Claude Code Thinking Skills
39 Mental Models and Critical-Thinking Frameworks for Claude Code
Claude Code Thinking Skills is a collection of 39 mental-model and critical-thinking frameworks for Claude Code that give Anthropic's AI coding agent structured ways to reason about decisions, debugging, systems, risk, and strategy. Each skill packages a proven thinking framework — from first-principles reasoning to the theory of constraints — into a Claude Code skill you can invoke by name, and the whole collection is backed by a transparent, replication-gated evaluation pipeline.
TL;DR — At a Glance
| What it is | A library of 39 mental-model and critical-thinking skills for Claude Code. |
| Who it's for | Engineers, founders, and analysts who want Claude Code to reason with structured frameworks instead of ad-hoc heuristics. |
| How to start | Install via the plugin marketplace, then invoke thinking-model-router to be routed to the right skill. |
| License | MIT — free to use, modify, and distribute. |
| Evidence | Every skill ran through a replication-gated Elevate-or-Kill evaluation pipeline. The honest headline: zero skills currently hold a robust, replicated ELEVATE verdict — and we publish that result rather than hide it. |
| Entry point | thinking-model-router → START HERE |
Table of Contents
- Why This Project Is Different
- Features
- Quick Start
- Available Skills
- How the Skills Were Evaluated
- Quality Assurance Tools
- Detailed Skill Descriptions
- FAQ
- Contributing
- Keywords
- Related Resources
- License
- Author
Why This Project Is Different
Most "AI prompt pack" repositories claim their content makes models smarter and never test the claim. This project did the opposite: it built an objective, length-controlled, replication-gated evaluation harness and ran all 39 skills through it. The result is documented openly, including the inconvenient finding that no skill yet meets the bar for a proven, replicated accuracy gain.
That rigor is the point. These skills are useful structured-reasoning scaffolds grounded in established frameworks, and the evaluation methodology is honest enough to tell you exactly how strong the evidence is. Transparency over hype is the standard here.
Features
- 39 Thinking Frameworks — A curated library of mental models for decision-making, debugging, and strategy.
- Eval-Backed and Honest — Built and tested with a rigorous, replication-gated evaluation pipeline; see the Elevate-or-Kill Scorecard.
- Battle-Tested Foundations — Grounded in frameworks from cognitive science, systems thinking, and strategic analysis (Munger, Meadows, Kahneman, Goldratt, Altshuller/TRIZ, Boyd/OODA).
- Claude Code Native — Designed specifically for Claude Code's skill system and invocation model.
- Quality Scripts — Tooling to validate, score, and improve skill quality.
- Zero Configuration — Install and invoke skills by name; no setup required.
Quick Start
Installation via Plugin Marketplace (Recommended)
Install directly in Claude Code using the plugin system:
# Add the marketplace
/plugin marketplace add tjboudreaux/cc-thinking-skills
# Install the plugin
/plugin install thinking-skills@thinking-skills-marketplace
Alternative: Manual Installation
Clone and copy skills directly:
# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/tjboudreaux/cc-thinking-skills.git
# Copy skills to your global Claude Code config
cp -r cc-thinking-skills/skills/* ~/.claude/skills/
# Or copy to a specific project
cp -r cc-thinking-skills/skills/* /path/to/your/project/.claude/skills/
Development: Load as Local Plugin
For testing or development:
claude --plugin-dir ./cc-thinking-skills
Usage
Once installed, invoke any skill by name in Claude Code. If you're not sure which framework fits, start with thinking-model-router and let it route you:
> Use the thinking-model-router to pick the right framework for this problem
> Use first-principles thinking to analyze this architecture decision
> Apply the pre-mortem framework to this project plan
> Help me use Bayesian reasoning to evaluate this hypothesis
> Use the theory of constraints to find our bottleneck
Available Skills
All 39 skills, grouped by domain. The meta-skill thinking-model-router is the recommended entry point.
Decision Making & Analysis
| Skill | Description | Best For |
|---|---|---|
thinking-first-principles |
Break problems into fundamental truths | Innovation, challenging assumptions |
thinking-second-order |
Think beyond immediate consequences | Strategic decisions, policy changes |
thinking-inversion |
Approach problems by identifying paths to failure | Risk identification, planning |
thinking-pre-mortem |
Imagine failure and work backward | Project kickoffs, risk assessment |
thinking-kepner-tregoe |
Systematic rational process for complex analysis | High-stakes decisions, root cause analysis |
thinking-reversibility |
Classify decisions by reversibility (Type 1/2) | Commitment sizing, risk assessment |
thinking-regret-minimization |
Project to future self to test decisions | Career choices, major life decisions |
thinking-opportunity-cost |
Evaluate choices by what you give up | Resource allocation, prioritization |
Cognitive & Behavioral
| Skill | Description | Best For |
|---|---|---|
thinking-bayesian |
Update beliefs based on evidence | Probability estimation, uncertainty |
thinking-debiasing |
Identify and counteract cognitive biases | Major decisions, high stakes |
thinking-dual-process |
Recognize when to trust intuition vs. analysis | Speed vs. accuracy tradeoffs |
thinking-bounded-rationality |
Make good-enough decisions under constraints | Time pressure, satisficing |
thinking-socratic |
Systematic questioning framework | Requirements, debugging, coaching |
thinking-probabilistic |
Calibrated probability estimation | Forecasting, uncertainty quantification |
thinking-steel-manning |
Argue the strongest opposing position | Debate, decision validation |
Systems & Strategy
| Skill | Description | Best For |
|---|---|---|
thinking-systems |
Analyze interconnected systems | Complex debugging, architecture |
thinking-feedback-loops |
Identify reinforcing and balancing loops | Growth design, organizational dynamics |
thinking-archetypes |
Recognize recurring system patterns | Organizational problems, recurring issues |
thinking-ooda |
Rapid decision-making for dynamic situations | Incident response, competitive scenarios |
thinking-leverage-points |
Find where small changes have big effects | System optimization, intervention design |
thinking-theory-of-constraints |
Identify and manage bottlenecks | Performance optimization, throughput |
thinking-cynefin |
Classify problems by complexity domain | Methodology selection, approach matching |
Problem Solving & Innovation
| Skill | Description | Best For |
|---|---|---|
thinking-occams-razor |
Prefer simpler explanations | Debugging, architecture decisions |
thinking-map-territory |
Recognize limits of mental models | Expectation mismatches, abstractions |
thinking-circle-of-competence |
Know the boundaries of expertise | Delegation, learning decisions |
thinking-triz |
Resolve technical contradictions | Engineering design, innovation |
thinking-five-whys-plus |
Enhanced root cause analysis with bias guards | Debugging, incident postmortems |
thinking-scientific-method |
Hypothesis-differential debugging | Fault localization, ambiguous symptoms |
thinking-thought-experiment |
Structured imagination for exploration | Architecture, edge cases, philosophy |
Estimation & Risk
| Skill | Description | Best For |
|---|---|---|
thinking-fermi-estimation |
Order-of-magnitude calculations | Quick sizing, feasibility checks |
thinking-margin-of-safety |
Build in buffers for uncertainty | Risk management, system design |
thinking-lindy-effect |
Older things likely to last longer | Technology selection, durability |
thinking-via-negativa |
Improve by removing, not adding | Simplification, robustness |
thinking-red-team |
Attack your own plans adversarially | Security review, plan validation |
Product & Innovation
| Skill | Description | Best For |
|---|---|---|
thinking-jobs-to-be-done |
Understand the job customers hire products for | Product development, feature design |
thinking-effectuation |
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