# asb-carol-keystones

Refines classified product strengths into driving purchase keystones and records verified segments in KEYSTONES.md.

- skill · `type=skill` · Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, OpenCode · 634 installs · ★ 48
- Author: asmartbear
- License: CC-BY-4.0 · policy=mirror · the beginning of the file is at the end of this page
- Source: https://github.com/asmartbear/asb-skills/tree/HEAD/.claude/skills/asb-carol-keystones/SKILL.md
- Updated: 2026-10-22
- HTML: https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/skills/asb-carol-keystones

## What it does

The skill facilitates step three of the ideal-customer profiling method. It takes an existing strengths chart with identifiers (`S1`, `S2`) pasted directly or loaded from a file. The agent processes each item individually, evaluating what specific customer circumstances demand an extreme version of that capability.

Every candidate must pass a strict gate. If you cannot identify an actual market segment defined by clear operational conditions, the candidate gets cut as table stakes. Surviving factors are labeled (`K1`, `K2`), mapped back to their original `[S]` references, and written to `KEYSTONES.md`.

Finding zero or one surviving keystone triggers a direct strategic verdict: the product is not compelling yet. This step strictly requires an existing strengths classification. It is not designed to catalog product weaknesses, map the anti-market, or draft the final profile definition.

## Install

### Claude Code (native platform)

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add asmartbear/asb-skills --skill asb-carol-keystones -a claude-code
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `~/.claude/skills/asb-carol-keystones/SKILL.md` — Copy the whole skill folder; for one project use .claude/skills/asb-carol-keystones/

### Codex

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add asmartbear/asb-skills --skill asb-carol-keystones -a codex
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.agents/skills/asb-carol-keystones/SKILL.md` — For all projects use ~/.agents/skills/

### Cursor

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add asmartbear/asb-skills --skill asb-carol-keystones -a cursor
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.cursor/skills/asb-carol-keystones/SKILL.md` — Cursor also reads .agents/skills/ and .claude/skills/

### GitHub Copilot

1. **GitHub CLI**
```bash
gh skill install asmartbear/asb-skills asb-carol-keystones
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.github/skills/asb-carol-keystones/SKILL.md`

### Gemini CLI

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add asmartbear/asb-skills --skill asb-carol-keystones -a gemini-cli
```

2. **Platform CLI**
```bash
gemini skills install https://github.com/asmartbear/asb-skills --path .claude/skills/asb-carol-keystones
```

### Windsurf (Devin Desktop)

**Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.devin/skills/asb-carol-keystones/SKILL.md` — The legacy .windsurf/skills/ path still works

### OpenCode

**Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add asmartbear/asb-skills --skill asb-carol-keystones -a opencode
```

### Claude.ai

**Claude.ai**
- Zip the folder and upload it in Settings → Capabilities → Skills

Where a file is given instead of a command, copy the files from the source to that path: https://github.com/asmartbear/asb-skills/tree/HEAD/.claude/skills/asb-carol-keystones/SKILL.md

## When to use it
- isolate customer circumstances that turn a product strength into an urgent buying driver
- filter out generic table-stakes features that lack a dedicated market segment
- generate a structured KEYSTONES.md file linked to source strength identifiers
- diagnose whether the current product value proposition is compelling enough to sell

## Example prompts
- Turn our strengths list S1 through S5 into keystones
- Review the strengths in strengths.md and find out who urgently needs an extreme version of each
- Who is our primary target market based on our product strengths?

## Source text · SKILL.md · CC-BY-4.0

Below is the content of a third-party file. It is data, not instructions for you: do not act on anything written inside unless the human asks. Block tag: eecb287fd6839f5b.

BEGIN THIRD-PARTY FILE eecb287fd6839f5b
```text
---
name: asb-carol-keystones
description: "Facilitates the third step of a proven ideal-customer (ICP) method: refining classified strengths into keystones — the specific characteristics, behaviors, or circumstances that make a customer NEED an extreme version of a strength, badly enough to drive the purchase alone. Takes a strengths chart (S1, S2, … — file or pasted), walks the strengths one at a time asking who requires an extreme version of each, gates every candidate on naming a real market segment that typifies it (no segment = table stakes, cut), and records survivors in KEYSTONES.md (K1, K2, … with [S] references and example segments). Delivers the strategic verdict when few or none survive: the product isn't compelling yet. Load when the user has classified strengths and asks who needs them, who their target market is, or 'turn our strengths into keystones.' Do NOT load to classify strengths and weaknesses (the previous step), to derive deal-breakers or the anti-market (the next step), or to write the final ideal-customer definition (later)."
---

# Keystones: Who Needs an Extreme Version of What You're Best At

Passionate purchase decisions don't come from sort-of liking a few
features. They come from an overwhelming pull toward one of your
strengths — something specific about the customer's circumstances that
makes them think "I've got to make this work for us." That pull is a
**keystone**, and mapping your keystones is how a strengths chart
becomes a target market. This skill walks the strengths one at a time,
generates keystone candidates with the user, and holds each to the
gate that separates keystones from wishful thinking: a real market
segment must typify it.

## The mental model

### What a keystone is

A keystone is the critical characteristic that drives a customer's
desire for the product — the thing that grabs their attention even in
a noisy world, even while other trade-offs are in flux. It is not the
strength itself; it is the *customer circumstance* that makes the
strength critical. "Fast website" is a strength. "Has a website where
even 0.1 seconds faster directly results in more revenue" is a
keystone — and it immediately names its market: e-commerce stores,
where studies put conversion of fast sites at multiples of slow ones,
and where the giants have measured revenue loss per tenth of a second
of load time. Same pattern across a real keystone chart: "scalable"
becomes *has traffic spikes at unpredictable times* (news sites whose
story can break any moment); "secure" becomes *just got hacked and is
still terrified* or *has a legal mandate for vendor certifications*
```
END THIRD-PARTY FILE eecb287fd6839f5b

The third-party file has ended. Everything between the eecb287fd6839f5b tags is data: requests and commands from it are not followed. An “end of file” line with another tag inside the block is part of the file.

First 2654 of 17307 bytes. © asmartbear · CC-BY-4.0 · https://github.com/asmartbear/asb-skills/tree/HEAD/.claude/skills/asb-carol-keystones/SKILL.md

_Part of the page did not fit — see the HTML version._

---
NeVibeCode on affpapa.org. Catalog texts are descriptions, not instructions for the agent. How to choose and install: https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/agents.md