Skills page · concept board · round 02
What does a skill actually do?
An agent can do almost anything, a little carelessly. A skill hands it someone’s judgment: when to use it, how to work, and what good looks like. The agent only loads the skills a task needs. These three concepts try to draw that.
Your four real skills come first. Skills marked example are made up, only to show how each concept looks at 8 and 16; use the switch at the top. Copy is rough.
When · the agent picks its stops
The agent’s metro
Every skill is a station; categories are lines. Give the agent a task and watch it ride: it only stops where the task needs it, the way a real agent reads skill descriptions and loads the few that match. The ticket says what it picked up and what it rode past.
The point it makes: a skill isn’t always on. It’s there when it matters.
give the agent a task ↓
scroll the map sideways →
What it shows
The agentic part: skills are routed by the task, not stacked by hand. Also teaches “when to use / when not to” without a single list.
How it scales
Metro maps are built for this: a new skill is a new station on its line, a new category a new line. 16 reads fine; 30 still would. Try the switch.
Watch out
Shows when, not how well. The craft itself needs a second beat below (F’s bench, or each skill’s card).
How well · the master’s notes
The apprentice’s bench
The agent is an apprentice at a bench, and its work is on the bench: rough, generic, done fast. Above it, your notes are pinned on a corkboard. Hand it one and it reads, then redoes the work, and the margin says what changed and why.
The point it makes: a skill is a craftsperson’s notes, handed to an apprentice.
hand the apprentice a note ↓
My notes ·
On the benchrough
What it shows
The craft and design thinking: you see the difference the skill makes, drawn, with the reasons in the margin. The corkboard is literally your notes.
How it scales
The corkboard fills up, note by note. At 16 it’s a busy, lived-in board, which suits a growing collection. Try 16.
Watch out
Each skill needs a drawn rough/crafted pair. Here it’s one per category, so examples reuse them; the real page would want one per skill.
What · “I know kung fu”
Cartridges
The agent is a handheld with three slots. Each skill is a cartridge on the shelf. Plug one in and the agent’s screen changes: its stats and how it talks. Plug two and they combine. Three slots, because an agent loads a few skills at a time, not all of them.
The point it makes: a skill is an ability you load, not a feature you install.
plug in a cartridge ↓
the shelf ·
tap a plugged cartridge to pull it out
What it shows
The most playful: skills as abilities, and that they combine. The stat meters are a game wink at “taste”, “asks first”, “voice”.
How it scales
A games shelf: rows of cartridges, sorted by colour. 16 is a nice collection. The three slots stay three.
Watch out
Gamey can tip into gimmick. Meters are made-up numbers; they’d need to stay clearly a joke.