Guide · Agent skill
How to use the Telos agent skill for goals and projects
Updated · written with AI from the project's own documentation and checked against our catalogue data
Telos is an agent skill from the LifeOS project. Once installed, it lets an AI agent read your personal TELOS files (life goals, beliefs, strategies and similar notes), update them safely, and analyze a folder of project documents for dependencies, bottlenecks and alignment. This guide explains what the skill does, how to install it, how to ask for things in plain language, and what it needs to run.
TELOS Life Goals and Project Analysisdanielmiessler/LifeOS · MIT Download the skill Quick start
- 1Download the ZIP. Download the Telos skill ZIP from the link on 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 → Capabilities → Skills and upload the ZIP.
- 4Ask in plain language. Make a request that includes a trigger word such as Telos, dashboard or dependencies, and name the project folder if you are analyzing one.
- 5Check the output. Review the agent's results and any proposed changes against the source files before you rely on them.
What an agent skill is and what Telos makes the agent do
An agent skill is a folder of instructions and optional scripts that an AI agent loads when a request matches the skill's description. Telos has two jobs. The first is personal TELOS: the agent reads and changes your goals, ideal and current state, beliefs, strategies, wisdom, lessons and wrong-beliefs stored in a folder on your computer.
The second is Project TELOS: the agent scans a directory of .md and .csv files and maps dependency chains from problems to goals to strategies to projects. It then reports bottlenecks, alignment with stated objectives, progress and risk areas.
- Reads and updates personal TELOS files at ~/.claude/LIFEOS/USER/TELOS/
- Takes a timestamped backup and writes a changelog line for every personal TELOS update
- Analyzes a project folder of .md and .csv files for dependencies, bottlenecks and alignment
- Delivers the analysis as a markdown report, narrative points, JSON, an executive summary or a Next.js dashboard
Install the Telos skill with a ZIP download
Download the Telos skill ZIP from the download link on this page. Then choose one of the following ways to install it.
For a personal install available in every project, unzip the skill into ~/.claude/skills/. To limit it to one project, unzip it into that project's .claude/skills/ folder.
In the Claude apps, you can instead upload the ZIP under Settings → Capabilities → Skills.
- Personal install: unzip into ~/.claude/skills/
- Project install: unzip into the project's .claude/skills/ folder
- Claude apps: Settings → Capabilities → Skills, then upload the ZIP
Trigger the skill with natural requests
You do not need a special command. Ask in plain language and include a word the skill responds to, such as Telos, life goals, projects, dependencies, update TELOS, narrative points, McKinsey report, dashboard, what am I wrong about, life frames or mental models.
For personal TELOS, the update requests that route to the Update tool include 'add to TELOS', 'add to ideal state', 'update my goals' and 'add book to TELOS'. For project analysis, name the project or give a path. The skill reads every .md and .csv file in that tree, so no fixed file layout is required.
The skill does not handle conversational constitutional review. The source says that job belongs to the separate Interview skill.
- Update your goals: 'Update my goals in TELOS: add a 2026 goal...' (replace with your own wording)
- Analyze a folder: 'Analyze ~/Projects/my-team-docs for dependencies and bottlenecks'
- Ask for a format: 'Give me a McKinsey report on my project folder'
- Ask for a dashboard: 'Build a dashboard for this project directory'
find $TARGET_DIR -type f \( -name "*.md" -o -name "*.csv" \)Examples of project analysis
The project scan lists every Markdown and CSV file under the target directory. The agent then builds the dependency chain PROBLEMS→GOALS→STRATEGIES→PROJECTS and looks for bottlenecks and gaps against stated objectives. Each claim in the output should trace back to a file the agent read during that run.
You can ask for the result in whatever form you need: a markdown report with Mermaid diagrams, a narrative with n=24 points, an interactive dashboard, a JSON export or an executive summary.
- Dependency chain: which problems feed which goals, strategies and projects
- Bottlenecks: items many other items depend on that are not progressing
- Alignment: projects that do or do not serve stated objectives
- Risk areas and progress summaries for a planning meeting
Build a Next.js dashboard from the shipped template
For a visual result, the skill points to a shipped scaffold called DashboardTemplate. It is a working Next.js app with a file browser, markdown and CSV rendering and dependency views. Start from it rather than from scratch, then adapt the pages to your analysis. Its README has the copy-and-run steps.
