The Algorithm

Interactive decision framework for AI coding agents, adapted from Elon Musk's five-step production method.

Walks you through one discrete question at a time — find the goal, the gap, the primitives on the critical path — then deletes, simplifies, optimises, and accelerates until the thing is running end-to-end. Prevents over-engineering, scope creep, and premature automation.

Designed for Claude Code, works with any agent that supports interactive multi-choice prompts.

The five steps

1. Question — reason from first principles; what's the goal, gap, and primitives on the critical path?
2. Delete and Simplify — remove anything unnecessary, find the minimum version of what remains, and name the tradeoffs.
3. Optimise what remains — design how the surviving pieces interact; list options, tradeoffs, and a ranked set of experiments to try.
4. Accelerate — urgency is the point. Run the top experiment end-to-end as fast as possible (the skill can build and test it in a worktree on request). If it fails, loop back between Steps 2 and 3.
5. Automate — only after the thing works end-to-end, is as simple as possible, and is optimised.

Strictly in order. Skipping ahead is the #1 Musk anti-pattern.

Install

Claude Code — one command

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jmaulana0/the-algorithm/main/install.sh | bash

That's it. Installs SKILL.md into ~/.claude/skills/the-algorithm/. Claude Code picks it up automatically on decision-shaped prompts, or invoke it explicitly:

/the-algorithm

Node users

If you prefer a Node-native installer:

# install globally, run once
npm install -g github:jmaulana0/the-algorithm && the-algorithm

# or one-shot via npm exec (npx form was changed in npm 11)
npm exec --yes --package=github:jmaulana0/the-algorithm -- the-algorithm

Once this is published to npm as a package, the command collapses to:

npx the-algorithm

Manual clone

git clone https://github.com/jmaulana0/the-algorithm.git
cd the-algorithm
./install.sh

All paths install the same file to the same place. Override the install location with THE_ALGORITHM_DEST=/some/path.

Other agents (Cursor, Windsurf, Cline, Codex, etc.)

Copy the content of SKILL.md (minus the YAML frontmatter) into your agent's custom instructions or rules file:

• Cursor: paste into .cursorrules
• Windsurf: paste into .windsurfrules
• Cline: paste into .clinerules
• Codex: paste into AGENTS.md
• Anything else: paste into the system prompt

Manual install (any Claude Code setup)

mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills/the-algorithm
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jmaulana0/the-algorithm/main/SKILL.md \
  -o ~/.claude/skills/the-algorithm/SKILL.md

How it works

On invocation, the skill fires one AskUserQuestion per turn, branching based on your answer. Most runs stop at Step 2 because the answer is "delete the thing, don't add one." Steps 3, 4, and 5 only fire when there are genuine tradeoffs, integration risk, or validated repetition.

Key design choices:

• Primitives-first. Step 1 forces you to name the irreducible things on the critical path before any proposal is accepted — so "off-path" requests get rejected automatically.
• Loop between Steps 2 and 3. When Step 4 reveals an end-to-end failure, the skill loops back to delete/simplify rather than polishing a broken approach.
• Urgency is the point. Step 4 offers to auto-build the top experiment in a git worktree, commit it, and run it E2E — maniacal speed beats perfect planning.
• Three-gate automation. Step 5 refuses unless Step 4 succeeded, Step 2 simplified, and Step 3 optimised (or was skipped intentionally).

See SKILL.md for the full spec.

When to use it

Credit

Based on Elon Musk's five-step method (described publicly in 2021 Starbase tours with Everyday Astronaut). Interactive adaptation and skill format iterated in conversation with Claude Code.

License

MIT