Clairvoyance

fyi.clairvoyancev1.3.1Updated Oct 8, 2026

Software design skills for AI coding agents, inspired by A Philosophy of Software Design.

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Overview

AI-generated overview

Gives coding agents software design skills that prompt questions about module depth, interfaces, naming, and complexity during implementation and review.

What it does
Clairvoyance exposes a set of software design skills inspired by A Philosophy of Software Design. Each skill is an MCP tool with the same name and description as in the plugin, and clients supporting MCP prompts also offer each skill as a slash command. Skills cover module depth, module boundaries, information hiding, abstraction quality, error design, naming, comments, code evolution, complexity recognition, and design review. A request names only the skill, so the server never receives code, file paths, or prompts.
When to use it
Use it when an agent writes working code but does not consider design unless asked, and you want design prompts during implementation or review. It is also useful when your agent cannot install plugins or skills but can connect to MCP servers.
Requirements
A remote Streamable HTTP MCP endpoint at No sign-in, no API keys, and no environment variables are declared. The README notes that where your agent supports plugins or skills, installing those instead is preferred because the plugin also enforces each skill's tool limits and runs the design-it-twice subagent itself.
Before you install
The README states the server is read-only and that a request names only the skill, so it never receives your code, file paths, or prompts. No credentials, payments, or write actions are described. The skills are adapted from John Ousterhout's book and the project states it is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by him, Stanford University, or the publishers.

Installation

In SourceWeft

  1. Open Clairvoyance in the dashboard and add it to a workspace.
  2. Enable the server for the chats that should use its tools.

Web executable via Streamable HTTP. Remote servers run from the web runtime once configured in a workspace.

Other MCP clients

Add this to your client's mcpServers config.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcp": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://clairvoyance.fyi/mcp"
    }
  }
}

README

[Clairvoyance]

Clairvoyance

AI agents can write working code, but they don't stop to consider effective design unless asked. Clairvoyance is a set of skills inspired by John Ousterhout's A Philosophy of Software Design. Each skill gives your agent extrasensory perspective around software design, with concrete tests to see ahead of obstacles during implementation and review.

How It Works

Skills activate automatically and push your agent to ask questions like:

  • Does this interface hide real complexity, or just pass things through?
  • Can this method be understood without reading another one in a different file?
  • Is error handling pushing work onto callers that the module could handle itself?

You can also invoke them directly. Use /clairvoyance:red-flags to trigger a design smell scan, /clairvoyance:deep-modules to check interface depth and /clairvoyance:design-it-twice to compare alternatives before committing. (On platforms that install the skills without the plugin namespace, such as skills.sh, drop the clairvoyance: prefix.)

Installation

Give your agent Clairvoyance: Claude Code, skills.sh, Codex, Cursor, OpenCode, Antigravity, Factory Droid, GitHub Copilot CLI, Kimi Code, Pi.

Note: Installation differs by platform. If you use more than one, install Clairvoyance separately for each.

Claude Code

bash
/plugin marketplace add codybrom/clairvoyance/plugin install clairvoyance@clairvoyance-plugins

skills.sh

bash
npx skills add codybrom/clairvoyance --skill '*'

Codex

Requires Codex CLI ≥ 0.142.0 (codex --version). The Codex App and CLI share the same config, so this also makes Clairvoyance visible in the App's Plugins panel.

bash
codex plugin marketplace add codybrom/clairvoyancecodex plugin add clairvoyance@clairvoyance

Older Codex versions only get the 16 skills, via a manual symlink — see .codex/INSTALL.md for that fallback and full troubleshooting.

Cursor

Cursor doesn't yet have a one-line "install from a GitHub URL" flow for unlisted plugins, so clone (or symlink) the repo into Cursor's local plugins folder and restart:

bash
git clone https://github.com/codybrom/clairvoyance.git ~/.cursor/plugins/local/clairvoyance

Then check the Customize panel in the sidebar to confirm Clairvoyance and its 16 skills are listed.

OpenCode

Add Clairvoyance to the plugin array in your opencode.json (global or project-level):

json
{  "plugin": ["clairvoyance@git+https://github.com/codybrom/clairvoyance.git"]}

Restart OpenCode — no symlinks or manual skill paths needed. See .opencode/INSTALL.md for version pinning, troubleshooting, and migrating off the old symlink-based install.

Antigravity

bash
agy plugin install https://github.com/codybrom/clairvoyance

Factory Droid

Droid translates Claude Code plugin format automatically — no Clairvoyance-specific files needed.

bash
droid plugin marketplace add https://github.com/codybrom/clairvoyancedroid plugin install clairvoyance@clairvoyance-plugins

GitHub Copilot CLI

bash
copilot plugin marketplace add codybrom/clairvoyancecopilot plugin install clairvoyance@clairvoyance-plugins

Kimi Code

In Kimi Code's plugin manager (/plugins), choose Custom, or run directly:

text
/plugins install https://github.com/codybrom/clairvoyance

Kimi Code will show a third-party trust prompt since this isn't an officially curated source — confirm to proceed.

