analysis — Claude Code skill: judgment briefs for messy situations
Turns a contested situation into a structured brief: the hidden bet, the real disagreement, who pays. Built for news, conflicts and decisions that need a judgment, not a summary.
npx skills add microchipgnu/blindspot.news --skill analysis -a claude-codeWhat analysis does
The analysis skill produces judgment briefs instead of summaries. Output sections cover what happened, a one-sentence bottom line, load-bearing assumptions, the actual fork where both sides seem right, what nobody can say out loud, who gets hurt, plausible scenarios and what would change the conclusion. The author forbids naming philosophers or labelling frameworks, so the thinking stands on its own.
The workflow runs in three steps. First find the crux: the thing that, once clear, makes the whole situation make sense. Then pressure-test through angles such as who controls the frame, what motive is disguised, who bears invisible costs and who hides behind having no choice. Those angles never surface in the output. The brief itself comes last.
Aim for 600-900 words, and cut any section that only repeats what the reader already knows. If the unsaid observation is not there, skip it rather than invent one. The skill installs into Claude, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI and OpenCode, landing as a file in the platform's skills directory, for example ~/.claude/skills/analysis/SKILL.md.
What it helps with
- read a news story and see what the framing hides
- stress-test a strategy before committing to it
- work out why a conflict is stuck
- spot the assumption the whole story rests on
- name who loses under each outcome
Example prompts for the agent
- Run the analysis skill on this situation — what is really going on and what is everyone missing?
- Stress-test my plan with analysis: where does it break?
- Who pays for this decision, and through what mechanism?
How to install analysis
1Skills CLI (Vercel)
npx skills add microchipgnu/blindspot.news --skill analysis -a claude-code2Manually: put the files in place
~/.claude/skills/analysis/SKILL.mdCopy the whole skill folder; for one project use .claude/skills/analysis/
1Skills CLI (Vercel)
npx skills add microchipgnu/blindspot.news --skill analysis -a codex2Manually: put the files in place
.agents/skills/analysis/SKILL.mdFor all projects use ~/.agents/skills/
1Skills CLI (Vercel)
npx skills add microchipgnu/blindspot.news --skill analysis -a cursor2Manually: put the files in place
.cursor/skills/analysis/SKILL.mdCursor also reads .agents/skills/ and .claude/skills/
1GitHub CLI
gh skill install microchipgnu/blindspot.news analysis2Manually: put the files in place
.github/skills/analysis/SKILL.md1Skills CLI (Vercel)
npx skills add microchipgnu/blindspot.news --skill analysis -a gemini-cli2Platform CLI
gemini skills install https://github.com/microchipgnu/blindspot.news --path skills/analysisManually: put the files in place
.devin/skills/analysis/SKILL.mdThe legacy .windsurf/skills/ path still works
Skills CLI (Vercel)
npx skills add microchipgnu/blindspot.news --skill analysis -a opencodeClaude.ai
Zip the folder and upload it in Settings → Capabilities → Skills
Step by step, with commands for each platform: How to install skills in Claude Code: five ways
Questions about analysis
How do I install analysis in Claude?
Run npx skills add microchipgnu/blindspot.news --skill analysis -a claude-code. The skill file lands at ~/.claude/skills/analysis/SKILL.md.
What does the analysis skill do?
It builds a judgment brief for a contested situation: bottom line, hidden assumptions, the real disagreement, who bears the costs and what scenarios follow. You get a position plus the evidence that would overturn it.
How is analysis different from a summary?
It looks for the fork where two things both seem right and you cannot have both. It also names the concrete losers that the dominant framing leaves out.
