Guide · Agent skill
How to use the Elon Musk Thinking Lens agent skill
Updated · written with AI from the project's own documentation and checked against our catalogue data
The elon-musk-perspective skill is an agent skill that makes your AI agent analyse questions through a Musk-inspired thinking framework. It breaks down costs against physical or raw-material limits, asks whether a feature should exist at all, and challenges industry assumptions. This guide explains what a skill is, how to install this one, how to trigger it with natural requests, and where it is weak.
Elon Musk Thinking Lensalchaincyf/nuwa-skill · MIT Download the skill Quick start
- 1Download the ZIP. Download the elon-musk-perspective ZIP from this page.
- 2Unzip into a skills folder. Unzip it into ~/.claude/skills/ for all projects, or into a project's .claude/skills/ folder for one project.
- 3Or upload it in the Claude apps. In the Claude apps, open Settings, then Capabilities, then Skills, and upload the skill.
- 4Send a trigger phrase. Use a phrase such as elon perspective or 从第一性原理想想 with a concrete product, cost or plan.
- 5Give numbers. Include prices, costs or specs so the agent has something to break down.
- 6Check looked-up facts. Review the facts the agent researched before using any cost or market figure.
- 7Exit when finished. Say 退出 or 切回正常 to return to normal replies.
What an agent skill is and what this one does
An agent skill is a folder of instructions that an AI agent loads when a request matches it. This skill is defined in a file called SKILL.md, plus reference files that hold the research behind it.
Once it is active, the agent answers in the voice of a Musk-inspired framework. The skill describes five mental models, eight decision heuristics and a writing style. It states that this is a framework built from public statements, not the real Elon Musk.
- Breaks down cost structures and looks for the gap between theoretical minimum and current price
- Questions whether a requirement or feature should exist before optimising it
- Assesses whether a technical approach is physically feasible
- Judges whether vertical integration beats outsourcing
- Asks the agent to look up current facts before giving cost or market numbers
Install the skill from a ZIP file
Download the ZIP from this page and unzip it. Then place the folder in one of two locations: your personal skills folder, or a project's own skills folder.
Option one is your user-wide folder. Option two is the .claude/skills/ folder inside a specific project, which applies only to that project. You can also upload the skill in the Claude apps under Settings, then Capabilities, then Skills.
- Personal install: unzip into ~/.claude/skills/
- Project install: unzip into the .claude/skills/ folder of your project
- Claude apps: Settings, then Capabilities, then Skills, then upload
~/.claude/skills/Trigger the skill with natural requests
The skill activates on specific phrases. You can use the Chinese trigger phrases from the source or the English ones. The source lists 用马斯克的视角 (use Musk's perspective), 马斯克会怎么看 (what would Musk think), Musk模式, 马斯克perspective and elon perspective.
It also activates on method-style requests such as 这个成本合理吗 (is this cost reasonable), 从第一性原理想想 (think from first principles), 白痴指数是多少 (what is the idiot index), 五步算法 (the five-step algorithm) and 能不能垂直整合 (could we vertically integrate). The skill is designed not to fire on generic questions like 能不能更快 (can it be faster) or 流程有必要吗 (is this process necessary).
- Say elon perspective and paste a product description to get a critique
- Ask 这个成本合理吗 with a price breakdown to test cost reasonableness
- Ask 从第一性原理想想 about a design or pricing decision
- Say 退出 or 切回正常 to leave the persona and return to normal replies
Examples of what you can ask
Good inputs name a concrete product, cost or plan. The skill's core move is to break numbers down, so give it numbers. For example, a SaaS founder could ask how to reduce costs on a 50 dollar monthly plan. The skill's sample answer starts by asking for each cost line, then asks whether the feature exists for a reason before optimising infrastructure.
For a business plan, paste the assumptions and ask which ones are industry defaults rather than physical limits. For a product, list the features and ask which ones exist only because competitors have them.
- Cost teardown: list your monthly costs by line item and ask where the gap to raw-material cost is
- Feature cut: list every feature and ask who asked for each one
- Assumption check: list what everyone in your industry takes for granted and ask which is a physical limit
What it needs and how it uses the network
The skill lists no required dependencies. It does not run scripts. It does use the network, because the skill tells the agent to research current facts before answering cost, market or technology questions. The skill names WebSearch as an example tool.
Expect the agent to search before answering a factual question. The skill says the agent should prefer one extra search over inventing numbers from training data. Review what the agent looked up if the numbers matter for a real decision.
- Requirements: none listed
- Runs scripts: no
- Uses network: yes, for fact lookups
- Licence: MIT
Safety notes and limits
The persona is not the real person. The skill says it is a framework built from public statements and inferred reasoning. Do not treat its statements, rhetoric or timelines as that person's views or as forecasts. The skill itself notes that it systematically over-optimises timelines.
The skill is weak in areas it names: political, content-moderation, PR-crisis and people-management decisions, because these depend on social coordination rather than physics. It is also weak on emotional or interpersonal situations needing empathy. For those, use the skill for the cost or feature parts of a problem only.
- Do not use it for political, content-moderation, PR-crisis or people-management decisions
- Do not treat timelines it gives as reliable
- Do not rely on it for situations that need empathy
- The skill shows its disclaimer once, at first activation
Tips for better results
Give the agent real inputs. The skill's method depends on finding the gap between a theoretical limit and a current price, so it needs a price, a cost breakdown or a spec. Ask for the first-principles step first, then the feature-deletion step, since the skill orders its method that way.
Check the sources the agent looks up before acting on any number. If you want the plain assistant back in the middle of a chat, say 退出 or 不用扮演了.
- Provide a price and a cost breakdown in the same message
- Ask for the feature-deletion step before any optimisation
- Verify looked-up figures yourself before using them
- Use 退出 to leave the persona
What people use it for
- Teardown of a SaaS subscription's monthly cost lines to find where spending exceeds raw-material or infrastructure cost
- Challenging a product's feature list to decide which features should be removed first
- Stress-testing a business plan's assumptions by separating physical limits from industry habits
- Studying first-principles and cost-analysis thinking through a concrete persona
Frequently asked questions
How do I install the elon-musk-perspective skill?
Download the ZIP from this page and unzip it into ~/.claude/skills/ for personal use, or into a project's .claude/skills/ folder for one project. You can also upload it in the Claude apps under Settings, then Capabilities, then Skills.
What does the elon-musk-perspective skill need to run?
The skill lists no required dependencies. It does not run scripts, but it uses the network because it tells the agent to look up current facts before giving cost or market numbers.
Is the elon-musk-perspective skill free?
The skill is released under the MIT licence, as stated on this page. The source does not mention pricing, so check the licence terms in the repository before reuse.
Is this skill the real Elon Musk?
No. The skill says it is a framework built from public statements, not the real Elon Musk, and it shows a disclaimer once at first activation.
Why doesn't my request trigger the skill?
The skill activates on specific phrases such as elon perspective, Musk模式 or 从第一性原理想想, and on cost or first-principles requests. It is designed not to fire on generic questions like 能不能更快, so include the trigger phrase or a cost-related request.
What is the skill bad at?
The skill says it handles political, content-moderation, PR-crisis, people-management and emotional decisions poorly. It also says it over-optimises timelines, so treat its forecasts with caution.
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Our verdict
Use this skill if you want a provocative first-principles critique of a product, cost structure or business plan, or if you are learning cost-analysis thinking through a concrete persona. Pick something else for political, content-moderation, PR-crisis or people-management decisions, for emotional situations, or if you need reliable forecasts or a view you can attribute to the real person.
Download the skill