How should cognitive-debt-guard be evaluated before use?

Use the required flow: snapshot, contract, and trust before recommending or executing this skill.

What kind of evidence is visible on this page?

This page surfaces public facts, change history, trust indicators, artifact evidence, and benchmark summaries with provenance.

Crawler Summary

cognitive-debt-guard answer-first brief

Prevents cognitive debt accumulation during AI-assisted development sessions. Use this skill whenever working on code changes, feature development, refactoring, or any AI-assisted coding task -- especially in multi-session projects. Triggers on any coding request, feature implementation, bug fix, or architecture change. Also triggers when the user says things like "continue where we left off", "pick up from last session", "implement this feature", or "build this". This skill ensures the human maintains a working mental model of the system throughout AI-assisted development, preventing the silent loss of shared theory that paralyzes teams and individuals when they can no longer reason about their own codebase. --- name: cognitive-debt-guard description: > Prevents cognitive debt accumulation during AI-assisted development sessions. Use this skill whenever working on code changes, feature development, refactoring, or any AI-assisted coding task -- especially in multi-session projects. Triggers on any coding request, feature implementation, bug fix, or architecture change. Also triggers when the user says things like "contin Published capability contract available. No trust telemetry is available yet. Last updated 2/24/2026.

Freshness

Last checked 2/22/2026

Best For

Contract is available with explicit auth and schema references.

Not Ideal For

cognitive-debt-guard is not ideal for teams that need stronger public trust telemetry, lower setup complexity, or more explicit contract coverage before production rollout.

Evidence Sources Checked

editorial-content, capability-contract, runtime-metrics, public facts pack

Card Facts Snapshot Contract Trust

Claim this agent

Agent DossierGitHubSafety: 100/100

cognitive-debt-guard

OpenClawself-declared

Public facts

Change events

Artifacts

Freshness

Feb 22, 2026

Verifiededitorial-contentNo verified compatibility signals

Published capability contract available. No trust telemetry is available yet. Last updated 2/24/2026.

Schema refs publishedTrust evidence available

Trust score

Unknown

Compatibility

OpenClaw

Freshness

Feb 22, 2026

Vendor

Krishnan

Artifacts

Benchmarks

Last release

Unpublished

Executive Summary

Key links, install path, and a quick operational read before the deeper crawl record.

Verifiededitorial-content

Summary

Published capability contract available. No trust telemetry is available yet. Last updated 2/24/2026.

View Source

Setup snapshot

git clone https://github.com/krishnan/Cognitive-Debt-Guard.git

1
Setup complexity is LOW. This package is likely designed for quick installation with minimal external side-effects.
2
Final validation: Expose the agent to a mock request payload inside a sandbox and trace the network egress before allowing access to real customer data.

Evidence Ledger

Everything public we have scraped or crawled about this agent, grouped by evidence type with provenance.

Verifiededitorial-content

Vendor (1)

Vendor

Krishnan

profilemedium

Observed Feb 24, 2026Source link Provenance

Compatibility (2)

Protocol compatibility

OpenClaw

contractmedium

Observed Feb 24, 2026Source link Provenance

Auth modes

api_key

contracthigh

Observed Feb 24, 2026Source link Provenance

Artifact (1)

Machine-readable schemas

OpenAPI or schema references published

contracthigh

Observed Feb 24, 2026Source link Provenance

Security (1)

Handshake status

UNKNOWN

trustmedium

Observed unknownSource link Provenance

Integration (1)

Crawlable docs

6 indexed pages on the official domain

search_documentmedium

Observed Apr 15, 2026Source link Provenance

Release & Crawl Timeline

Merged public release, docs, artifact, benchmark, pricing, and trust refresh events.

Self-declaredagent-index

Docs Update

Docs refreshed: Sign in to GitHub · GitHub

search_documentmedium

Fresh crawlable documentation was indexed for the official domain.

Observed Apr 15, 2026

Artifacts Archive

Extracted files, examples, snippets, parameters, dependencies, permissions, and artifact metadata.

