Project / 014Case study
PRISM: Novelty Skills for AI Agents
Eleven installable thinking patterns and one orchestrator that push an AI agent to diverge, find what emerges, then converge on a possibility space.
- AI systems
- Developer tools
- Status
- Live
- Role
- Sole developer
- Year
- 2026
- Language
- TypeScript
- Platform
- Cross-platform
- Reading
- 3 min
- Stack
- Agent Skills
- SKILL.md
- npx skills
- GitHub Actions
The problem
Ask an AI agent for ideas and you get the most average answer, wrapped nicely. I wanted reusable thinking patterns, each with a deliberate stance, that any skills-compatible agent can load and chain on demand.
The system
8 components · 7 connections · 2 request flows
The skills CLI installs plain SKILL.md files into a compatible agent. The prism orchestrator then runs the agent through diverge, emerge, converge and synthesis.
- Data store
- External service
- Client
- Service
- Worker
- Trust boundary
Select a component to see its role, the technology behind it and what it connects to, or follow a request through the system hop by hop.
Component reference8 components · 2 flows · as text
Components · in request order
- Data store · layer 01novelty-skills repo
- One SKILL.md per pattern
- skills/<name>/SKILL.md for 11 patterns and the prism orchestrator.
- TechMarkdown, GitHub
- Toskills CLI (npx skills add)
- External service · layer 02skills CLI
- Installs skills into an agent
- Technpx skills add
- Fromnovelty-skills repo (npx skills add)
- ToAgent host (install skills)
- Client · layer 03Agent host
- Any skills-compatible AI agent
- TechAgent Skills
- Fromskills CLI (install skills)
- Toprism (invoke)
- Service · layer 04prism
- Runs the four-phase pipeline
- TechSKILL.md
- FromAgent host (invoke)
- ToDiverge (phase 1)
- InsidePRISM pipeline
- Worker · layer 05Diverge
- Six generators widen the idea space
- contrarian, assumption-excavator, cross-pollinator, heretic, counterfactual, dreamer.
- Tech6 skills
- Fromprism (phase 1)
- ToEmerge (ideas)
- InsidePRISM pipeline
- Worker · layer 06Emerge
- Finds what appears between clashing ideas
- paradox-sifter.
- Tech1 skill
- FromDiverge (ideas)
- ToConverge (candidates)
- InsidePRISM pipeline
- Worker · layer 07Converge
- Pressure-tests the survivors
- theorist, empiricist, skeptic, pragmatist.
- Tech4 skills
- FromEmerge (candidates)
- ToSynthesis (verdicts)
- InsidePRISM pipeline
- Worker · layer 08Synthesis
- Writes the seven-part possibility space
- Techprism
- FromConverge (verdicts)
- InsidePRISM pipeline
Request flows
Installing
- Step 1: novelty-skills repo
- Step 2: skills CLI
- Step 3: Agent host
A PRISM run
Diverge, emerge, converge, synthesis.
- Step 1: Agent host
- Step 2: prism
- Step 3: Diverge
- Step 4: Emerge
- Step 5: Converge
- Step 6: Synthesis
Trust boundaries
- PRISM pipeline — prism, Diverge, Emerge, Converge, Synthesis
Decisions & trade-offs
4 decisions
- D01
Skills as plain files
Each pattern is a single SKILL.md in skills/<name>, so it is readable, diffable and portable to any agent that supports skills.
- D02
Generators, a sifter and reviewers
Six generators produce divergent ideas, a paradox sifter looks at what emerges from the clashes, and four reviewers (theorist, empiricist, skeptic, pragmatist) pressure-test the result.
- D03
A fixed pipeline
prism runs DIVERGE, EMERGE, CONVERGE and SYNTHESIS, so the output is not a list of ideas but a structured possibility space.
- D04
One command to install
Distribution rides on the skills CLI instead of a custom installer.
Outcomes
- 11 thinking-pattern skills plus the prism orchestrator.
- Installs with one command: npx skills add argahv/novelty-skills.
- MIT licensed, with CI on the repository.
RoleSole developer
View on GitHubThe write-up
3 min read
Language models are very good at the average. PRISM is a set of skills that make an agent argue with itself on purpose, so what comes out is a map of possibilities instead of one tidy default answer.
Install
Run npx skills add argahv/novelty-skills in a project that uses a skills-compatible agent. Every pattern is a plain SKILL.md under skills/<name>.
The patterns
Generators (divergent)
contrarian
assumption-excavator
cross-pollinator
heretic
counterfactual
dreamer
Sifter (emergence)
paradox-sifter
Reviewers (convergent)
theorist
empiricist
skeptic
pragmatist
The pipeline
The prism orchestrator chains them in four phases: DIVERGE, EMERGE, CONVERGE and SYNTHESIS. The end product is a seven-part possibility space, not a list of ideas.
Why it exists
These patterns came out of the novelty engines I built for Sisyphus Academica, my research-writing agent system. Pulling them out as standalone skills means any agent can borrow the same habits of mind.
Status
Published, MIT licensed and installable today, with CI on the repository.