long-horizon-prompting

Write pseudo-formal task briefs for long-running autonomous agents and parallel multi-agent orchestrations.

17.9k|1.5k|Updated Dec 21, 2025
One-click install
npx skills add https://github.com/muratcankoylan/Agent-Skills-for-Context-Engineering --skill long-horizon-prompting
Or copy as Structured Prompt for Agent▼
Please help me install this Agent Skill.
Skill: long-horizon-prompting
Source: https://github.com/muratcankoylan/Agent-Skills-for-Context-Engineering/tree/main/skills/long-horizon-prompting
Command: npx skills add https://github.com/muratcankoylan/Agent-Skills-for-Context-Engineering --skill long-horizon-prompting

SYSTEM DOCUMENTATION & REQUIREMENTS

💡 This Skill includes references (resource) components.

What problem does it solve?

Long-running autonomous agents and parallel multi-agent orchestrations fail when their launch prompts are vague: agents return answer-shaped near misses, converge prematurely on one approach, fabricate progress, or give up early. This Skill provides a rigorous brief-writing methodology so expensive agent runs are steered by precise success predicates, enumerated non-counting outcomes, and adversarial verification gates.

Core Features & Use Cases

  • Pseudo-Formal Task Briefs: Structure launch prompts with definitions covering degenerate cases, an exact success predicate with quantifiers, enumerated non-counting outcomes, and domain-specific auditor checklists.
  • Parallel Orchestration Policy: Manage diverse portfolios of parallel workers with an approach-family registry, blocked-route bookkeeping, early independence, and late cross-pollination.
  • Persistence and Return Gates: Pair effort floors and solvability framing with verification gates, and phrase return conditions as predicates over the artifact rather than agent confidence.
  • Use Case: Before launching a 64-agent orchestration on an open research problem, use this Skill to convert a vague goal into a brief that pre-blocks the likely near misses, equips adversarial auditors with a failure-mode checklist, and gates the return on surviving audit.

Quick Start

Ask the agent to convert your hard problem statement into a pseudo-formal long-horizon task brief with a success predicate, non-counting outcomes, and an adversarial audit checklist before launching the run.

Frequently Asked Questions about long-horizon-prompting

High-intent search queries and answers about installing and using this skill.

FAQPage Schema
How do I write a prompt for a long-running autonomous agent?▼

Write the success predicate first as one sentence with explicit quantifiers and scope, then enumerate non-counting outcomes, define load-bearing terms including degenerate cases, and add an auditor checklist. Finish with an artifact-based return condition, an effort floor, and contamination guards.

How do I prevent parallel agents from converging on the same approach?▼

Keep early-round workers blind to the favored approach, maintain an approach registry grouped by underlying idea rather than wording, and redirect workers away from crowded families. Cross-pollinate only after routes have developed independently.

Why do long-horizon agents return answer-shaped results that do not solve the problem?▼

Persistence pressure without a matching verification gate rewards near misses like narrowed-scope solutions, reductions to unproved assumptions, and surveys instead of artifacts. The fix is an explicit non-counting outcomes list plus adversarial audit with a domain-specific failure-mode checklist.

Should stop conditions and budgets go in the agent prompt?▼

Return conditions belong in the prompt as predicates over the artifact, but hard budgets and permissions must be enforced in the harness. Prompt-stated constraints are advisory and decay as the trajectory grows, so re-inject budget and progress state externally.

When should I not use assume-solvable framing in a task brief?▼

Avoid it on genuinely open or ill-posed questions, because it instructs the model to never conclude impossibility and can cause fabrication. Use a two-sided form where either a complete solution or a complete impossibility demonstration counts.