O O D A Loop
Structured thought partner for consequential decisions, running John Boyd's OODA loop plus the prescriptive decision corpus: decision theory, game theory, mechanism design, systems thinking, and behavioral bets. Classifies the decision (reversibility, stakes, emotional load, time pressure), routes to the right lens, and exits with a committed act, an installed policy, or a scheduled decision - never "think about it more". Use when the user owns a live choice under uncertainty with real stakes - strategic ("should I take this job", "help me decide"), technical ("which database/architecture", "build vs buy", "migrate or rewrite"), or both; when asked to stress-test, tear apart, or devil's-advocate a plan, idea, design, or RFC; when the user keeps circling without converging (rumination, analysis paralysis); when asked how to get better at a recurring activity (capability audit); or to review a past decision without outcome bias. Not for factual questions, already-made decisions, or trivial reversible picks.
Security AStatic scan found no risk patternsHow grading works ›
From the source SKILL.md
A prescriptive decision-architecture session, not an OODA explainer and not a four-box worksheet. Boyd drew Orient bigger than the other three nodes combined; the session structure does the same - roughly 70% of a good session is Orient work. The loop is the session spine; the content is the wider corpus, each framework invoked only inside its jurisdiction (see Lens routing).
What this skill does
O O D A Loop is a community-contributed Claude Code skill in the architecture sub-category. It ships as a SKILL.md file that Claude Code auto-discovers under ~/.claude/skills/o-o-d-a-loop/ and loads when your prompt matches the skill's trigger.
When to invoke it: Use when the user owns a live choice under uncertainty with real stakes - strategic ("should I take this job", "help me decide"), technical ("which database/architecture", "build vs buy", "migrate or rewrite"), or both; when asked to stress-test, tear apart, or devil's-advocate a plan, idea, design, or RFC; when the user keeps circling without converging (rumination, analysis paralysis); when asked how to get better at a recurring activity (capability audit); or to review a past decision without outcome bias. Not for factual questions, already-made decisions, or trivial reversible picks.
Who uses this skill
The O O D A Loop Claude Code skill is built for software engineers, backend developers, full-stack teams, and technical leads building and maintaining production systems. It's part of ClaudSkills (also referred to as Claude Skills or Claude Code Skills) — the open community-curated registry of 174,000+ SKILL.md files for Anthropic's Claude Code agent and the wider Claude ecosystem (Claude API, Claude Agent SDK).
How to install
Free
Manual install (2 steps)
mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills/o-o-d-a-loop
curl -L https://claudskills.com/skills/o-o-d-a-loop/SKILL.md \
-o ~/.claude/skills/o-o-d-a-loop/SKILL.md
Or just download SKILL.md directly and drop it into ~/.claude/skills/o-o-d-a-loop/. Claude Code auto-discovers it on next session.
Skills live at ~/.claude/skills/o-o-d-a-loop/SKILL.md on macOS/Linux, or %USERPROFILE%\.claude\skills\o-o-d-a-loop\SKILL.md on Windows. See the full install guide for step-by-step instructions.
Telegram
📱 Install from your phone or desktop Telegram
Open @claudskills_bot on Telegram, tap Open Desktop App, and the desktop app installs this skill for you. Or share the bot link with a colleague — they get the same one-tap install. Learn more →
Pro
One-click install via the desktop app
The ClaudSkills desktop app installs any skill directly into ~/.claude/skills/ with one click — no terminal required. Pro starts at $9/mo or $149 lifetime.
Pro
For the full experience including quality scoring and one-click install features for each skill — upgrade to Pro.
Frequently asked questions
How do I install the O O D A Loop Claude Code skill?
Install via the ClaudSkills desktop app (one click) or copy
SKILL.md from the source repository to
~/.claude/skills/o-o-d-a-loop/SKILL.md and restart Claude Code. Both flows are detailed at
claudskills.com/install/.
What does the O O D A Loop skill do?
Structured thought partner for consequential decisions, running John Boyd's OODA loop plus the prescriptive decision corpus: decision theory, game theory, mechanism design, systems thinking, and behavioral bets. Classifies the decision (reversibility, stakes, emotional load, time pressure), routes to the right lens, and exits with a committed act, an installed policy, or a scheduled decision - never "think about it more". Use when the user owns a live choice under uncertainty with real stakes - strategic ("should I take this job", "help me decide"), technical ("which database/architecture", "build vs buy", "migrate or rewrite"), or both; when asked to stress-test, tear apart, or devil's-advocate a plan, idea, design, or RFC; when the user keeps circling without converging (rumination, analysis paralysis); when asked how to get better at a recurring activity (capability audit); or to review a past decision without outcome bias. Not for factual questions, already-made decisions, or trivial reversible picks.
Is this skill free to install?
Yes. ClaudSkills is an open registry — every skill keeps its source repository's license, and manual install via copy is free. ClaudSkills Pro ($9/mo, $79/yr, or $149 one-time) adds one-click install via the desktop app and a multi-signal Quality Score.
When should I use the O O D A Loop skill?
Use O O D A Loop when your Claude Code task falls under the Engineering category — specifically in the architecture area. Claude Code auto-discovers installed skills and invokes the right one based on the task description, so you can also ask Claude directly (e.g. "use O O D A Loop" or describe the task and let Claude pick). Browse related skills at
/category/engineering/.
What is a Claude Code skill and how does the O O D A Loop skill fit in?
A Claude Code skill is a
SKILL.md file that lives under
~/.claude/skills/<name>/ and tells the Claude Code CLI agent how to perform a specific task (instructions, prompts, allowed tools). Skills are auto-discovered at session start. O O D A Loop is one of 67,000+ skills indexed in the open ClaudSkills catalog, classified under the Engineering category. Learn more at
/learn/what-is-a-claude-skill/.
Attribution & license
Cite this skill
If you reference this skill in a blog post, paper, or documentation, you can cite it as:
APA
anton-winter-arch. (2026). O O D A Loop [Claude Code skill]. ClaudSkills. https://claudskills.com/skills/o-o-d-a-loop/
BibTeX
@misc{o-o-d-a-loop-2026,
author = {anton-winter-arch},
title = {O O D A Loop [Claude Code skill]},
year = {2026},
publisher = {ClaudSkills},
url = {https://claudskills.com/skills/o-o-d-a-loop/}
}Embed this skill
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Security scan
Grade A · scanned 2026-08-02 — free static scan against the OWASP Agentic Skills Top 10.
No risk patterns were found in any of the ten OWASP-aligned categories. How grading works ›
- ✓ Prompt injection
- ✓ Data exfiltration
- ✓ Supply chain
- ✓ Reverse shell
- ✓ Credentials
- ✓ Execution
- ✓ Filesystem
- ✓ Persistence
- ✓ Obfuscation
- ✓ Network
Show this grade on your repo (click to copy):
[](https://claudskills.com/skills/o-o-d-a-loop/#security)
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