Atomise

Atomise - Atom of Thoughts Reasoning

Decompose complex problems into minimal, verifiable "atoms" of thought. Unlike chain-of-thought (linear, error-accumulating), AoT treats each step as independently verifiable and backtracks when confidence drops.

Use for: Security analysis, architectural decisions, complex debugging, multi-step proofs. Don't use for: Simple questions, trivial calculations, information lookup.

/atomise "" [--light | --deep] [--math | --code | --security | --design]

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The Core Loop

1. DECOMPOSE -> Break into atomic subquestions (1-2 sentences each)
2. SOLVE     -> Answer leaf nodes first, propagate up
3. VERIFY    -> Test each hypothesis (counterexample, consistency, domain check)
4. CONTRACT  -> Summarize verified state in 2 sentences (drop history)
5. EVALUATE  -> Confident enough? Done. Too uncertain? Backtrack and try another path.

Repeat until confident or all paths exhausted.

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Atoms

Each atom is a minimal unit:

{id, type, content, depends_on[], confidence, verified}

| Type | Purpose | Starting Confidence | |------|---------|---------------------| | premise | Given facts | 1.0 | | reasoning | Logical inference | Inherited from parents | | hypothesis | Claim to test | Max 0.7 until verified | | verification | Test result | Based on test outcome | | conclusion | Final answer | Propagated from chain |

Confidence propagates: A child can't be more confident than its least-confident parent.

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Confidence (Honest Caveat)

These numbers are heuristic, not calibrated probabilities. They're useful for tracking relative certainty, not for actual risk assessment.

| Threshold | Meaning | |-----------|---------| | > 0.85 | Confident enough to conclude | | 0.6 - 0.85 | Needs more verification | | ** maintain or slight boost

• Partial -> reduce ~15%
• Refuted -> major reduction, likely backtrack

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Modes

Depth:

• --light - Fast: max 3 levels, 0.70 confidence threshold
• (default) - Standard: max 5 levels, 0.85 threshold
• --deep - Exhaustive: max 7 levels, 0.90 threshold

Domain (adjusts verification style):

• --math - Arithmetic checks, proof validation, boundary tests
• --code - Type checking, invariant verification, test generation
• --security - Threat modeling, attack surface, adversarial thinking
• --design - Tradeoff analysis, constraint satisfaction, feasibility

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Output

ANSWER: {result}
CONFIDENCE: {0.0-1.0} - {why}

KEY CHAIN: P1 -> R1 -> H1 -> V1 -> C1

ATOMS:
| id | type | content | conf | verified |
|----|------|---------|------|----------|
| P1 | premise | Given: ... | 1.0 | Y |
| R1 | reasoning | Therefore: ... | 0.95 | Y |
| ... | ... | ... | ... | ... |

RISKS: {what could change this}

Add --verbose for full trace, --quiet for just the answer.

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Execution Guide

Phase 0: Setup

1. Restate the problem in one sentence
2. Extract premises as atoms (given facts = 1.0, assumptions = 0.6)
3. Sketch approaches: Direct solve? Decompose? Reframe? Pick best.

Phase 1+: Iterate

1. Atomicity gate: Can you answer from verified atoms? Yes -> solve. No -> decompose.
2. Decompose: Build dependency tree of atomic subquestions
3. Solve + Verify: Leaves first, propagate up. Every hypothesis needs verification.
4. Contract: Summarize in Terminate

• Uncertain but viable? -> Continue
• Low confidence? -> Backtrack, try alternative

Backtracking

When a path yields confidence Just answer it BAD: /atomise "Rewrite this function" -> That's implementation, not reasoning BAD: Forcing conclusion despite low confidence -> Let it backtrack GOOD: /atomise for genuine uncertainty requiring structured decomposition

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## Remember

1. **Atomic = minimal.** 1-2 sentences per atom.
2. **Verify everything.** Hypotheses need tests.
3. **Contract aggressively.** Keep only what's needed for next step.
4. **Backtrack freely.** Low confidence means try another path.
5. **Confidence is heuristic.** Useful for structure, not actual probabilities.

## Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

- **Author:** [0xDarkMatter](https://github.com/0xDarkMatter)
- **Source:** [0xDarkMatter/claude-mods](https://github.com/0xDarkMatter/claude-mods)
- **License:** MIT
- **Homepage:** https://github.com/0xDarkMatter/claude-mods#readme

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.