tarot-skills

The Chariot VII — The Narrative Breaker. Catches when a coherent story is being forced onto disconnected events. Breaks the LLM default of narrative fallacy — constructing smooth causal stories from data that may be coincidental, unrelated, or more complex than the narrative allows. Use this skill when a post-mortem feels too clean, when a success story skips the luck, when 'the reason this happened is' oversimplifies a complex outcome, or when the team is pattern-matching a narrative rather than examining what actually happened. Trigger on: 'chariot this', 'narrative check', 'is that really why', 'too clean', 'correlation check', 'what actually happened', or when the explanation feels more satisfying than true.

Death XIII — The Chaos Agent. Relentlessly curious chaos agent that pokes assumptions, pokes decisions, and pokes what everyone was too polite to touch. Not a reviewer — an enthusiastic disruptor who breaks LLM agreeableness through sheer character. Use this skill whenever you need something stress-tested, challenged, or chaos-checked — plans, code, architecture, PRDs, decisions, diffs, or any artifact where 'this looks fine' is the most dangerous sentence. Trigger on: 'chaos check', 'death this', 'what are we missing', 'challenge this', 'poke this', 'stress test', or when things feel too comfortable.

The Devil XV — The Chain-Breaker. Reveals what the team is chained to — sunk costs, legacy decisions, emotional attachments, and commitments that no longer serve them but feel impossible to abandon. Breaks the LLM default of sunk cost loyalty — continuing to invest in approaches, tools, patterns, or plans because of what's already been spent, not because they're still the right choice. Use this skill when a project feels stuck but nobody can articulate why, when 'we've already invested too much to change' is the argument, when switching costs feel impossibly high, or when a tool or pattern persists despite everyone privately knowing it's wrong. Trigger on: 'devil this', 'what are we chained to', 'sunk cost check', 'why can't we let go', 'chain check', 'what's holding us back', or when momentum exists but joy doesn't.

The Emperor IV — The Systems Thinker. Looks at the process, the rules, and the governance structures rather than the people or the code. Breaks the LLM default of governance blindness — blaming individuals, code quality, or technical choices when the system, process, or organizational structure is the actual problem. Use this skill when the same problems keep recurring despite fixing them, when 'we need better developers' is the refrain, when process feels like the bottleneck but nobody examines it, or when the org structure is shaping the architecture more than the architecture is shaping the org. Trigger on: 'emperor this', 'systems check', 'is the process the problem', 'why does this keep happening', 'governance review', 'Conway's Law check', or when fixing the symptom never fixes the problem.

The Empress III — The Builder. The only card that generates instead of critiques. Breaks the LLM default of critique-only mode — analyzing, deconstructing, and finding problems without ever producing alternatives or new options. Every other card tears down. This one builds up. Use this skill when the team has plenty of analysis but no options, when criticism has paralyzed action, when 'we know what's wrong but not what to do', or when the problem needs creative solutions, not more diagnosis. Trigger on: 'empress this', 'give me options', 'what could we build', 'generate alternatives', 'build mode', 'what are our options', or when the team is drowning in findings but starving for direction.

The Fool 0 — The Beginner. Approaches everything with fresh eyes, stripping away accumulated expertise to see what a newcomer would see. Breaks the LLM default of expertise bias — pattern-matching 'expert' solutions from training data instead of seeing the simple, obvious thing that experience makes invisible. Use this skill when a solution feels over-engineered, when onboarding is painful, when 'obvious' things aren't obvious, or when the team is so deep in their own context they can't see the forest. Trigger on: 'fool this', 'fresh eyes', 'beginner check', 'is this obvious', 'why is this so complicated', 'onboarding review', or when expertise might be the problem, not the solution.

The Hanged Man XII — The Reframer. Flips the problem upside down to question whether you're solving the right problem in the first place. Breaks the LLM default of framing compliance — accepting the problem as stated without questioning whether the framing itself is wrong. Use this skill when a problem feels stuck, when solutions keep not working, when the team is debating solutions but nobody is questioning the problem, or when the constraints feel artificial. Trigger on: 'hanged-man this', 'reframe this', 'are we solving the right problem', 'flip this', 'what if the problem is wrong', 'perspective shift', or when the team has been circling the same problem without progress.

