Promise Theory
Design and diagnose coordination in hybrid human + AI agent workforces using promise theory (Burgess/Bergstra): model agents as autonomous, coordination as voluntary offers plus acceptance, and trust as calibrated assessment. Use for delegation modeling, capability manifests and agent contracts, coordination-failure diagnosis, trust/verification calibration, convergent self-healing systems, and converting obligation-based designs to promise-based. Do not use for enforceable centralized control, legal contract drafting (promise theory is not contract law), simple single-agent prompting, imperative push-based orchestration, or tool manuals — route those to the tool's own skill.
Security AStatic scan found no risk patternsHow grading works ›
From the source SKILL.md
Promise theory (Mark Burgess; formalized with Jan Bergstra) is a method of analysis for systems of autonomous agents — humans, LLM agents, APIs, and deterministic automation. It supplies the vocabulary for designing and diagnosing delegation: promises, acceptances, assessments, breaches, and renegotiation. This skill is a thin router; load the dense material only when a row in [Load By Need](#load-by-need) matches your task.
What this skill does
Promise Theory is a community-contributed Claude Code skill in the general-misc sub-category. It ships as a SKILL.md file that Claude Code auto-discovers under ~/.claude/skills/promise-theory/ and loads when your prompt matches the skill's trigger.
Who uses this skill
The Promise Theory Claude Code skill is built for Claude Code users and developers across all disciplines looking for general-purpose AI assistance. It's part of ClaudSkills (also referred to as Claude Skills or Claude Code Skills) — the open community-curated registry of 196,000+ 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/promise-theory
curl -L https://claudskills.com/skills/promise-theory/SKILL.md \
-o ~/.claude/skills/promise-theory/SKILL.md
Or just download SKILL.md directly and drop it into ~/.claude/skills/promise-theory/. Claude Code auto-discovers it on next session.
Skills live at ~/.claude/skills/promise-theory/SKILL.md on macOS/Linux, or %USERPROFILE%\.claude\skills\promise-theory\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 Promise Theory Claude Code skill?
Install via the ClaudSkills desktop app (one click) or copy
SKILL.md from the source repository to
~/.claude/skills/promise-theory/SKILL.md and restart Claude Code. Both flows are detailed at
claudskills.com/install/.
What does the Promise Theory skill do?
Design and diagnose coordination in hybrid human + AI agent workforces using promise theory (Burgess/Bergstra): model agents as autonomous, coordination as voluntary offers plus acceptance, and trust as calibrated assessment. Use for delegation modeling, capability manifests and agent contracts, coordination-failure diagnosis, trust/verification calibration, convergent self-healing systems, and converting obligation-based designs to promise-based. Do not use for enforceable centralized control, legal contract drafting (promise theory is not contract law), simple single-agent prompting, imperative push-based orchestration, or tool manuals — route those to the tool's own skill.
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 Promise Theory skill?
Use Promise Theory when your Claude Code task falls under the General category — specifically in the general misc 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 Promise Theory" or describe the task and let Claude pick). Browse related skills at
/category/general/.
What is a Claude Code skill and how does the Promise Theory 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. Promise Theory is one of 67,000+ skills indexed in the open ClaudSkills catalog, classified under the General 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
magnus919. (2026). Promise Theory [Claude Code skill]. ClaudSkills. https://claudskills.com/skills/promise-theory/
BibTeX
@misc{promise-theory-2026,
author = {magnus919},
title = {Promise Theory [Claude Code skill]},
year = {2026},
publisher = {ClaudSkills},
url = {https://claudskills.com/skills/promise-theory/}
}Embed this skill
Promote, attribute, or link this skill from your own README, blog post, or documentation. All three snippets are free to use — no sign-up, no API key. More distribution surfaces →
Badge
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Security scan
Grade A · scanned 2026-09-28 — 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/promise-theory/#security)
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