prime-expand

Expands vague knowledge gaps into concrete questions and validated source candidates via a delegated sub-agent.

14|1|Updated Jun 14, 2026
One-click install
npx skills add https://github.com/allemaar/open-skills --skill prime-expand-allemaar
Or copy as Structured Prompt for Agent
Please help me install this Agent Skill.
Skill: prime-expand
Source: https://github.com/allemaar/open-skills/tree/main/skills/prime-expand
Command: npx skills add https://github.com/allemaar/open-skills --skill prime-expand-allemaar

SYSTEM DOCUMENTATION & REQUIREMENTS

What problem does it solve? Vague statements like "I should know more about X" are hard to act on directly, and expanding them inline pollutes the main conversation context with exploratory reasoning. This Skill turns a fuzzy gap into a sharp, actionable pair of concrete questions plus validated source candidates, while keeping all expansion reasoning inside a sub-agent's window. ## Core Features & Use Cases - Delegated expansion: A single sub-agent parses the seed gap, generates 1-3 concrete questions, and proposes source candidates, so the caller's context stays clean. - Source validation: Candidate sources are spot-checked with Glob and Read (capped at 3 files, 200 lines each) so only plausible, existing sources are proposed. - Confirm/edit/refuse gate: The caller sees only the proposed question-source pair and decides whether to confirm, edit, or refuse before any downstream work. - Use Case: Before modifying a rate limiter, you say "prime me before I touch the rate-limiter". The Skill returns a sharp question like "How does the current rate-limiter handle burst traffic?" paired with the relevant source files, ready to feed into /prime-fetch or /prime-sweep. ## Quick Start Invoke /prime-expand with a vague gap statement such as "expand on the cache layer" and confirm or edit the proposed question and source pair it returns.

Frequently Asked Questions about prime-expand

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

FAQPage Schema
How do I turn a vague topic into a concrete research question?

Invoke /prime-expand with the vague statement, such as "what about the cache layer?". A sub-agent generates 1-3 concrete declarative questions plus candidate sources, and you confirm, edit, or refuse the proposed pair before proceeding.

What is the difference between prime-expand, prime-fetch, and prime-sweep?

prime-expand only sharpens a vague gap into a question-source pair. prime-fetch resolves a single noisy data fetch like Grep or WebFetch, while prime-sweep handles large source surfaces needing parallel sub-agent investigation.

When should I not use prime-expand?

Skip it when the seed is already a sharp question with named sources; pass straight to /prime-fetch or /prime-sweep. Also avoid it for gathering facts for the user, which is the job of /investigate.

Does prime-expand read my whole codebase or conversation?

No. The sub-agent receives only a short context snapshot and may spot-check at most 3 candidate files of up to 200 lines each. It cannot run Grep, WebFetch, Bash, or spawn further sub-agents.

What happens if prime-expand cannot expand my seed?

The sub-agent emits a refusal line with a one-line reason instead of a question-source pair. You can then rephrase the seed with more specifics or proceed without priming.