Assess Me

Dev Tools

Run this when debugging goes in circles, results are confusing, multiple hypotheses exist, or you need a sanity check. Audits your cognition state: goal, progress, gaps, assumptions, blocker, and recovery path.

Install

openclaw skills install assess-me

Assess Me — Self-Cognition Audit

Action

Write your current thinking state to a temp file, then read it back.

  1. Answer 6 questions and write to a temp file
  2. Read it back
  3. Critically analyze what you wrote
  4. Continue based on the findings

Questions

  1. Goal — What is the task? What does "done" look like?
  2. Progress — What's done? What's pending?
  3. Gaps — What information do you need but don't have?
  4. Assumptions — What unverified beliefs are driving your approach?
  5. Blocker — What specifically is blocking you? (exact obstacle, not symptom)
  6. Recovery — If stuck, what should you do differently?

Instructions

Write tool → /tmp/assess-me.md
Content:
# Assess Me

**Goal:** <1-2 sentences>
**Progress:** <1-2 sentences>
**Gaps:** <1-2 sentences>
**Assumptions:** <1-2 sentences>
**Blocker:** <1-2 sentences>
**Recovery:** <1-2 sentences>

After writing, use Read tool to read /tmp/assess-me.md back. Then review critically:

  • Is "progress" just restating effort without results?
  • Are blockers specific or vague?
  • Is "Recovery" a concrete action, or just "keep trying"?
  • Are you assuming something without evidence?

Pitfalls

  • Assumptions section must NOT be empty — there are always assumptions
  • Recovery ≠ "keep trying" — name a specific next action
  • Vague blocker = you haven't found it yet
  • Read the file back — writing without re-reading skips the detachment effect

Output Convention

When done, summarize findings inline:

[assess]
Goal: ...
Blocker: ...
Next: ...
[/assess]

Source: https://github.com/MaoChen1980/think-skills Self-optimization: After using this skill, improve it based on what you learned.