The Case

A skill should be the package, not the source.

The Foundry Pattern begins with one inversion: keep domain knowledge in a source people can examine and improve, then cast the parts an agent needs into portable artifacts.

Start with the claim. From there, follow either of its consequences, approach it through FAIR, or locate it in the surrounding field.

The main path

Follow the argument

One starting point, followed by two branches. The branches deepen different consequences; neither is a prerequisite for the other.

01 Start here · The inversion Skills: Package, Not Source Why the knowledge base is the source of record and the skill is something it produces.

02 Traceability + trust The Two Assets What remains valuable when models can regenerate the instructions. Follow this branch 03 Structure + participation The Explainer Is the Source Why the source must remain intelligible to the people responsible for it. Follow this branch

An outside lens

Arrive through FAIR

This is not required reading for the main argument. It is the path for readers who already think in terms of research infrastructure and data stewardship.

For research infrastructure + data stewardship FAIR Skills: The Same Lesson, Twice The same source-and-package distinction, reached through provenance, interoperability, licensing, and reuse. Read through this lens

The field map

Locate the pattern

Test the claimed niche against both stable kinds of approach and a dated landscape of specific systems.

05 Approaches + systems Comparisons Locate the pattern among wikis, directly authored skills, generated documentation, runtime retrieval, and neighboring systems.