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Aperture Oscillation

Checks a design question at narrow and wide zoom levels to catch components that fight the wider system.

Source Download skill
Repository
danielmiessler/LifeOS
Stars
19,682
Licence
MIT
Files
2 files

What it does

When you ask an AI agent a scoping or design question, this skill makes it answer the same question twice: once focused narrowly on the component by itself, and once from the view of the whole system it must fit into. It then names where those two answers disagree, since that gap is the useful output. The goal is to catch a part that works fine alone but conflicts with the rest of the system before anyone builds it.

Great for

  • Developers deciding how a new feature or component should fit into an existing system
  • Architects or product leads reviewing whether a proposed scope is too narrow or too broad
  • People using the LifeOS personal-system framework who want a coherence check on a design

Skip it if

  • Questions about different analytical angles or perspectives on one problem; the skill's own description says to use IterativeDepth for that instead
  • Anyone expecting a verified or authoritative architecture decision: the output is an AI-generated synthesis that a human reviewer must judge, as the skill's own evals section states

Try asking

  • “Oscillate the scope of a caching layer for session data: does the narrow design fit the wider Life OS memory system?”
  • “Zoom in and out on adding webhook support to our feed pipeline and tell me where the tensions are”
  • “Run a tactical vs strategic check on this proposed notification service before we start building it”
Step-by-step guide: how to use Aperture OscillationInstall, first run, examples, tips and FAQs

Install in 3 steps

  1. 1

    Download the skill

    The ZIP contains the 2 original files, the MIT licence and an attribution note.

    ApertureOscillation.zip
  2. 2

    Add it to your agent

    Claude Code (all projects)

    mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && unzip ApertureOscillation.zip -d ~/.claude/skills/

    Claude Code / Agent SDK (this project only)

    mkdir -p .claude/skills && unzip ApertureOscillation.zip -d .claude/skills/

    Claude apps (web/desktop): Settings → Capabilities → Skills → Upload skill, and choose the ZIP.

  3. 3

    Ask for the task

    No special command needed — the agent reads the skill's description and loads it when your request matches. Try one of the prompts above.

Get better results

  • Give a concrete tactical target and a clear strategic context; the examples in SKILL.md show the level of detail that produces useful tensions.
  • If your question is really about different angles on one problem, use IterativeDepth instead, or run it first and then this skill.
  • Treat the synthesis as a prompt for human review, not a final verdict, and check that no material tension was dropped.

What's inside

  • Intents/Oscillate.md
  • SKILL.md

Redistributed unmodified from danielmiessler/LifeOS under the MIT licence. The assessment was drafted with AI from the skill's files on 2026-10-29. Skills can instruct your agent to run code — read SKILL.md and any scripts before installing.