Five-Step Work Method

If this skill helps your AI agents make better decisions, give it a ⭐ on GitHub — every star helps another team avoid over-engineering and scope creep.

An engineering decision framework for AI coding agents, based on Elon Musk's five-step methodology. Battle-tested through a real production deployment cycle.

What It Does

Teaches AI agents to evaluate requirements before acting — whether writing code, making product decisions, planning strategy, or designing processes. Prevents the most common failure: solving problems that don't exist, or solving real problems with unnecessary complexity.

The Five Steps

1. Question — Is this actually needed?
2. Delete — Remove what shouldn't exist
3. Simplify — Find the minimum reliable solution
4. Accelerate — Speed up what remains
5. Automate — Only automate validated processes

Most decisions end at Step 3.

Install

Quick install (recommended) — one command

Auto-detects which AI agents you have and installs the skill into the right place. No clone, no manual file copying.

npx five-step-method

Want to target a specific agent only?

npx five-step-method claude-code   # → ~/.claude/skills/five-step-method
npx five-step-method cursor        # → ./.cursor/rules/five-step-method.md
npx five-step-method windsurf      # → ./.windsurfrules
npx five-step-method cline         # → ./.clinerules
npx five-step-method codex         # → ./AGENTS.md
npx five-step-method --list        # show all supported targets

The installer is idempotent — running it twice won't duplicate content. For Windsurf/Cline, it wraps the skill in <!-- five-step-method:begin/end --> markers so it doesn't clobber your existing rules.

Published as five-step-method on npm.

Manual install

If you'd rather copy files yourself:

Claude Code

git clone https://github.com/agidesigner/five-step-method-skill.git
cp -r five-step-method-skill/.claude/skills/five-step-method ~/.claude/skills/

OpenClaw

git clone https://github.com/agidesigner/five-step-method-skill.git
cp -r five-step-method-skill/skills/five-step-method /path/to/openclaw/skills/

Codex (OpenAI)

cp five-step-method-skill/AGENTS.md /path/to/your/project/AGENTS.md

Cursor / Windsurf / Cline

Copy the content of SKILL.md into your project's custom instructions file (.cursorrules, .windsurfrules, or agent system prompt).

Structure

five-step-method/
├── .claude/skills/five-step-method/
│   └── SKILL.md              # Claude Code
├── skills/five-step-method/
│   └── SKILL.md              # OpenClaw
├── AGENTS.md                 # Codex (same content)
├── skill.json                # Manifest
└── README.md

Origin

Extracted from a session where an AI agent:

• Built an auto-detection system → caused 3 production 500 errors
• Force-pushed tags 4x → blocked every deployment
• Stacked 5 untested changes → each fix introduced a new bug
• Eventually rolled back everything

After applying this method, the same problems were solved with single-line config changes.

Key Insight

The best code is code you didn't write. The best feature is the one you deleted. The best config is one line in .env.

Author

Ajin — @ajinpro

Founder @ Jogg.ai | Building AI for Marketing

Show Your Support

If the Five-Step Method has saved you from over-engineering, scope creep, or shipping the wrong feature, here's how you can help others find it:

• ⭐ Star this repo — the single biggest signal that helps other developers discover it on GitHub
• Share it with teammates who use Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, Cline, or Codex
• Use it in your own projects — npx five-step-method and tell people where you got it
• Open an issue with feedback, bug reports, or new agent integrations
• Tweet about it and tag @ajinpro

Every star pushes this skill into more developers' workflows — and every prevented over-engineered feature is a small win for the whole industry.

Star History

License

MIT