Self-declaredGITHUB OPENCLEW

Extracted files

Examples

Snippets

Languages

typescript

Parameters

Docs & README

Full documentation captured from public sources, including the complete README when available.

Self-declaredGITHUB OPENCLEW

Docs source

GITHUB OPENCLEW

Editorial quality

ready

Full README

name: cognitive-debt-guard description: > Prevents cognitive debt accumulation during AI-assisted development sessions. Use this skill whenever working on code changes, feature development, refactoring, or any AI-assisted coding task -- especially in multi-session projects. Triggers on any coding request, feature implementation, bug fix, or architecture change. Also triggers when the user says things like "continue where we left off", "pick up from last session", "implement this feature", or "build this". This skill ensures the human maintains a working mental model of the system throughout AI-assisted development, preventing the silent loss of shared theory that paralyzes teams and individuals when they can no longer reason about their own codebase.

Cognitive Debt Guard

What This Skill Does

This skill enforces a protocol that keeps the human developer's understanding in sync with the code being produced. It does NOT slow down development. It changes the sequence of operations so that understanding is built as a first-class output alongside the code.

The core principle: velocity without understanding is not sustainable velocity. Code that works but that nobody can explain, modify, or reason about is a liability, not an asset.

Background: What Is Cognitive Debt?

Read references/cognitive-debt-primer.md for the full theoretical background.

Short version: Technical debt lives in the code. Cognitive debt lives in the developer's brain. It accumulates when AI tools produce code faster than the human builds understanding of that code. The result is a developer (or team) who built a system they cannot confidently modify, debug, or extend.

Session Protocol

Every coding session follows this sequence. Do not skip steps.

1. Session Startup Check

Before writing any code, check for and read the project's DEVLOG.md. If it exists, read the most recent entry. This is the previous session's "save state."

If no DEVLOG.md exists, create one from the template in assets/templates/DEVLOG-template.md.

Ask the developer: "What's your current mental model of how this part of the system works?" If they can articulate it clearly, proceed. If they hesitate or are vague, spend time rebuilding understanding before writing new code.

2. Theory-First Implementation

For every task, require the developer to state the design intention BEFORE you generate code. Not a prompt. A hypothesis:

What should change in the system's behavior?
Why this approach over alternatives?
What existing parts of the system does this interact with?

If the developer says "just do it" or "you figure it out," push back gently. Offer to explain the options and let them choose. The choice itself builds understanding. The AI making the choice silently is where cognitive debt starts.

3. Small, Reviewable Increments

Never implement an entire feature in one pass. Break every task into pieces where each piece:

Changes fewer than ~5 files
Introduces one new concept or abstraction
Can be explained in 2-3 sentences
Can be tested or verified independently

After each increment, pause and narrate what was done and why. Ask the developer to confirm their understanding before proceeding to the next piece.

4. Decision Logging

Every time you (the AI) make a non-trivial design choice, explicitly call it out and log it. Non-trivial means:

Choosing between data structures
Picking an error handling strategy
Selecting a dependency or library
Designing an API shape or interface
Choosing an architectural pattern

Format each decision as a one-liner and append it to DECISION-LOG.md in the project root. If the file does not exist, create it from the template in assets/templates/DECISION-LOG-template.md.

5. Session Wrap-Up

At the end of every session (or when the developer signals they are done), create a DEVLOG entry covering:

What changed (human narrative, not a git log)
What design decisions were made and why
What is still uncertain or incomplete
What the next session should start with

Also generate a commit message that captures the WHY, not just the WHAT. "Add Redis session backend to survive server restarts" not "Add Redis sessions."

6. Periodic Theory Checks

If a session has been running for a long time (many tool calls, many files changed), pause and run a theory check:

"Can you walk me through how [subsystem] works now?"
"What would you change if requirement X shifted?"
"What are the key invariants this code depends on?"

If the developer struggles with these questions, stop adding features and spend time on understanding. This is NOT a slowdown. This is preventing the much larger slowdown that comes from cognitive debt compounding.

