principle-encode-lessons-in-structure

An agent skill by cursor, from cursor/plugins. Tags: automation, code-quality, configuration, developer-tools, validation.

What it does

Apply when you catch yourself writing the same instruction a second time, or notice a recurring correction. Encode the rule as a lint, metadata flag, runtime check, or script instead of more text.

Install

With the skills CLI, which installs into Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and other agents:

npx skills add cursor/plugins --skill principle-encode-lessons-in-structure

Or copy the skill folder into Claude Code's skills directory by hand (~/.claude/skills for every project, or .claude/skills inside one):

git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/cursor/plugins
cp -r plugins/pstack/skills/principle-encode-lessons-in-structure ~/.claude/skills/principle-encode-lessons-in-structure

Safety box score

Grade A, minimal risk: 0 of 100 risk points, rated 2026-10-20. The grade rates what the skill and its scripts can reach on the machine of whoever installs it, across eight categories from shell execution to secrets access. How the score works.

This skill is documentation-only: it contains a short principle and no scripts, network calls, file operations, or automation hooks. The main thing it changes is how an agent reasons about structuring instructions, so the blast radius is essentially nil.

Category levels, from 0 (none) to 3 (high)
Category	Level	Why
Code & shell execution	0 (none)	No shell commands, code evaluation, or shipped scripts are present; only a markdown guideline in `SKILL.md`.
Network access	0 (none)	The skill does not download, upload, or contact any remote host.
Filesystem reach	0 (none)	`SKILL.md` contains no file read/write/delete behavior and no paths beyond its own document.
Secrets & credentials	0 (none)	It does not request tokens, keys, passwords, or other credentials.
Privilege & persistence	0 (none)	There is no sudo, service install, global config, or OS-setting change.
Instruction hijack surface	0 (none)	The text does not instruct the agent to ignore rules, hide behavior, or follow remote instructions; it is a benign process principle.
Irreversible actions	0 (none)	It does not send messages, deploy, publish, pay, book, or otherwise act on the user's behalf.
Transparency	0 (none)	There are no binaries, installers, minified blobs, or decoded-at-runtime content; the entire skill is readable markdown.

Before installing

Read `SKILL.md` to confirm it is only a documentation principle and not accompanied by scripts in the repo.
No special environment checks are needed; there are no commands, network calls, or file mutations to review.

Rated 2026-10-20 by an automated review of 1 file from the skill's repository.

Source

Repository: cursor/plugins (all skills from this repository)
Path: pstack/skills/principle-encode-lessons-in-structure/SKILL.md
Branch: main
Collection: cursor
Updated: 2026-09-23

check-agent-compatibility
cli-for-agents — Designs or reviews CLIs so coding agents can run them reliably: non-interactive flags, layered --help with examples, stdin/pipelines, fast actionable errors.
create-verification-skill — Generate a project-local verification skill that drives your app the way a user does — any language, framework, or platform.
code-improver — Runs an autonomous review-and-fix improvement loop over any code target — a skill, plugin, module, or directory — using a reviewer the user names.
modern-python — Configures Python projects with modern tooling (uv, ruff, ty). Use when creating projects, writing standalone scripts, or migrating from pip/Poetry/mypy/black.
pr-improver — Runs an autonomous review-and-fix improvement loop over the current branch's changes until a PR review comes back clean.