kharmanskyi/open-steps

Plain-language agent skills for Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and Gemini CLI: honest session reports, straight verdicts, steps you can follow. MIT.

8 skills listed · MIT · 1.3k stars · last pushed 5 Oct 2026

kharmanskyi/open-steps on GitHub

Across these 8 skills

Pattern check

Nothing flagged in 6

Items to review in 2: os-big-picture and os-what-could-go-wrong

What it can touch

8 pre-approve tools
6 run shell commands
2 bundle scripts
+2 more
- 1 reaches the network
- 1 runs commands as it loads

Checked at commit 4fa744b on 29 Oct 2026.

Install the collection

2 of these skills have items to review. Read them before you install the whole collection.

Claude Code plugin

Installs the latest version, not the one we checked. Installs everything in the plugin, including any hooks, MCP servers and scripts our check doesn't cover.

claude plugin marketplace add kharmanskyi/open-steps --scope user &&claude plugin install open-steps@open-steps --scope user

Any agent

Installs the latest version, not the one we checked. The skills CLI reports installs to skills.sh unless you set DISABLE_TELEMETRY=1.

npx skills@1.7.4 add kharmanskyi/open-steps

Skills

All8 Items to review2

Skills in kharmanskyi/open-steps, page 1 of 1
Skill	What it can touch	Pattern check	Licence	Updated
os-ask-simpleALWAYS invoke this skill before asking the user any technical question or offering options, and whenever they ask to be asked in plain words - "ask simple", "ask me simply", "ask me in plain words" - in any language. ALWAYS invoke it too when the user asks for your view on a technical choice: whether it is worth doing, more than the problem needs, or replaceable by something simpler, and which option you would take. Invoke it even when the code makes the answer look obvious: the checks are what make the answer more than a guess. Rewrites the question in plain words and always ends with one marked recommendation. A structural choice first passes six checks, shown as a table: effort now, simpler substitute, extra work later, lock-in, over-engineering, easy to undo. Doing nothing is always weighed. Pre-approves tools Pattern check: Nothing flaggedMITUpdated 5 Oct 2026	Pre-approves tools	Pattern check: Nothing flagged	MIT	5 Oct 2026
os-big-pictureALWAYS invoke this skill when the user asks where the project as a whole stands - "where are we", "what's the big picture", "what have we built", "what is in this project", "map the project", "what does this thing even do", "what is stale", "what can we delete", "update the roadmap" - in any language, and whenever a session report has just been written. It keeps one file, BIG-PICTURE.md: what the product is, every feature with how far it got, which parts nobody has touched, and what is queued next. Age and wiring are measured from git; how far a feature got comes from the reports or says "not checked". Where a tracker is connected it offers to open the queue as tickets, after a yes and never before. Never invents work, never deletes code. Runs shell commands +2 more Pattern check: 1 item to reviewMITUpdated 4 Oct 2026	Runs shell commands Bundles scripts +1 more	Pattern check: 1 item to review	MIT	4 Oct 2026
os-check-workALWAYS invoke this skill when the user asks about work done outside this session - "check work", "check the others", "check other sessions" - or to accept one: "the session is done, check it", "can we merge it" - in any language. You are the receiving party: treat the report as a claim, verify each part against machine state, name every gap between claimed and true. Verified-ready work merges in the same pass. End with what is left, one next step, and any reply another session needs, ready to paste. Runs shell commands +1 more Pattern check: Nothing flaggedMITUpdated 30 Sept 2026	Runs shell commands Pre-approves tools	Pattern check: Nothing flagged	MIT	30 Sept 2026
os-done-or-notALWAYS invoke this skill when work wraps up or the user asks how it went - "done or not", "are we done", "what happened", "report", "what's the status of this ticket" - in any language, and when a Stop hook asks for a session report. Produces a ten-line plain- language report: a lead, a checkmark table, and a verdict - fully done, anything needed from you, new debt, safe to close. Every "yes" names its proof; unverified says "not checked". Saves the report so the next session starts from it instead of re-exploring the repo. Runs shell commands +1 more Pattern check: Nothing flaggedMITUpdated 30 Sept 2026	Runs shell commands Pre-approves tools	Pattern check: Nothing flagged	MIT	30 Sept 2026
os-say-simpleALWAYS invoke this skill when the user asks for simpler or shorter about something said or written - "say it simply", "what does this mean", "I don't understand your answer", "too long", "wait, what?", "bro" - in any language, about any text: your own answer, a report, a review comment, an error. "I don't understand what to DO" is os-step-by-step; this skill restates text. It restates for a reader who does not read code: leads with the point, keeps every number, warning and caveat - no facts added, no bad news dropped. A number returns exactly that many points, most important first. Pre-approves tools Pattern check: Nothing flaggedMITUpdated 30 Sept 2026	Pre-approves tools	Pattern check: Nothing flagged	MIT	30 Sept 2026
os-step-by-stepALWAYS invoke this skill when you need the user to act - run a command, paste a secret, click, approve - and whenever they ask how to do something or say they do not know what to do: "step by step", "walk me through it", "what do I do", "what should I do", "I don't understand what to do", "explain what I need to do", in any language. Picking which task comes next is os-whats-next; this skill is for doing the thing in front of you. First earn the ask: try it yourself, find another route, shrink it to the part only they can do. Then one action per step, commands labelled by what they touch, no jargon. Commands are single lines that prompt for any value - typing hidden for secrets - and confirm in plain words. Afterwards verify their step. Runs shell commands +2 more Pattern check: Nothing flaggedMITUpdated 30 Sept 2026	Runs shell commands Reaches the network +1 more	Pattern check: Nothing flagged	MIT	30 Sept 2026
os-what-could-go-wrongALWAYS invoke this skill before anything hard to undo gets agreed to - a contract, a purchase, a migration, a launch, a price change, a reorganisation - and whenever the user asks "what could go wrong", "what are we missing", "poke holes in this", or for a premortem or a red team, in any language. Assumes the decision already failed and works backwards to find out why, in a fresh agent that had no hand in making it. Sweeps nine areas and shows what each produced, including the empty ones. Ends on one verdict: go ahead, go but fix these first, try it small first, think again, do not do this. Runs shell commands +3 more Pattern check: 2 items to reviewMITUpdated 30 Sept 2026	Runs shell commands Bundles scripts +2 more	Pattern check: 2 items to review	MIT	30 Sept 2026
os-whats-nextALWAYS invoke this skill when the user asks what to do next, what is left, or what is blocked - "what's next", "what now", "what should we work on", "anything I can do" - in any language. This skill picks the next piece of work; when the user asks HOW to do a thing or says they do not understand what to do, that is os-step-by-step. Reads the last report, local changes, open pull requests and always the backlog. First finishes what is finished: verified-ready pull requests merge in the same pass. Then sorts the rest into doable-alone and needs-you, ending with one recommended next task in plain words - what it closes or unblocks. Never invents tasks. Runs shell commands +1 more Pattern check: Nothing flaggedMITUpdated 30 Sept 2026	Runs shell commands Pre-approves tools	Pattern check: Nothing flagged	MIT	30 Sept 2026