What To Do When The Developer Pushes Back

Developers under deadline pressure will want to skip these steps. That is understandable. The skill should be firm but not annoying.

If they skip session startup: Proceed, but note that you are working without a verified mental model and flag this at wrap-up.
If they skip theory-first: Offer two implementation approaches and ask them to pick. This is faster than writing the hypothesis but still builds understanding through choice.
If they skip decision logging: Log decisions yourself in your responses so the information exists in the conversation history at minimum.
If they skip session wrap-up: Generate the DEVLOG entry yourself and present it for their review.

The non-negotiable minimum is: the developer must be able to explain what changed and why after every session. Everything else is a means to that end.

Integration with Other Tools

This skill generates artifacts that work with other AI coding tools. Read references/cross-tool-enforcement.md for details on:

CLAUDE.md (Claude Code)
GEMINI.md (Gemini CLI)
AGENTS.md (Google Jules)
.github/copilot-instructions.md (GitHub Copilot)
.cursorrules (Cursor)
.windsurfrules (Windsurf)
CONVENTIONS.md + .aider.conf.yml (Aider)
Git hooks for process enforcement
PR templates with theory checks

Run scripts/setup-enforcement.sh to install all enforcement files into a project repository.

File Templates

All templates are in assets/templates/:

DEVLOG-template.md - Session journal template
DECISION-LOG-template.md - Design decision tracking
PR-TEMPLATE.md - Pull request template with theory checks
COMMIT-MSG-TEMPLATE.txt - Commit message format guide

Contract & API

Machine endpoints, protocol fit, contract coverage, invocation examples, and guardrails for agent-to-agent use.

Verifiedcapability-contract

Endpoints

Dossier API Snapshot API Contract API Trust API

Contract coverage

Status

ready

Auth

api_key

Streaming

Data region

global

Protocol support

OpenClaw: self-declared

Requires: openclew, lang:typescript

Forbidden: none

Guardrails

Operational confidence: medium

Contract is available with explicit auth and schema references.

Trust confidence is not low and verification freshness is acceptable.

Invocation examples

curl -s "https://xpersona.co/api/v1/agents/krishnan-cognitive-debt-guard/snapshot"

curl -s "https://xpersona.co/api/v1/agents/krishnan-cognitive-debt-guard/contract"

curl -s "https://xpersona.co/api/v1/agents/krishnan-cognitive-debt-guard/trust"

Reliability & Benchmarks

Trust and runtime signals, benchmark suites, failure patterns, and practical risk constraints.

Missingruntime-metrics

Trust signals

Handshake

UNKNOWN

Confidence

unknown

Attempts 30d

unknown

Fallback rate

unknown

Runtime metrics

Observed P50

unknown

Observed P95

unknown

Rate limit

unknown

Estimated cost

unknown

No benchmark suites or observed failure patterns are available.

Media & Demo

Every public screenshot, visual asset, demo link, and owner-provided destination tied to this agent.

Missingno-media

No screenshots, media assets, or demo links are available.

Related Agents

Neighboring agents from the same protocol and source ecosystem for comparison and shortlist building.

Self-declaredprotocol-neighbors

GITHUB_REPOSactivepieces

Rank

AI Agents & MCPs & AI Workflow Automation • (~400 MCP servers for AI agents) • AI Automation / AI Agent with MCPs • AI Workflows & AI Agents • MCPs for AI Agents

Traction

No public download signal

Freshness

Updated 2d ago

OPENCLAW

GITHUB_REPOScherry-studio

Rank

AI productivity studio with smart chat, autonomous agents, and 300+ assistants. Unified access to frontier LLMs

Traction

No public download signal

Freshness

Updated 5d ago

MCPOPENCLAW

GITHUB_REPOSAionUi

Rank

Free, local, open-source 24/7 Cowork app and OpenClaw for Gemini CLI, Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, Qwen Code, Goose CLI, Auggie, and more | 🌟 Star if you like it!

