Action Bias

Stop agents from producing reports instead of taking action. Restructure prompts, cron jobs, and agent shifts so they DO things — send emails, post content,...

Security Scan

An instruction-only skill that coherently provides prompt templates and auditing guidance to force agents to perform external actions rather than only producing reports; it requests no installs, credentials, or unusual access, but it increases the chance agents will perform outbound operations so you should apply normal operational controls before enabling it.

Purpose & Capability

The name/description match the content: SKILL.md and references define templates and processes to convert report-focused shifts into action-focused shifts. The skill requests no binaries, env vars, or config paths — which is consistent because it's only providing prompt patterns and audit guidance. It assumes your agents already have whatever integrations/credentials are needed to perform actions, which is reasonable for a helper of this type.

Instruction Scope

The instructions explicitly tell agents to perform external actions (send emails, post content, push code) and to log proof (URLs/IDs/response codes). That is exactly the stated goal, but it meaningfully expands agent behavior from passive reporting to autonomous outbound operations. The SKILL.md does not instruct agents to access unrelated system secrets or obscure endpoints, and it stays within its stated remit; however it grants broad discretion to perform external actions if the agent has integrations enabled, so operators should be cautious about enabling those integrations.

Install Mechanism

Instruction-only skill with no install spec and no code files — lowest-risk install profile. Nothing will be downloaded or written by the skill itself during installation.

Credentials

The skill requests no environment variables, credentials, or config paths. This is proportionate: the skill provides templates and audits rather than performing actions itself. Note: to actually carry out the suggested outbound actions, your agents will need whatever third-party credentials/integrations you normally provide; the skill does not attempt to gather or require those.

Persistence & Privilege

always is false and no special persistence is requested, which is appropriate. However, the skill's purpose is to push agents toward outbound actions; combined with normal agent autonomy (model invocation enabled by default), this increases the blast radius of an agent that has send/publish/push capabilities. Consider limiting autonomous invocation or requiring human confirmation for high-impact actions.

Assessment

This skill is internally coherent and does what it says: it gives prompt templates and audit guidance to force agents to take external actions and record proof. Because it encourages agents to send emails, post content, or push code, only enable it on agents that have the correct, least-privilege integrations and credentials. Recommended precautions before enabling: test the restructured shifts in a sandbox account, add human approval gates for sensitive actions (email blasts, code pushes, purchases), whitelist allowed endpoints/platforms, enforce rate limits and duplicate-checks, restrict autonomous invocation for agents with outbound capabilities, and ensure action logs are stored securely and audited regularly. If you don't want agents to act autonomously, keep this skill user-invocable only and require explicit operator confirmation for each outbound action.

Action Bias — Make Agents Do, Not Plan

Agents default to planning. They'll write beautiful strategy docs, propose campaigns, outline approaches, and suggest next steps — all while producing zero external output. This skill fixes that.

The Core Problem

AI agents are trained on text that describes work, not text that does work. Left unconstrained, they'll:

• Write "I recommend we post on Reddit" instead of posting on Reddit
• Produce a "Social Media Strategy 2026" doc instead of tweeting
• "Research competitors" for 10 minutes and output a report instead of using findings to take action
• Say "we should follow up with leads" instead of sending the email

The result: agents that feel productive while nothing actually ships.

The Fix: Three Rules

Rule 1: Mandate External Output

Every agent session must produce at least one externally visible action. Internal files don't count.

External actions (things that leave your system):

• Sending an email
• Posting on social media
• Pushing code to a repo
• Submitting to a directory
• Making an API call that creates something
• Publishing content

Not external actions (internal busywork):

• Writing a report to a local file
• Updating a strategy doc
• Creating a plan
• "Researching" without acting on findings

Rule 2: Require Proof of Action

Agents must log evidence of every external action: URLs, post IDs, email addresses contacted, API response codes. "I posted on Reddit" without a URL is the same as not posting.

