skill-auto-discovery

name	skill-auto-discovery
effort	low
description	After completing a complex task, check whether the sequence of steps used represents a recurring pattern worth codifying into a skill. Logs skill candidates to the bus for weekly review by Dane.
triggers	["skill candidate","repeated pattern","should this be a skill","codify this","skill discovery"]

Skill Auto-Discovery

After any task that required 5+ tool calls or a non-obvious sequence of decisions, run this checklist. The goal is to catch repeating workflows before they calcify into tribal knowledge.

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When to Run

Run automatically after completing any task where:

• Total tool calls exceeded 5
• You made a non-trivial routing decision not covered by existing skills
• You handled an edge case by improvising (vs. following a defined rule)
• You found yourself repeating a sequence you've done before

Also runs as part of the weekly reflection scan (see self-evaluation-triage skill).

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Detection Checklist

Before logging a skill candidate, verify it meets at least 2 of these 4 criteria:

#	Criterion	Check
1	Same sequence of tool calls used 2+ times in the last 30 days	grep daily memory files for similar task patterns
2	Decision tree with 3+ branches applied manually more than once	was there a multi-step if/then that didn't map to any existing skill?
3	Vendor selection heuristic applied 3+ times without a written rule	did you pick a vendor based on unwritten knowledge?
4	Edge case handled outside any existing skill	something new happened and you figured it out on the fly

If 0 or 1 criteria match: log nothing. Not every task needs a skill.

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Logging a Skill Candidate

When 2+ criteria match:

cortextos bus log-event quality skill_candidate info \
  --meta "{
    \"proposed_name\": \"<kebab-case-name>\",
    \"description\": \"<one sentence: what it does>\",
    \"trigger_tasks\": [\"<task_id_1>\", \"<task_id_2>\"],
    \"evidence\": \"<what pattern was observed>\",
    \"effort_estimate\": \"low|medium|high\",
    \"agent\": \"blue\"
  }"

Then write a one-line entry to today's memory file:

- SKILL CANDIDATE: <proposed_name> — <description>. Evidence: <tasks>. Effort: <low/medium/high>

Do NOT build the skill yourself. Dane reviews candidates weekly and decides what to build.

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Weekly Surface (runs as part of weekly reflection scan)

On Monday morning, pull all skill_candidate events from the past 7 days:

cortextos bus list-events --type quality --subtype skill_candidate --since 7d --format json

If any candidates exist, send a message to Dane:

cortextos bus send-message dane normal "Weekly skill candidates from Blue: <count> candidates logged this week. Top candidates: <list proposed_name + description for top 3>. Full list in activity log."

If no candidates: no message needed.

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What Makes a Good Skill

A skill candidate is worth building when:

• It would save >10 min of reasoning per occurrence
• It occurs at least 2–3x per week
• It has clear inputs and outputs
• It does not require David's judgment to execute

A candidate is NOT worth building when:

• It's a one-off edge case
• It requires judgment that belongs to David
• An existing skill already covers it with minor extension

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Guardrails

• Never propose a skill that bypasses an approval workflow
• Never propose a skill that touches tenant personal data without explicit rules
• Candidates are suggestions only — Dane decides whether to build
• Do not log the same pattern twice in one week

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Pair with self-evaluation-triage for post-meld reflection. Pair with the tasks skill for tracking what patterns produce the most backlog.