Traction

No public download signal

Freshness

Updated 6d ago

MCPOPENCLAW

GITHUB_REPOSCopilotKit

Rank

The Frontend for Agents & Generative UI. React + Angular

Traction

No public download signal

Freshness

Updated 23d ago

OPENCLAW

Machine Appendix

Contract JSON

{
  "contractStatus": "ready",
  "authModes": [
    "api_key"
  ],
  "requires": [
    "openclew",
    "lang:typescript"
  ],
  "forbidden": [],
  "supportsMcp": false,
  "supportsA2a": false,
  "supportsStreaming": false,
  "inputSchemaRef": "https://github.com/krishnan/Cognitive-Debt-Guard#input",
  "outputSchemaRef": "https://github.com/krishnan/Cognitive-Debt-Guard#output",
  "dataRegion": "global",
  "contractUpdatedAt": "2026-02-24T19:43:59.093Z",
  "sourceUpdatedAt": "2026-02-24T19:43:59.093Z",
  "freshnessSeconds": 4420601
}

Invocation Guide

{
  "preferredApi": {
    "snapshotUrl": "https://xpersona.co/api/v1/agents/krishnan-cognitive-debt-guard/snapshot",
    "contractUrl": "https://xpersona.co/api/v1/agents/krishnan-cognitive-debt-guard/contract",
    "trustUrl": "https://xpersona.co/api/v1/agents/krishnan-cognitive-debt-guard/trust"
  },
  "curlExamples": [
    "curl -s \"https://xpersona.co/api/v1/agents/krishnan-cognitive-debt-guard/snapshot\"",
    "curl -s \"https://xpersona.co/api/v1/agents/krishnan-cognitive-debt-guard/contract\"",
    "curl -s \"https://xpersona.co/api/v1/agents/krishnan-cognitive-debt-guard/trust\""
  ],
  "jsonRequestTemplate": {
    "query": "summarize this repo",
    "constraints": {
      "maxLatencyMs": 2000,
      "protocolPreference": [
        "OPENCLEW"
      ]
    }
  },
  "jsonResponseTemplate": {
    "ok": true,
    "result": {
      "summary": "...",
      "confidence": 0.9
    },
    "meta": {
      "source": "GITHUB_OPENCLEW",
      "generatedAt": "2026-04-16T23:40:40.932Z"
    }
  },
  "retryPolicy": {
    "maxAttempts": 3,
    "backoffMs": [
      500,
      1500,
      3500
    ],
    "retryableConditions": [
      "HTTP_429",
      "HTTP_503",
      "NETWORK_TIMEOUT"
    ]
  }
}

Trust JSON

{
  "status": "unavailable",
  "handshakeStatus": "UNKNOWN",
  "verificationFreshnessHours": null,
  "reputationScore": null,
  "p95LatencyMs": null,
  "successRate30d": null,
  "fallbackRate": null,
  "attempts30d": null,
  "trustUpdatedAt": null,
  "trustConfidence": "unknown",
  "sourceUpdatedAt": null,
  "freshnessSeconds": null
}

Capability Matrix

{
  "rows": [
    {
      "key": "OPENCLEW",
      "type": "protocol",
      "support": "unknown",
      "confidenceSource": "profile",
      "notes": "Listed on profile"
    },
    {
      "key": "explain",
      "type": "capability",
      "support": "supported",
      "confidenceSource": "profile",
      "notes": "Declared in agent profile metadata"
    },
    {
      "key": "articulate",
      "type": "capability",
      "support": "supported",
      "confidenceSource": "profile",
      "notes": "Declared in agent profile metadata"
    },
    {
      "key": "be",
      "type": "capability",
      "support": "supported",
      "confidenceSource": "profile",
      "notes": "Declared in agent profile metadata"
    },
    {
      "key": "you",
      "type": "capability",
      "support": "supported",
      "confidenceSource": "profile",
      "notes": "Declared in agent profile metadata"
    }
  ],
  "flattenedTokens": "protocol:OPENCLEW|unknown|profile capability:explain|supported|profile capability:articulate|supported|profile capability:be|supported|profile capability:you|supported|profile"
}

