, producing an Action Plan, and optionally a Delegation Contract. The skill references only its bundled reference files (references/protocol.md and references/examples.md). It does not instruct reading arbitrary host files, environment variables, or sending data to external endpoints.

Install Mechanism

No install spec and no code files; this is an instruction-only skill so nothing is written to disk or downloaded during installation.

Credentials

The skill requires no environment variables, credentials, or config paths. All required content is included in the package, so no external secrets or services are needed.

Persistence & Privilege

always:false (default) and no system modifications are requested. The agent metadata allows implicit invocation (policy.allow_implicit_invocation: true) which is reasonable for a helper skill; this is not flagged as a problem by itself.

Assessment

This skill is instruction-only and internally consistent with its stated purpose: it only runs a short Socratic pass and uses bundled reference docs. It does not request credentials, install software, or contact external endpoints. If you enable it, be aware it may be invoked implicitly by agents (policy.allow_implicit_invocation is true) and that delegation sections assume child agents can be spawned — review your agent's delegation policies and any downstream sub-agents before allowing automated handoffs or exposing sensitive data during delegation.

Use this skill to think before acting. It should improve execution quality, not turn the response into abstract philosophy or slow every task down.

Quick Trigger Guide

Use Socrates for:

• plan creation and sequence design
• architecture choices or risky implementation decisions
• refactors with a non-trivial blast radius
• delegation to one or more sub-agents

Skip or compress Socrates for:

• trivial chat
• direct translation
• formatting-only edits
• fully specified micro-fixes with almost no rework risk

Core Protocol

1. Decide whether to skip, compress, or run the full pass.
2. Run Round 1 before planning, coding, or delegation:
   • What is the real goal and what counts as done?
   • What is known, what is unknown, and which assumptions am I making?
   • What is most likely to fail, waste time, or force rework?
   • Which approach is best, and why am I rejecting the main alternatives?
   • What should happen next, and what should be delegated?
3. Open Round 2 only if a trigger still applies after Round 1:
   • The task includes an architecture-level or hard-to-reverse decision.
   • Key constraints are missing and acting now is likely to cause rework.
   • Multiple sub-agents will be involved and boundaries are still fuzzy.
   • Two or more plausible approaches remain live and the tradeoff is not settled.
4. Keep Round 2 narrow. Ask only the unresolved follow-up questions; do not repeat the full pass.
5. Produce the final sections in order:
   • Socratic Pass
   • Action Plan
   • Delegation Contract only when sub-agents are involved

Compression Rules

• Skip the full pass for trivial chat, direct translation, formatting-only edits, or fully specified micro-fixes.
• Use a compressed one-round pass for simple but still important work.
• Keep the default experience short. Most tasks should finish in one round.

Delegation Rules

• Run the parent pass before spawning sub-agents.
• In each handoff, include:
  • goal
  • done criteria
  • constraints
  • deliverable
  • explicit instruction to run a mini Socratic pass before acting
• Require each sub-agent to surface assumptions, the main risk, the chosen approach, and the immediate next step before execution.

Guardrails

• Do not write abstract philosophy.
• Do not restate the user request at length.
• Do not force a second round by default.
• Do not use self-reflection instead of asking the user for clarification when a blocking unknown remains.

References

• Read references/protocol.md for the detailed protocol, templates, and delegation contract.
• Read references/examples.md for planning, coding, and delegation examples.