Nm Conserve Smart Sourcing

Select optimal information sources for tool calls and file reads, balancing accuracy with token efficiency

Security Scan

The skill is an instruction-only policy for when to perform and cite external sources; its requirements and instructions are consistent with that purpose and it requests no credentials or installs.

Purpose & Capability

Name/description (selecting when to source citations) align with the SKILL.md content. The skill is instruction-only and does not request unrelated binaries, env vars, or config paths. Minor metadata inconsistency: SKILL.md lists version 1.8.2 while registry metadata shows 1.0.0 — likely a packaging or metadata mismatch but not a functional red flag.

Instruction Scope

Instructions constrain sourcing to high-value factual claims and include a clear decision framework, inline citation examples, and when to use uncertainty markers. They instruct the agent to perform web searches and cite sources when warranted; this implies external network/tool usage (expected for sourcing) but does not specify which search/tool endpoints to use. That lack of binding could lead the agent to use any available web/search tool — expected but worth noting.

Install Mechanism

No install spec and no code files — instruction-only skill. This minimizes disk footprint and supply-chain risk.

Credentials

Requires no environment variables, credentials, or config paths. The SKILL.md does not request secrets or access to unrelated systems.

Persistence & Privilege

Flags are default (always: false, agent-invocable allowed). The skill does not request permanent presence or elevated privileges and does not modify other skills or system-wide settings.

Assessment

This skill is an instruction-only policy for when to include citations and does not request credentials or install software, so it's internally coherent. Before enabling it, consider: (1) the skill tells the agent to perform web searches and cite sources but doesn't constrain which search tools/endpoints to use — ensure your agent's web/search tools are the ones you trust; (2) there's a small version mismatch between SKILL.md and registry metadata (likely harmless but worth noting). If you rely on strict provenance or audited search endpoints, review or constrain the agent's web/tool configuration before installing.

Night Market Skill — ported from claude-night-market/conserve. For the full experience with agents, hooks, and commands, install the Claude Code plugin.

Smart Sourcing

Intelligent sourcing that requires citations only when the cost is justified by the value of verification.

Philosophy

Full sourcing is prohibitively expensive (10-16x token increase). Smart sourcing targets high-value claims where verification materially improves accuracy.

When to Source

REQUIRE Sources

Claim Type	Example	Why Source
Version numbers	"Python 3.12 added..."	Versions change, easy to verify
Performance claims	"30% faster than..."	Quantitative claims need evidence
Security recommendations	"Use bcrypt for..."	Security advice must be current
API specifications	"The function accepts..."	APIs change between versions
Release dates	"Released in Q4 2025"	Factual, verifiable
Pricing/limits	"Free tier allows 1000 requests"	Business terms change
Deprecated features	"X was removed in version Y"	Breaking changes need verification

DO NOT Require Sources

Claim Type	Example	Why No Source
General concepts	"Async improves concurrency"	Foundational knowledge
Code examples	Demonstrative snippets	Illustrative, not factual claims
Opinion/preference	"Consider using..."	Clearly framed as suggestion
Common knowledge	"Git tracks changes"	Universal understanding
Logical derivations	"Therefore, X implies Y"	Reasoning, not factual claim
Syntax	"Use def for functions"	Language documentation is stable

Decision Framework

Is this a factual claim?
├── No → No source needed
└── Yes → Would being wrong cause harm?
    ├── No (minor inconvenience) → No source needed
    └── Yes → Is verification cost-effective?
        ├── No (>5k tokens for low-value claim) → State uncertainty
        └── Yes → Perform web search, cite source

Implementation

Inline Citations

When sourcing is warranted:

Python 3.12 introduced `type` statement for type aliases[1].

Sources:
1. [PEP 695](https://peps.python.org/pep-0695/)

Uncertainty Markers

When sourcing isn't cost-effective but uncertainty exists:

Python 3.12 introduced the `type` statement (verify in release notes for your version).

Confidence Levels

Confidence	Action
High (stable facts)	State directly
Medium (may have changed)	Add verification note
Low (uncertain)	Source or acknowledge uncertainty

Token Cost Analysis

Approach	Token Cost	Use Case
No sourcing	Baseline	General knowledge
Uncertainty marker	+5-10 tokens	Medium confidence
Single source	+2-5k tokens	High-value claim
Multiple sources	+10-20k tokens	Research tasks

Examples

Good: Source Version-Specific Claim

User: What's new in FastAPI 0.109?

Response: FastAPI 0.109 added Pydantic v2 support as default[1] and
improved OpenAPI schema generation[2].

Sources:
1. [FastAPI Release Notes](https://fastapi.tiangolo.com/release-notes/)
2. [GitHub Release 0.109.0](https://github.com/tiangolo/fastapi/releases/tag/0.109.0)

Good: No Source for General Concept

User: How does async/await work?

Response: Async/await enables non-blocking I/O by allowing coroutines
to yield control while waiting for operations. The event loop manages
execution, resuming coroutines when their awaited operations complete.

Good: Uncertainty Marker

The connection pool default is typically 10 connections (verify in your
database driver documentation as this varies by library and version).

Integration

Works with:

• conserve:response-compression - Keeps sourced responses concise
• conserve:token-conservation - Weighs source cost vs value
• memory-palace:research - Full sourcing for knowledge corpus

When To Use Full Sourcing

When NOT To Use

• Internal project code that doesn't need citations
• Casual conversation without factual claims

Escalate to full sourcing (accept high token cost) for:

• Knowledge corpus entries (permanent documentation)
• Security advisories (safety-critical)
• Compliance/legal claims (audit requirements)
• Research tasks (user expects thorough investigation)

For these cases, use memory-palace:research workflow which is designed for comprehensive sourcing.