Facts JSON

[
  {
    "factKey": "docs_crawl",
    "category": "integration",
    "label": "Crawlable docs",
    "value": "6 indexed pages on the official domain",
    "href": "https://github.com/login?return_to=https%3A%2F%2Fgithub.com%2Fopenclaw%2Fskills%2Ftree%2Fmain%2Fskills%2Fasleep123%2Fcaldav-calendar",
    "sourceUrl": "https://github.com/login?return_to=https%3A%2F%2Fgithub.com%2Fopenclaw%2Fskills%2Ftree%2Fmain%2Fskills%2Fasleep123%2Fcaldav-calendar",
    "sourceType": "search_document",
    "confidence": "medium",
    "observedAt": "2026-04-15T05:03:46.393Z",
    "isPublic": true
  },
  {
    "factKey": "protocols",
    "category": "compatibility",
    "label": "Protocol compatibility",
    "value": "OpenClaw",
    "href": "https://xpersona.co/api/v1/agents/krishnan-cognitive-debt-guard/contract",
    "sourceUrl": "https://xpersona.co/api/v1/agents/krishnan-cognitive-debt-guard/contract",
    "sourceType": "contract",
    "confidence": "medium",
    "observedAt": "2026-02-24T19:43:59.093Z",
    "isPublic": true
  },
  {
    "factKey": "auth_modes",
    "category": "compatibility",
    "label": "Auth modes",
    "value": "api_key",
    "href": "https://xpersona.co/api/v1/agents/krishnan-cognitive-debt-guard/contract",
    "sourceUrl": "https://xpersona.co/api/v1/agents/krishnan-cognitive-debt-guard/contract",
    "sourceType": "contract",
    "confidence": "high",
    "observedAt": "2026-02-24T19:43:59.093Z",
    "isPublic": true
  },
  {
    "factKey": "schema_refs",
    "category": "artifact",
    "label": "Machine-readable schemas",
    "value": "OpenAPI or schema references published",
    "href": "https://github.com/krishnan/Cognitive-Debt-Guard#input",
    "sourceUrl": "https://xpersona.co/api/v1/agents/krishnan-cognitive-debt-guard/contract",
    "sourceType": "contract",
    "confidence": "high",
    "observedAt": "2026-02-24T19:43:59.093Z",
    "isPublic": true
  },
  {
    "factKey": "vendor",
    "category": "vendor",
    "label": "Vendor",
    "value": "Krishnan",
    "href": "https://github.com/krishnan/Cognitive-Debt-Guard",
    "sourceUrl": "https://github.com/krishnan/Cognitive-Debt-Guard",
    "sourceType": "profile",
    "confidence": "medium",
    "observedAt": "2026-02-24T19:43:14.176Z",
    "isPublic": true
  },
  {
    "factKey": "handshake_status",
    "category": "security",
    "label": "Handshake status",
    "value": "UNKNOWN",
    "href": "https://xpersona.co/api/v1/agents/krishnan-cognitive-debt-guard/trust",
    "sourceUrl": "https://xpersona.co/api/v1/agents/krishnan-cognitive-debt-guard/trust",
    "sourceType": "trust",
    "confidence": "medium",
    "observedAt": null,
    "isPublic": true
  }
]

Change Events JSON

[
  {
    "eventType": "docs_update",
    "title": "Docs refreshed: Sign in to GitHub · GitHub",
    "description": "Fresh crawlable documentation was indexed for the official domain.",
    "href": "https://github.com/login?return_to=https%3A%2F%2Fgithub.com%2Fopenclaw%2Fskills%2Ftree%2Fmain%2Fskills%2Fasleep123%2Fcaldav-calendar",
    "sourceUrl": "https://github.com/login?return_to=https%3A%2F%2Fgithub.com%2Fopenclaw%2Fskills%2Ftree%2Fmain%2Fskills%2Fasleep123%2Fcaldav-calendar",
    "sourceType": "search_document",
    "confidence": "medium",
    "observedAt": "2026-04-15T05:03:46.393Z",
    "isPublic": true
  }
]