# Case Analysis

> >

- **Type:** Skill
- **Install:** `agentstack add skill-skyf0xx-better-thinking-case-analysis`
- **Verified:** Yes — security-reviewed for prompt injection and unsafe behavior
- **Seller:** [skyf0xx](https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/skyf0xx)
- **Installs:** 0
- **Category:** [Agent Skills](https://agentstack.voostack.com/c/agent-skills)
- **Latest version:** 0.1.0
- **License:** MIT
- **Upstream author:** [skyf0xx](https://github.com/skyf0xx)
- **Source:** https://github.com/skyf0xx/better-thinking/tree/master/skills/case-analysis
- **Website:** https://zenbin.org/p/better-thinking

## Install

```sh
agentstack add skill-skyf0xx-better-thinking-case-analysis
```

Requires the [AgentStack CLI](https://agentstack.voostack.com/docs/cli). Works with Claude Code, Cursor, and any MCP-compatible agent.

## About

# Case Analysis

IRAC generalized: identify the issue, determine the governing rules or principles, apply them to the facts, and reach a conclusion — a structure for any rule-governed judgment.

## Why

Judgment under a rule system fails when the issue is misidentified or the rule is applied to facts it doesn't actually govern. The four-part structure forces each link to be checked separately.

## Use when / Don't use when

- **Use when:** applying any rule system to a specific situation — legal questions, policy compliance, contractual interpretation, procedural rulings, or codified organizational policy.
- **Don't use when:** no governing rule system exists — this isn't for open-ended judgment calls.

## Inputs → Outputs

- **Inputs:** a fact pattern plus a governing rule system.
- **Outputs:** the issue framed precisely, the applicable rules stated, the application reasoned through, and a conclusion with its confidence and the strongest counter-analysis.

## Principles

- The issue must be stated precisely enough that the rule's applicability is testable.
- Rules have elements — check each one against the facts, not the rule's gist.
- Precedent applies through analogical mapping — the mapping must hold, not just the surface similarity.
- A conclusion should state its confidence and the best counter-argument.

## Procedure

1. **Issue:** state the precise question the facts raise under the rule system. Run `question-decomposition` if it bundles multiple issues.
2. **Rule:** identify the governing rule(s), stated with their actual elements or conditions, not summarized loosely.
3. **Application:** work through each element against the specific facts. Where similar prior cases are used, verify the analogy holds via `analogical-reasoning` rather than assuming surface similarity suffices.
4. Run `steelmanning` on the counter-position — the strongest argument the rule doesn't apply, or applies differently.
5. **Conclusion:** state the answer, its confidence, and what fact, if different, would flip it.
6. Map the full reasoning with `argument-mapping` if the analysis will be scrutinized or contested.

## Common mistakes

- Stating the issue too broadly, inviting rule-shopping.
- Applying the rule's "spirit" while skipping its actual elements.
- One-sided application with no counter-analysis.

## Examples

- Contract interpretation dispute.
- Whether an action violates a specific policy.
- Applying an internal engineering standard to an edge-case design.

## Related

- [[argument-mapping]] — structures the reasoning for scrutiny.
- [[analogical-reasoning]] — verifies precedent actually maps.
- [[steelmanning]] — ensures the counter-position gets a fair hearing.

## Source & license

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

- **Author:** [skyf0xx](https://github.com/skyf0xx)
- **Source:** [skyf0xx/better-thinking](https://github.com/skyf0xx/better-thinking)
- **License:** MIT
- **Homepage:** https://zenbin.org/p/better-thinking

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

## Pricing

- **Free** — Free

## Security capabilities

Automated source analysis of v0.1.0 — what this tool can access:

- **Network access:** no
- **Filesystem access:** no
- **Shell / process execution:** no
- **Environment & secrets:** no
- **Dynamic code execution:** no

*"Yes" means the capability is present in the source — more access means more to trust, not that it is unsafe.*


## Versions

- **0.1.0** — security scan: passed — Imported from the upstream source.

## Links

- Listing page: https://agentstack.voostack.com/l/skill-skyf0xx-better-thinking-case-analysis
- Seller: https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/skyf0xx
- Browse the marketplace: https://agentstack.voostack.com/browse

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