Hey HN, author here.
I noticed a pattern: every time I asked my AI assistant a complex question
like "should we migrate to microservices or optimize the monolith?", I'd get
the same generic pros-and-cons list. The model has the reasoning capability —
it just lacks structured mental models.
So I built Think Better: a set of open-source "AI Skills" (following the
Anthropic skill format) that inject professional decision science frameworks
directly into your local AI setup.
How it works under the hood:
- The skills contain 16 CSV files with 155 structured knowledge records
(decision frameworks, cognitive biases, decomposition methods, mental models)
- A Python BM25 search engine ranks the most relevant frameworks for your
specific problem type
- When you describe a decision or problem, the skill automatically classifies
it, recommends the best framework, warns about cognitive biases, and
generates a complete evaluation plan
For example, if you say "I'm defending our old tech stack because I wrote it",
the system triggers Status Quo Bias detection and forces you to calculate the
cost of inaction. If you're analyzing why revenue dropped 20%, it builds a
MECE Profitability Tree (Revenue = Price × Volume, Costs = Fixed + Variable)
and decomposes layer by layer.
What it includes:
- 10 decision frameworks (Hypothesis Trees, Pre-mortem, Weighted Matrix...)
- 12 cognitive biases with auto-detection rules and debiasing remedies
- 10 decomposition methods (MECE, Issue Tree, Profitability Tree...)
- 12 mental models (First Principles, Inversion, Bayesian Updating...)
Everything runs 100% locally. No API keys, no telemetry. The Go CLI is just
an installer that mounts the Python/CSV skills into your AI workspace:
./bin/think-better init --ai claude → .claude/skills/
./bin/think-better init --ai copilot → .github/prompts/
I'd love feedback on:
1. Are there frameworks or biases missing that you'd want?
2. Would you prefer a different skill format (e.g., for Cursor, Windsurf)?
3. Any thoughts on the BM25 approach vs. embedding-based search?
GitHub: https://github.com/HoangTheQuyen/think-better