long-horizon-prompting

Write pseudo-formal task briefs for long-running autonomous agents and parallel multi-agent orchestrations.

17.9k|1.5k|Updated Dec 21, 2025
One-click install
npx skills add https://github.com/muratcankoylan/Agent-Skills-for-Context-Engineering --skill long-horizon-prompting
Or copy as Structured Prompt for Agent
Please help me install this Agent Skill.
Skill: long-horizon-prompting
Source: https://github.com/muratcankoylan/Agent-Skills-for-Context-Engineering/tree/main/skills/long-horizon-prompting
Command: npx skills add https://github.com/muratcankoylan/Agent-Skills-for-Context-Engineering --skill long-horizon-prompting

SYSTEM DOCUMENTATION & REQUIREMENTS

💡 This Skill includes references (resource) components.

What problem does it solve?

Long-running autonomous agents and parallel multi-agent orchestrations fail when their launch prompts are vague: agents return answer-shaped near misses, converge prematurely on one approach, fabricate progress, or give up early. This Skill provides a rigorous brief-writing methodology so expensive agent runs are steered by precise success predicates, enumerated non-counting outcomes, and adversarial verification gates.

Core Features & Use Cases

  • Pseudo-Formal Task Briefs: Structure launch prompts with definitions covering degenerate cases, an exact success predicate with quantifiers, enumerated non-counting outcomes, and domain-specific auditor checklists.
  • Parallel Orchestration Policy: Manage diverse portfolios of parallel workers with an approach-family registry, blocked-route bookkeeping, early independence, and late cross-pollination.
  • Persistence and Return Gates: Pair effort floors and solvability framing with verification gates, and phrase return conditions as predicates over the artifact rather than agent confidence.
  • Use Case: Before launching a 64-agent orchestration on an open research problem, use this Skill to convert a vague goal into a brief that pre-blocks the likely near misses, equips adversarial auditors with a failure-mode checklist, and gates the return on surviving audit.

Quick Start

Ask the agent to convert your hard problem statement into a pseudo-formal long-horizon task brief with a success predicate, non-counting outcomes, and an adversarial audit checklist before launching the run.

Frequently Asked Questions about long-horizon-prompting

High-intent search queries and answers about installing and using this skill.

FAQPage Schema
How do I write a prompt for a long-running autonomous agent?

Write the success predicate first as one sentence with explicit quantifiers and scope, then enumerate non-counting outcomes, define load-bearing terms including degenerate cases, and add an auditor checklist. Finish with an artifact-based return condition, an effort floor, and contamination guards.

How do I prevent parallel agents from converging on the same approach?

Keep early-round workers blind to the favored approach, maintain an approach registry grouped by underlying idea rather than wording, and redirect workers away from crowded families. Cross-pollinate only after routes have developed independently.

Why do long-horizon agents return answer-shaped results that do not solve the problem?

Persistence pressure without a matching verification gate rewards near misses like narrowed-scope solutions, reductions to unproved assumptions, and surveys instead of artifacts. The fix is an explicit non-counting outcomes list plus adversarial audit with a domain-specific failure-mode checklist.

Should stop conditions and budgets go in the agent prompt?

Return conditions belong in the prompt as predicates over the artifact, but hard budgets and permissions must be enforced in the harness. Prompt-stated constraints are advisory and decay as the trajectory grows, so re-inject budget and progress state externally.

When should I not use assume-solvable framing in a task brief?

Avoid it on genuinely open or ill-posed questions, because it instructs the model to never conclude impossibility and can cause fabrication. Use a two-sided form where either a complete solution or a complete impossibility demonstration counts.