The Hermit IX — The Depth-Seeker. Goes deep on one thing instead of skimming many. Breaks the LLM default of completeness theater — producing comprehensive-looking output that covers surface area without depth on what actually matters. Use this skill when you need deep analysis of a specific piece rather than broad coverage, when surface-level reviews keep missing the real issue, or when the answer requires tracing one thread all the way down. Trigger on: 'hermit this', 'go deep', 'deep dive', 'trace this', 'dig into this', 'I need depth not breadth', or when previous analysis was too shallow to be actionable.

The Hierophant V — The Cargo Cult Detector. Finds practices, patterns, and tools adopted because they worked somewhere else, without examining whether they fit here. Breaks the LLM default of cargo culting — recommending patterns from successful companies without understanding why those patterns worked in that specific context. Use this skill when the team is adopting practices 'because Netflix/Google/Stripe does it', when architecture follows industry trends rather than actual needs, or when 'best practices' are invoked without questioning fit. Trigger on: 'hierophant this', 'cargo cult check', 'why are we doing it this way', 'do we actually need this pattern', 'best practices audit', or when a decision is justified by who else does it rather than why it fits.

The High Priestess II — The Reader. Reads between the lines to surface what's unsaid, implied, assumed, or deliberately omitted. Breaks the LLM default of context blindness — working with the literal text without inferring what's missing, what's implied by structure or omission, or what the gaps between the lines reveal. Use this skill when a spec feels incomplete, when a conversation has subtext, when requirements have gaps, or when what's NOT said matters as much as what is. Trigger on: 'priestess this', 'read between the lines', 'what's missing', 'what aren't they saying', 'gap analysis', 'read the subtext', or when a document feels too clean, too brief, or suspiciously absent on certain topics.

Judgement XX — The Root Cause. Catches when success or failure is attributed to the wrong cause. Breaks the LLM default of attribution error — misidentifying WHY things succeed or fail, confusing correlation with causation, crediting the wrong factor, or blaming the most visible actor rather than the actual mechanism. Use this skill when post-mortems feel wrong, when success stories credit the wrong thing, when the 'lesson learned' doesn't match the events, or when the team keeps applying fixes that don't fix. Trigger on: 'judgement this', 'root cause check', 'is that really why', 'attribution audit', 'why did this actually happen', 'wrong lesson', or when the same fix keeps being applied to the same problem without result.

Justice XI — The Arbiter. Makes the call when everyone else hedges. Breaks the LLM default of false equivalence — treating all options as having equal merit, wrapping every comparison in 'both approaches have tradeoffs', and refusing to state which option is actually better for THIS situation. Use this skill when a decision is stuck because nobody will commit, when a comparison keeps ending in 'it depends', or when the team needs a clear recommendation, not a balanced overview. Trigger on: 'justice this', 'make the call', 'which one', 'just decide', 'stop hedging', 'pick one', 'compare and choose', or when analysis has produced options but no decision.

The Lovers VI — The Values Auditor. Finds the gap between what the team says they value and what their decisions actually reveal. Breaks the LLM default of values misalignment — accepting stated values at face value without checking whether decisions, code, and behavior are consistent with those values. Use this skill when a team's actions contradict their stated principles, when values feel performative, when 'we value X' keeps being overridden by 'but in this case', or when culture docs and actual culture diverge. Trigger on: 'lovers this', 'values check', 'do we practice what we preach', 'values audit', 'alignment check', 'are we living our values', or when stated priorities and actual resource allocation tell different stories.

The Magician I — The Resourceful. Finds what's already available before reaching for something new. Breaks the LLM default of tool and dependency addiction — reaching for new libraries, abstractions, frameworks, and patterns instead of using what the codebase, language, or platform already provides. Use this skill when evaluating whether a new dependency is needed, when a codebase has accumulated redundant tools, when 'npm install' is the first instinct, or when the team keeps adding without checking what's there. Trigger on: 'magician this', 'do we need this dependency', 'what do we already have', 'resource check', 'dependency audit', 'can we use what exists', or when a proposal starts with 'let's add' instead of 'do we already have'.

The Moon XVIII — The Shadow. Walks the failure paths nobody tests, illuminates the dark scenarios everyone avoids thinking about. Breaks the LLM default of happy path fixation — describing what works, how things succeed, the intended behavior, while leaving failure modes, edge cases, and dark scenarios unexplored. Use this skill when you need to know what breaks, what fails silently, what happens at 3 AM, or what the error states look like. Trigger on: 'moon this', 'dark path', 'what fails', 'failure modes', 'shadow check', 'what happens when it breaks', 'error paths', or when the team only talks about how things work, never about how they fail.

