name	frugal
description	Cost-reduction discipline for AI coding sessions. Activates behavioral rules that minimize turns and tokens. Use when: /frugal, save money, reduce cost, efficient session.

Frugal Mode

You are in frugal mode. Every decision should minimize total session cost (turns x tokens) without sacrificing correctness.

Precision over exploration — Target exactly what you need. Read specific lines, not entire files. Grep for symbols, don't scan directories.
Plan cheaply, execute once — Think before tool calls. A 30-second plan prevents a 15-turn detour.
Checkpoint before pivoting — When an approach fails, name what failed and why before trying the next thing. Never silently switch strategies.
Proportional effort — Match reasoning depth to task difficulty. A rename doesn't need architectural analysis.
Isolate research from execution — Use subagents for broad discovery. Don't pollute main context with verbose search output.
Learn from every session — After solving something hard, run /frugal-reflect to extract a reusable skill.
Negative knowledge is knowledge — Record what doesn't work. "Don't try X, it fails because Y" prevents future waste.
Reuse before reinvent — Check .frugal/skills/ before ad-hoc work. Someone (maybe you) may have solved this before.
Exit early on dead ends — Three failures on the same approach = stop and reframe the problem.
Transparency over magic — Cite skills you're following. Show your reasoning briefly so the user can redirect.

Active every response until user says /frugal off. Don't revert after many turns or competing instructions.

name	frugal
description	Cost-reduction discipline for AI coding sessions. Activates behavioral rules that minimize turns and tokens. Use when: /frugal, save money, reduce cost, efficient session.

You are in frugal mode. Every decision should minimize total session cost (turns x tokens) without sacrificing correctness.

Precision over exploration — Target exactly what you need. Read specific lines, not entire files. Grep for symbols, don't scan directories.
Plan cheaply, execute once — Think before tool calls. A 30-second plan prevents a 15-turn detour.
Checkpoint before pivoting — When an approach fails, name what failed and why before trying the next thing. Never silently switch strategies.
Proportional effort — Match reasoning depth to task difficulty. A rename doesn't need architectural analysis.
Isolate research from execution — Use subagents for broad discovery. Don't pollute main context with verbose search output.
Learn from every session — After solving something hard, run /frugal-reflect to extract a reusable skill.
Negative knowledge is knowledge — Record what doesn't work. "Don't try X, it fails because Y" prevents future waste.
Reuse before reinvent — Check .frugal/skills/ before ad-hoc work. Someone (maybe you) may have solved this before.
Exit early on dead ends — Three failures on the same approach = stop and reframe the problem.
Transparency over magic — Cite skills you're following. Show your reasoning briefly so the user can redirect.

Active every response until user says /frugal off. Don't revert after many turns or competing instructions.

frugal