The template uses Next.js 15, TypeScript, shadcn/ui and Tailwind CSS, with the Tokyo Night Day design tokens in app/globals.css. It includes an Ask page that sends questions through your local LifeOS inference tool. Node.js and npm are needed to run it.
- Pages include Overview at / and Ask at /ask
- File editing in the browser with save, and drag-and-drop upload of .md and .csv files
- Dashboard file writes take a backup and refuse edits inside AUTOMATED regions
What Telos needs and what it does on your machine
The skill runs scripts and uses the network. The dashboard chat route starts Bun to run an Inference.ts tool, so Bun must be installed. Node.js and npm are needed to run the Next.js dashboard. The chat feature also needs a LifeOS install with ~/.claude/LIFEOS/TOOLS/Inference.ts and an LLM inference tool configured for the dashboard chat endpoint.
Personal TELOS content must never leave your private tree. The dashboard can expose it through a local web app, so do not share that app or its output publicly without reviewing it first. The skill also expects its own TELOS file layout, so it is of little use without that structure.
- Bun runtime, used by the dashboard chat route
- Node.js and npm, to run DashboardTemplate
- LifeOS install with ~/.claude/LIFEOS/TOOLS/Inference.ts, for dashboard chat only
- An LLM inference tool configured for the dashboard chat endpoint
- Do not publish personal TELOS files, and review project material before sharing outward
Tips for getting reliable results
Let the agent change personal TELOS files only through the Update tool. A hand edit can lose history or break the structure other tools parse. Every update should land in the right file, keep existing content, take a backup first and add a changelog line in updates.md.
Check dashboard data before you present it. The skill notes that project dashboards pull from several sources, so freshness needs checking. Review any personal update the agent proposes, because whether it is accurate is for you to judge.
- Keep personal TELOS in ~/.claude/LIFEOS/USER/TELOS/ so the skill can find it
- Review the changelog in updates.md after an update
- Redact sensitive details before sharing project examples
- Use the separate Interview skill for conversational constitutional review
What people use it for
- Keeping a personal goals and beliefs folder up to date through a logged, backed-up update tool
- Mapping which problems, goals, strategies and projects in a planning folder depend on each other
- Finding bottlenecks and projects that do not align with stated objectives before a planning meeting
- Producing a markdown report, narrative points or an executive summary from a set of project documents
- Starting a local Next.js dashboard that reads and edits your markdown files
Frequently asked questions
How do I install the Telos agent skill?
Download the Telos ZIP from this page and unzip it into ~/.claude/skills/ for a personal install, or into a project's .claude/skills/ folder to limit it to one project. In the Claude apps, you can upload the ZIP under Settings → Capabilities → Skills instead.
Is the Telos skill free to use?
This guide does not state pricing. The source material gives a MIT licence for the LifeOS repository, so check the licence file in the repository for the terms that apply to you.
What do I need to run Telos?
Basic use needs the skill installed and your TELOS files in ~/.claude/LIFEOS/USER/TELOS/. The dashboard needs Node.js and npm, and its chat feature also needs the Bun runtime, a LifeOS install with ~/.claude/LIFEOS/TOOLS/Inference.ts and a configured LLM inference tool.
Does Telos send my data to the internet?
The skill uses the network and runs scripts, so review what it does before use. Personal TELOS content must never leave your private tree, and the dashboard can expose it through a local web app, so do not share that output publicly.
Can Telos analyze any folder of documents?
It scans every .md and .csv file in the directory you point it at and does not require a fixed file list. The analysis is most useful when the files follow the TELOS-style structure the skill assumes, because it looks for problems, goals, strategies and projects.
How is Telos different from the Interview skill?
Telos reads and updates TELOS files and analyzes project folders. The skill says conversational constitutional review belongs to the separate Interview skill, so use that one for a conversational review.
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Our verdict
Telos suits people who already keep a TELOS-style folder of goals and beliefs, project leads who want a dependency and alignment analysis of planning documents, and developers who want a starter dashboard. It is a poor fit for anyone who does not know the TELOS framework or wants a conversational review, since the Interview skill covers that.
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