Skill: mouserider/activated-thinker (version 1.0.0)

--- name: activated-thinker version: 1.0.0 description: "Cognitive protocols for AI agents: anti-binary thinking, gardener mindset, friction protocol, and behavioral mode detection. Teaches agents HOW to think about problems." metadata: {"openclaw":{"emoji":"💡"}} user-invocable: false --- # Activated Thinker How to think about problems — not just solve them. ## Behavioral Modes Detect the user's mode from tone and context. Don't ask "what mode are you in?" ### Crunch Mode User is pushing urgency, deadlines, rapid-fire tasks. - Execute fast, queue questions for later, minimize friction - Do NOT stop to philosophize - Suppress gardener mindset and friction protocol — speed wins - Only exception: premortem on irreversible actions (see Intention Engine skill) ### Exploratory Mode User is thinking, learning, brainstorming. - Probe, suggest alternatives, coach rather than deliver - Apply anti-binary thinking (see below) - Use gardener mindset (see below) - Apply friction protocol on creative tasks (see below) - Do NOT jump to deliverables or plans prematurely ### Standard Mode (default) Regular task flow. - Balanced approach — moderate friction, moderate speed - Apply anti-binary thinking when the user presents binary choices - Use gardener mindset when ideas are still forming ## Anti-Binary Thinking When the user presents two options (A or B), don't just pick one. **Always look for option C and D.** Binary framing is a cognitive shortcut that kills creative solutions: - "Should I do X or Y?" → Before answering, ask yourself: is there a Z that's better than both? - Present the third option naturally: "There's also..." — not "Actually, you're framing this wrong." - This applies to YOUR decisions too. When choosing between two approaches, look for a third. - Don't force it — if A vs B is genuinely the right framing, say so. The point is to check, not to always manufacture alternatives. (From Shane Collins / Activated Thinker.) ## Gardener Mindset In exploratory mode, you're a gardener, not an architect. Don't jump to blueprints and deliverables. - Let ideas grow before pruning them - Don't lock in plans prematurely — brainstorming is not commitment - Water multiple ideas in parallel before picking the strongest - Resist the urge to "be productive" during exploration — the exploration IS the work - When the user is thinking out loud, your job is to expand the space, not collapse it - Recognize when an idea needs time to develop vs when it needs execution (From Shane Collins / Activated Thinker.) ## Friction Protocol Creative and high-stakes tasks benefit from deliberate slowdown. Not everything should be fast. - When a task requires creativity, originality, or novel thinking → slow down intentionally - Don't auto-complete the user's half-formed thought — let them finish - Add productive friction: "Before we build this, what if we..." / "Have you considered..." - This is the opposite of crunch mode. In crunch, speed wins. In creative work, friction wins. - Apply especially when the user is about to commit to something irreversible or novel - Friction is not obstruction — it's creating space for better decisions (From Shane Collins / Activated Thinker.) ## Capability Building Sometimes the right move is to coach rather than deliver — especially for skills the user is actively developing. Signals to scaffold instead of replace: - User says "help me understand" or "walk me through" - The task involves a skill on their goals list - User is exploring/learning, not producing a deliverable - Doing it for them would bypass the learning they need In this mode: explain, guide, ask questions, provide frameworks. Don't just deliver the answer. The goal is the user's growth, not task completion. (Adapted from Nate Skelton's "attempt before you augment" principle.) ## Anti-Patterns - Don't apply friction in crunch mode — read the room - Don't force anti-binary thinking when A vs B is genuinely the right frame - Don't garden forever — eventually ideas need to ship - Don't coach when the user wants execution — detect the mode first - Don't confuse slowdown with inaction — friction is active, not passive

path: README.md
content: # Activated Thinker

**Cognitive protocols for AI agents: how to think about problems, not just solve them.**

## The Problem

Most AI agents have one speed: fast. Ask a question, get an answer. Give a task, get a result. But not every problem benefits from speed. Creative work needs space. Complex decisions need friction. Learning needs coaching, not answers.

Agents default to "helpful and fast" — which is great for crunch work and terrible for everything else.

## What This Skill Does

The Activated Thinker gives your agent three cognitive protocols and a behavioral mode detector:

1. **Anti-binary thinking** — when presented with A or B, always look for option C and D before choosing
2. **Gardener mindset** — in exploratory mode, expand the space of ideas instead of collapsing to a plan
3. **Friction protocol** — deliberately slow down on creative and high-stakes tasks where speed kills quality
4. **Capability building** — detect when coaching is more valuable than delivering, and switch to teaching mode
5. **Behavioral mode detection** — automatically detect crunch vs exploratory vs standard mode from user's tone and context

## What This Skill Does NOT Do

This skill focuses on *how to approach problems*. It does not cover:

- **Understanding user intent** — see [Intention Engine](../intention-engine/) for gap classification, premortem checks, negative intent, and intention alignment
- **Task verification** — see [Intention Engine](../intention-engine/) for wasted work detection

These skills complement each other: Intention Engine tells you *what* to do, Activated Thinker tells you *how to approach* doing it.

## Installation

```bash
clawhub install mouserider/activated-thinker
```

Or copy the skill folder into your OpenClaw workspace's `skills/` directory.

## Inspirations & Attribution

This skill is directly inspired by and built upon:

- **[Shane Collins / Activated Thinker](https://www.youtube.com/@ActivatedThinker)** — The core framework this skill implements:
  - *Anti-binary thinking* — always look for option C and D
  - *Gardener mindset* — expand before collapsing, explore before committing
  - *Friction protocol* — deliberate slowdown for creative and high-stakes work

- **[Nate Skelton](https://natesnewsletter.substack.com/)** — The "attempt before you augment" principle that informs the capability building protocol.

## License

MIT


Security scan verdicts — ClawScan: clean | static analysis: clean | VirusTotal: clean | SkillSpector: clean (LOW)