Pi

bash
pi install git:github.com/codybrom/clairvoyance

Pi auto-discovers the skills/ directory with no extra config.

llms.txt

Machine-readable skill index for LLM agents:

MCP server

If your agent can't install plugins or skills but can connect to MCP servers, use Clairvoyance's read-only MCP server at https://clairvoyance.fyi/mcp (Streamable HTTP, no sign-in). Each skill is a tool with the same name and description it has in the plugin, and clients that support MCP prompts also offer each skill as a slash command. A request names only the skill, so the server never receives your code, file paths or prompts.

  • VS Code: code --add-mcp '{"name":"clairvoyance","type":"http","url":"https://clairvoyance.fyi/mcp"}'
  • Cursor: add "clairvoyance": { "url": "https://clairvoyance.fyi/mcp" } under "mcpServers" in ~/.cursor/mcp.json
  • Claude Code: claude mcp add --transport http clairvoyance https://clairvoyance.fyi/mcp
  • Codex: codex mcp add clairvoyance --url https://clairvoyance.fyi/mcp
  • Anything else: add https://clairvoyance.fyi/mcp as a remote (HTTP) MCP server.

It's listed in the official MCP Registry as fyi.clairvoyance/mcp. One-click buttons for VS Code and Cursor are on clairvoyance.fyi/install. Where your agent supports plugins or skills, install those instead: the plugin also enforces each skill's tool limits and runs the design-it-twice subagent itself.

What's Inside

Structure & Modules

SkillCovers
deep-modulesModule depth, shallow modules, classitis, pass-through methods, interface vs implementation
module-boundariesMerge vs split, conjoined methods, method splitting, dependency minimization
information-hidingInformation leakage, temporal decomposition, partial hiding, false encapsulation
pull-complexity-downCaller burden, configuration parameters, the core asymmetry

Abstraction & Generality

SkillCovers
abstraction-qualityGenuine vs false abstractions, layer boundaries, decorators
general-vs-specialInterface generality, special-general mixture, edge-case elimination
error-designDefine errors out of existence, exception masking, aggregation, just crash

Clarity & Communication

SkillCovers
naming-obviousnessIsolation test, scope-length principle, consistency, avoid extra words
comments-docsComment types, comments-first workflow, cross-module documentation

Process & Evolution

SkillCovers
strategic-mindsetStrategic vs tactical, investment rule, tactical tornado
design-it-twiceGenerate alternatives, compare on criteria, synthesize
code-evolution"Designed this way" standard, repetition, technical debt
complexity-recognitionChange amplification, cognitive load, unknown unknowns

Diagnostic

SkillCovers
red-flagsDesign smell scan covering structure, boundaries, documentation, naming, and process
design-reviewStructured review funnel from complexity triage through structural, interface, and surface checks
diagnoseRoutes a vague symptom or complaint to the most relevant skill via a decision tree

Attribution

These skills are adapted in part from the teachings of John Ousterhout, professor of computer science at Stanford University, and his book A Philosophy of Software Design. This project is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by John Ousterhout, Stanford University, or the publishers of A Philosophy of Software Design.

If you find these skills useful, you should really buy and read the book. The skills in this repo are by no means a substitute for reading it. It is the definitive treatment of these ideas and an enjoyable read for any dev. Available from Amazon (no affiliate link). Also available in German (O'Reilly, 2021) and Chinese (Posts and Telecommunications Press, 2024).

The skills and code in this project are independently authored original works by the project's contributors. Brief quotations from the book are sometimes used with full attribution for purposes of commentary, criticism, and education. All trademarks and copyrights are the property of their respective owners.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome beyond the inspiration material, but should reinforce the core philosophy of thinking strategically about software design.

To contribute:

  1. Fork the repository
  2. Create a branch
  3. Follow the writing-skills skill from Superpowers for creating and testing skills
  4. Add your skill in skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md with optional references/ files
  5. Commit your changes and submit a PR

Updating

  • Claude Code: /plugin update clairvoyance
  • skills.sh: npx skills update codybrom/clairvoyance
  • Codex: codex plugin marketplace upgrade clairvoyance && codex plugin add clairvoyance@clairvoyance
  • Cursor: cd ~/.cursor/plugins/local/clairvoyance && git pull, then restart
  • OpenCode: doesn't auto-refresh on restart unless you pinned a tag — see .opencode/INSTALL.md
  • Antigravity: re-run agy plugin install https://github.com/codybrom/clairvoyance
  • Factory Droid: droid plugin marketplace update clairvoyance-plugins && droid plugin update clairvoyance@clairvoyance-plugins
  • GitHub Copilot CLI: copilot plugin update clairvoyance
  • Kimi Code: re-run the install command from the Custom tab
  • Pi: pi update --extensions (re-run install with a new ref if you pinned one)
  • MCP server: always serves the latest skills, so there's nothing to update.
  • llms.txt: Always up to date at clairvoyance.fyi/llms-full.txt.

See CHANGELOG.md or the GitHub releases for what changed in each version.

License

MIT License © 2026 Cody Bromley

Source: README.md at commit e8c1ed3

Tools

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Version history

1
  1. v1.3.1LatestOct 8, 2026