Starter Skill Pack

The starter pack of every skill shared in this training - 10 SKILL.md files bundled here so you can install anything you missed without hunting through earlier lessons.

The skills fall into 4 groups: memory + session (run every session), thinking (change how Claude reasons), process + discipline (enforce rules), and meta (build more skills).

Note: this is the starter pack from the training. The Academy Skills Repo - a separate ongoing library of curated and member-built skills - lives elsewhere and is coming soon for members.

How to use this page

1. Skim the descriptions below to find skills you don't already have
2. Download the SKILL.md files attached to this lesson
3. Install them all in one go using the install prompt at the bottom
4. Restart Claude Code and type / to confirm they're loaded

If you've worked through Modules 04 and 09 you'll already have most of these installed. This page exists so you can re-grab anything missing in one place.

Memory + session skills

Run at the start and end of every Claude Code session. The two non-negotiables. Covered in Module 04, Lesson 5.

📎 Download 1: startup-SKILL.md Loads project context + memory at session start. Auto-detects Supabase if configur ed, otherwise reads markdown memory. Run before any work begins so Claude has full context on the project, recent sessions, and rules.

📎 Download 2: wrapup-SKILL.md End-of-session save. Captures summary, actions taken, decisions made, rules learned, and pending items. Auto-detects Supabase if configur ed, otherwise saves to markdown memory. Run before closing so nothing is lost.

Thinking skills

Change HOW Claude reasons about problems. Not a specific output - a way of thinking. Stack them on top of any task. Covered in Module 09, Lesson 5.

📎 Download 3: first-principles-SKILL.md Strips assumptions, decomposes the problem to base truths, rebuilds. Use when the obvious answer feels wrong or you're stuck in a frame.

📎 Download 4: red-team-SKILL.md Adversarial analysis. Pokes holes in a strategy, plan, or decision. Surfaces the 3 most severe critiques ranked by impact. Use before shipping anything with real consequences.

📎 Download 5: council-SKILL.md Multi-perspective debate. Sceptic, optimist, pragmatist, and contrarian each weigh in, then synthesise. Use when a decision has multiple reasonable paths.

📎 Download 6: creative-SKILL.md Divergent thinking. Generates 15-20 ideas first, then narrows to 5-10 genuinely distinct ones. Avoids early convergence on the obvious answer. Use when you need different angles, not variations of the same idea.

📎 Download 7: iterative-depth-SKILL.md 3-pass analysis going deeper each pass. Surface → underneath → root cause + system. Pass 3 is where the real insight usually lives. Use for complex decisions where the first answer is almost always incomplete.

Process + discipline skills

Enforce a rule or habit rather than change thinking style. Run them at specific moments to keep work clean. Covered in Module 09, Lesson 5.

📎 Download 8: anti-fabrication-SKILL.md Every metric, statistic, or factual claim must trace to a verifiable source. Refuses to generate unsourced numbers. Run on every client-facing report, audit, or proposal before shipping.

📎 Download 9: claude-md-audit-SKILL.md Walks through a CLAUDE.md file line by line and flags each line for keep, move, delete, or tighten. Checks against "does this apply to every project?" and "would removing this cause mistakes?" Run monthly to keep CLAUDE.md lean.

Meta skill

The skill that helps you build more skills. Covered in Module 09, Lesson 3.

📎 Download 10: skill-creator-SKILL.md Walks you through building a new skill properly. Asks clarifying questions, drafts the SKILL.md, tests with sample inputs, saves to ~/.claude/skills/. Use whenever you want to turn a repeated task into a reusable slash command.

Install all 10 in one go

Download every SKILL.md attached to this lesson. Drag them all into a Claude Code prompt and tell Claude: I'm attaching 10 SKILL.md files. Install each one to my Claude Code skills folder as its own skill - the skill name is in the filename before -SKILL.md. For example, first-principles-SKILL.md becomes ~/.claude/skills/first-principles/SKILL.md. Confirm all installed and available as slash commands.

Restart Claude Code after install. Type / to see them listed.

Suggested daily rotation

Most members end up using these in roughly this rhythm

• Every session opens with /startup
• Every session closes with /wrapup
• Before shipping any client-facing deliverable run /anti-fabrication
• Before committing to any plan or strategy run /red-team
• When stuck or feeling pulled toward the obvious answer run /first-principles
• Once a month run /claude-md-audit against your global and project CLAUDE.md files
• When you've done a task 3+ times the same way run /skill-creator to package it

Stack thinking skills for harder problems

You can invoke multiple thinking skills in a row before a single instruction. Each one shapes Claude's approach. Stacking compounds the effect.

/first-principles /red-team

What's the highest-impact change to this campaign strategy?

Claude decomposes the problem from base truths, then attacks its own conclusion. The output is meaningfully sharper than running either alone.

Ground rules for your skills folder

• Read every SKILL.md before installing - even ones from this lesson. You're running someone else's instructions on your machine. Module 03 covers the prompt injection risk.
• Stay inside the 16K skill budget - covered in Module 09, Lesson 4. Every skill description loads on every session.
• One skill = one job - if a skill starts doing two unrelated things, split it.
• Customise locally with /my-[skill-name] - copy a skill, rename it, edit your version. Original stays clean for future updates.
• Share what works - drop a SKILL.md in the Academy community when you build something genuinely useful. The best ones get added to the Academy Skills Repo.

Resources

anti-fabrication-SKILL.md

terminal
claude-md-audit-SKILL.md

council-SKILL.md

creative-SKILL.md

first-principles-SKILL.md

iterative-depth-SKILL.md

red-team-SKILL.md

skill-creator-SKILL.md

startup-SKILL.md wrapup-SKILL.md

Exercises

1. Review the concepts covered in this lesson: Starter Skill Pack.
2. Write down your key takeaway from this lesson.
3. Practice running any commands or prompts mentioned above inside your terminal.