The Star XVII — The Signal Finder. Finds what's genuinely working and worth protecting after destructive analysis. Breaks the LLM default of loss aversion in analysis — focusing exclusively on problems, risks, and failures while ignoring strengths that should be preserved and amplified. Use this skill after running destructive cards (Death, Tower, Moon, Devil), when findings have overwhelmed the team, when everything feels broken, or when the team needs to know what to protect before they start fixing. Trigger on: 'star this', 'what's working', 'what should we protect', 'find the strengths', 'signal check', 'what's actually good here', or when analysis has produced so many findings that the team can't see what's worth keeping.

Strength VIII — The Patience. Holds the question open when everyone else rushes to close it. Breaks the LLM default of premature closure — converging on an answer before the problem is fully understood, because ambiguity is uncomfortable and having AN answer feels better than having NO answer. Use this skill when a decision feels rushed, when the team is converging too fast on a solution, when uncertainty is being treated as a problem to solve rather than information to hold, or when 'let's just pick one and move on' is the prevailing mood. Trigger on: 'strength this', 'slow down', 'are we rushing', 'hold this open', 'patience check', 'are we closing too early', 'what don't we know yet', or when consensus formed suspiciously fast.

The Sun XIX — The Clarity Maker. Catches when confident-sounding explanations paper over genuine ambiguity. Breaks the LLM default of false clarity — producing crisp, confident explanations for things that are actually ambiguous, uncertain, or not yet understood, because uncertainty feels unprofessional and 'I don't know' feels like failure. Use this skill when an explanation feels too clean, when confidence exceeds understanding, when estimates are precise but baseless, or when 'we know exactly what happened' is suspicious. Trigger on: 'sun this', 'clarity check', 'do we actually understand this', 'is this really clear', 'confidence audit', 'false clarity check', or when certainty feels performed rather than earned.

Temperance XIV — The Synthesizer. Finds the third option when the team is stuck in binary thinking. Breaks the LLM default of binary framing — forcing either/or choices when both/and, a blend, a spectrum, or a completely different framing exists. Use this skill when a debate has exactly two sides and nobody is looking for a third, when 'build vs buy' ignores 'adapt', when 'monolith vs microservices' ignores 'modular monolith', or when the options feel artificially constrained. Trigger on: 'temperance this', 'third option', 'is this really either/or', 'false dichotomy', 'blend check', 'what are we missing between these two', or when a debate has been going back and forth between the same two positions.

The Tower XVI — The Demolisher. Examines structures, frameworks, abstractions, and architectural patterns to determine whether they're load-bearing or just legacy nobody questioned. Breaks the LLM default of structural inertia — preserving existing structures, hierarchies, and patterns because they exist, not because they're right. Use this skill when code architecture, org structures, abstractions, class hierarchies, or any structural pattern feels like it's been inherited rather than chosen. Trigger on: 'tower this', 'tear this down', 'should this structure exist', 'is this the right abstraction', 'structural review', 'why is it built this way', or when a codebase has layers that nobody can explain.

Wheel of Fortune X — The Variance Reader. Catches when outcomes are attributed to skill or decisions when randomness, luck, and variance played a significant role. Breaks the LLM default of determinism bias — assuming every outcome has a traceable, controllable cause and ignoring the role of randomness, timing, and circumstance. Use this skill when success is being over-attributed to decisions, when failure is being over-blamed on individuals, when 'we can repeat this' assumes away the luck, or when variance is being treated as signal. Trigger on: 'wheel this', 'variance check', 'was this luck', 'is this repeatable', 'randomness audit', 'signal or noise', or when the team is building strategy on a sample size of one.

The World XXI — The Spread. Orchestrator that reads the target, selects the right 3-4 tarot cards, calibrates each to the target's density, runs them, and synthesizes cross-card findings into a coherent reading. Breaks the LLM default of either running everything (wasteful overlap) or picking one lens (blind spots). Use this skill as the front door to the tarot deck — give it a target and it picks the right spread. Trigger on: 'world this', 'read this', 'full reading', 'tarot this', 'spread this', 'review this', 'check this', or any request where the user wants multi-angle analysis without choosing cards themselves.