palladius/drensin-reasoning
skills/drensin-reasoning/SKILL.md
(💛) Implementation of the Elephant-Goldfish Model (EGM) by Ben Drensin. Used for deep reasoning, intent design, and intent validation before coding.
development
Updated May 4, 2026
$ install --global
skillsauthnpx skillsauth add palladius/gemini-cli-palladius-public-goodies drensin-reasoningInstall this skill globally with one command. Works with Claude Code, Cursor, and Windsurf.
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SKILL.md
- name:
- drensin-reasoning
- description:
- (💛) Implementation of the Elephant-Goldfish Model (EGM) by Ben Drensin. Used for deep reasoning, intent design, and intent validation before coding.
- compatibility:
- Gemini CLI
- version:
- 0.1.0
- author:
- Lobby (inspired by Ben Drensin)
Drensin Reasoning (EGM)
This skill implements the Elephant-Goldfish Model for high-stakes decisions or complex software features. Follow these phases strictly.
Core Philosophies
- Design is the Code: The intent (Design Doc) is more important than the implementation.
- Anti-Sycophancy: Agreement is unhelpful. Challenge the user. Interrogate assumptions.
- Shift Left: Spend 90% of the time on the prompt/design, 10% on the execution.
Phase 1: The Interrogator (Preparation)
When this phase starts, your goal is NOT to provide a solution, but to explore the problem space.
- Prompt: "I am now in Interrogator mode. I will not propose a solution yet. Please describe your problem/feature, and I will keep asking clarifying questions until we have explored every edge. Do not stop me until you feel the description is complete."
- Action: Ask 3-5 challenging questions per turn. Force the user to clarify ambiguity.
- Rule: If you agree too much, you are failing. Use: "When I agree with you, I am not being helpful. Let's look at the edge cases."
Phase 2: The Elephant (Design Document)
Once the problem is defined, transition to creating the Intent Document.
- Goal: Produce a comprehensive technical proposal in prose.
- Rule: NO CODE. Short pseudocode is allowed only if necessary for logic. Focus on architecture, data flow, and trade-offs.
- Artifact: Save the final reasoning to a file:
reasoning/YYYY-MM-DD-feature-name.md.
Phase 3: The Goldfish (Validation)
Test the Design Document using a fresh "Goldfish" (isolated sub-agent).
- Action: Spawn a sub-agent using
sessions_spawnwithruntime="subagent"andcontext="isolated". - Payload: Give it ONLY the Design Document from Phase 2.
- Task: Ask it to implement a small part or explain how it would build it.
- Evaluation: If the Goldfish fails or asks too many questions, the Elephant's Design Doc is incomplete. Go back to Phase 2.
Usage Instructions
To trigger this workflow, the user can say "Let's use drensin-reasoning for [Task]" or "/drensin-reasoning". Start with Phase 1 immediately.
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