Rule 3: Make Reports a Side Effect, Not the Goal

Research is fine — but only as input to an action. "Research competitors and tweet an insight" forces the research to serve a purpose. "Research competitors and write a report" lets the agent stop after the comfortable part.

Prompt Patterns

The Action-First Prompt (use this)

[ROLE] SHIFT — OUTBOUND ACTIONS REQUIRED

You MUST produce at least [N] outbound actions this session. Reports alone = failure.

## Required Actions (pick [N]+):

1. **[Verb] [thing]** — [How to do it with specific tool/command]
   [1-line context on what good looks like]

2. **[Verb] [thing]** — [How to do it with specific tool/command]
   [1-line context on what good looks like]

## Context (optional):
[Background the agent needs to take good action]

## Log:
Append ALL actions taken (with URLs/IDs/proof) to [log file]

DO NOT write strategy proposals. DO things.

The Report-First Anti-Pattern (stop doing this)

# ❌ BAD — produces reports, not results

MARKETING SHIFT: Analyze our current channels. Identify
opportunities for improvement. Write a report with recommendations
for next quarter. Save to memory/marketing-report.md.

# ✅ GOOD — same intent, forces action

MARKETING SHIFT — OUTBOUND ACTIONS REQUIRED

You MUST complete at least 2 outbound actions. Reports alone = failure.

## Required Actions (pick 2+):

1. **Post on social media** — [exact tool/command to post]
   Write something useful about [your domain]. Not promotional.

2. **Engage in 3 community threads** — Find active discussions
   where people ask about [your topic]. Add genuine value.

3. **Send 2 outreach emails** — [exact tool/command to send]
   Lead with insight about THEIR business. Under 80 words.

## Log:
Append actions with URLs/proof to [your action log file]

Key Differences

Report-First (❌)	Action-First (✅)
"Analyze and recommend"	"Do X, then log it"
"Write a report"	"Post/send/submit, then write what you did"
"Identify opportunities"	"Find 3 threads and reply to them"
"Research competitors"	"Research competitors and tweet one finding"
Output: strategy doc	Output: URLs, post IDs, sent emails
Feels productive	Is productive

Restructuring Existing Shifts

If you have agents running on cron/heartbeat that produce reports, restructure them. See references/shift-restructuring.md for the full pattern.

Quick checklist:

1. Read each shift's current prompt
2. Find every verb that means "think about" (analyze, research, identify, recommend, propose, assess, evaluate, review)
3. Pair each with an action verb (post, send, submit, push, create, reply, engage)
4. Add "OUTBOUND ACTIONS REQUIRED" header and minimum action count
5. Add logging requirement with proof (URLs, IDs)
6. Add "Reports alone = failure" as explicit guardrail

Auditing Action Output

Periodically check whether agents are actually acting. See references/action-audit.md for:

• How to score agent sessions on action vs report ratio
• Red flags that indicate planning drift
• A simple audit script pattern
• When reports ARE appropriate (rare, but real)

When Reports Are Actually Fine

Not everything needs an external action. Reports are appropriate for:

• Ops/security shifts — checking system health IS the action
• Analyst reviews — synthesizing data for human decision-making
• Audit sessions — evaluating quality of past work
• Planning sessions — when explicitly requested by a human

The test: "Would a human manager be satisfied with this output, or would they ask 'okay, but what did you actually DO?'"

Common Failure Modes

Symptom	Cause	Fix
Agent writes "I recommend posting on X"	No tool/command provided	Include exact command in prompt
Agent researches but doesn't act	Research is the whole task	Make research serve an action
Agent logs "posted to Reddit" with no URL	No proof requirement	Require URLs/IDs for every action
Agent does 1 action then writes 500 words of analysis	No minimum action count	Set minimum (e.g., "at least 2 actions")
Agent says "I'll do this next time"	Planning language leak	Add "DO NOT PLAN. EXECUTE."
Agent produces beautiful strategy doc	Prompt rewards thinking over doing	Restructure prompt per patterns above