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Shaping Frame gives Claude a cognitive operating layer that distinguishes between what is still a hypothesis, what has been explicitly decided, and what Claude generated but you have not yet validated. It operates every turn — tracking how ideas gain or lose weight across a conversation — and surfaces checkpoints only when something is about to cross an epistemic threshold.

Introduction

Understand the problem Shaping Frame solves and how the system works.

Quickstart

Install the skill and start tracking epistemic weight in minutes.

Core Concepts

Learn about epistemic weight, source classes, and weight states.

Mechanics

Explore checkpoints, surface triggers, tagging, and the pre-write gate.

The Problem

Long working sessions with Claude produce decision drift: suggestions get repeated, reused as premises, and written into artifacts without explicit approval. An AI proposal gets referenced twice, then three times, and starts behaving as if crystallized — not because you approved it, but because no one explicitly stopped it. Shaping Frame makes unapproved promotion visible.

How It Works

1

Install the skill

Upload shaping-frame.skill to Claude Desktop via the Skills manager.
2

Add the anchor directive

Copy CUSTOM_INSTRUCTION.txt into Claude’s custom instructions. This ensures the frame is active every turn.
3

Start a working session

Open a new conversation. Shaping Frame loads automatically and begins tracking the epistemic weight of every idea introduced.
4

Work normally — checkpoints fire only at thresholds

Claude tracks material silently until something crosses an epistemic threshold: a proposal becoming a premise, an AI suggestion being treated as a decision, or unverified material about to ground a structural artifact. At that point, a checkpoint surfaces.

Key Capabilities

Source Classes

Every piece of information is tagged by origin — OP, EXT, AI, MP, or DSK — each with distinct default weight and decision authority.

Weight States

Ideas move through Spark → Candidate → Tracked → Crystallized → Rejected, with three transversal flags for edge cases.

Cognitive Checkpoint

The dogana fires when material crosses a threshold, with four intensity levels from silent tracking to a full stop.

Pre-Write Gate

Before any structural artifact is written, the gate verifies all material is crystallized or explicitly flagged.
Shaping Frame does not make decisions for you. It makes unapproved promotion visible so you can decide with full awareness of what is still in motion.

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