NousResearch · John-Lussier · Jul 17, 2026
diff --git a/skills/autonomous-ai-agents/claude-code/SKILL.md b/skills/autonomous-ai-agents/claude-code/SKILL.md
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 ---
 name: claude-code
-description: "Delegate coding to Claude Code CLI (features, PRs)."
+description: "Hand a coding task to Claude Code CLI; ignore name mentions."
 version: 2.2.0
 author: Hermes Agent + Teknium
 license: MIT

diff --git a/skills/autonomous-ai-agents/codex/SKILL.md b/skills/autonomous-ai-agents/codex/SKILL.md
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 ---
 name: codex
-description: "Delegate coding to OpenAI Codex CLI (features, PRs)."
+description: "Hand a coding task to OpenAI Codex; ignore name mentions."
 version: 1.0.0
 author: Hermes Agent
 license: MIT

diff --git a/skills/autonomous-ai-agents/hermes-agent/SKILL.md b/skills/autonomous-ai-agents/hermes-agent/SKILL.md
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 ---
 name: hermes-agent
-description: "Configure, extend, or contribute to Hermes Agent."
+description: "Edit Hermes source/config; ignore general runtime mentions."
 version: 2.3.0
 author: Hermes Agent + Teknium
 license: MIT

diff --git a/skills/autonomous-ai-agents/opencode/SKILL.md b/skills/autonomous-ai-agents/opencode/SKILL.md
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 ---
 name: opencode
-description: "Delegate coding to OpenCode CLI (features, PR review)."
+description: "Hand a coding task to OpenCode CLI; ignore name mentions."
 version: 1.2.0
 author: Hermes Agent
 license: MIT

diff --git a/skills/creative/claude-design/SKILL.md b/skills/creative/claude-design/SKILL.md
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 ---
 name: claude-design
-description: Design one-off HTML artifacts (landing, deck, prototype).
+description: "Build a single-file HTML/CSS design artifact from scratch."
 version: 1.1.0
 author: BadTechBandit
 license: MIT

diff --git a/skills/dogfood/SKILL.md b/skills/dogfood/SKILL.md
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 ---
 name: dogfood
-description: "Exploratory QA of web apps: find bugs, evidence, reports."
+description: "Manually QA a running web app in a real browser for bugs."
 version: 1.0.0
 platforms: [linux, macos, windows]
 metadata:

diff --git a/skills/note-taking/obsidian/SKILL.md b/skills/note-taking/obsidian/SKILL.md
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 ---
 name: obsidian
-description: Read, search, create, and edit notes in the Obsidian vault.
+description: "Read or edit files in the local Obsidian markdown vault."
 platforms: [linux, macos, windows]
 ---
 

diff --git a/skills/research/research-paper-writing/SKILL.md b/skills/research/research-paper-writing/SKILL.md
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 ---
 name: research-paper-writing
 title: Research Paper Writing Pipeline
-description: "Write ML papers for NeurIPS/ICML/ICLR: design→submit."
+description: "Author a formal academic ML paper for a venue submission."
 version: 1.1.0
 author: Orchestra Research
 license: MIT

diff --git a/skills/software-development/requesting-code-review/SKILL.md b/skills/software-development/requesting-code-review/SKILL.md
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 ---
 name: requesting-code-review
-description: "Pre-commit review: security scan, quality gates, auto-fix."
+description: "Review a concrete code diff before committing it."
 version: 2.0.0
 author: Hermes Agent (adapted from obra/superpowers + MorAlekss)
 license: MIT

diff --git a/skills/software-development/simplify-code/SKILL.md b/skills/software-development/simplify-code/SKILL.md
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 ---
 name: simplify-code
-description: "Parallel 3-agent cleanup of recent code changes."
+description: "Simplify or clean up a user's recent code diff on request."
 version: 1.0.0
 author: Hermes Agent (inspired by Claude Code /simplify)
 license: MIT

diff --git a/skills/software-development/spike/SKILL.md b/skills/software-development/spike/SKILL.md
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 ---
 name: spike
-description: "Throwaway experiments to validate an idea before build."
+description: "Run a throwaway code spike to validate feasibility."
 version: 1.0.0
 author: Hermes Agent (adapted from gsd-build/get-shit-done)
 license: MIT

diff --git a/skills/software-development/systematic-debugging/SKILL.md b/skills/software-development/systematic-debugging/SKILL.md
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 ---
 name: systematic-debugging
-description: "4-phase root cause debugging: understand bugs before fixing."
+description: "Debug a concrete, reproducible software defect methodically."
 version: 1.1.0
 author: Hermes Agent (adapted from obra/superpowers)
 license: MIT

diff --git a/skills/software-development/test-driven-development/SKILL.md b/skills/software-development/test-driven-development/SKILL.md
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 ---
 name: test-driven-development
-description: "TDD: enforce RED-GREEN-REFACTOR, tests before code."
+description: "Write code using TDD with a unit/integration test suite."
 version: 1.1.0
 author: Hermes Agent (adapted from obra/superpowers)
 license: MIT
@@ -23,18 +23,20 @@ Write the test first. Watch it fail. Write minimal code to pass.
 
 ## When to Use
 
-**Always:**
+**Use when writing or changing testable production source code:**
 - New features
 - Bug fixes
 - Refactoring
 - Behavior changes
 
-**Exceptions (ask the user first):**
-- Throwaway prototypes
-- Generated code
-- Configuration files
+Once it applies, "skip TDD just this once" is rationalization — stop.
 
-Thinking "skip TDD just this once"? Stop. That's rationalization.
+**Do NOT load this skill for (it does not apply):**
+- Research, exploration, or optimization loops (e.g. perf/benchmark tuning, kernel/leaderboard work)
+- Tasks where "test", "gate", "verify", "PASS", "prove", or "correctness" mean an **external** checker, acceptance gate, or submission mode — not a code-level unit/integration test suite
+- Data/ML experiments, throwaway prototypes, generated code, configuration files
+
+If the prompt is saturated with testing/verification vocabulary but isn't asking you to write production code against a test suite, this is a keyword false-positive — do not load TDD.
 
 ## The Iron Law