Temper

What the source does

• FilesystemNone observedNo reads or writes in the source
• NetworkNone observedNo outbound calls in the source
• ShellNone observedNo commands run in the source
• DependenciesPinnedNothing floats
• SecretsNone foundNo keys in source

Five audit layers

Gates applied: no behavioural pass.

Follow the protocol before proceeding — if no workflow context exists yet, you MUST run /teach-maestro first.

Audit 0.4.1 · source sha 4e163a7a8095 · 19 Oct 2026Report an issue or request a re-scan

• Publishersharpdeveye GitHub userOwner of the repository this skill is read from
• Source foldersharpdeveye/maestro/source/skills/temperThe exact folder we audited
• LicenceMITAs the repository states it
• Commit pinned for this verdict4e163a7a8095A new audit runs when the source changes
• Repository statusNot archivedLast push 173 days ago
• Sandboxed runNot runSkills are read, not executed; layer L4 is skipped

Its description: Use when the workflow feels over-engineered, has premature optimizations, unnecessary abstraction layers, or complexity beyond actual requirements.

---
name: temper
description: "Use when the workflow feels over-engineered, has premature optimizations, unnecessary abstraction layers, or complexity beyond actual requirements."
argument-hint: "[target]"
category: enhancement
version: 2.0.0
user-invocable: true
---

## MANDATORY PREPARATION

Invoke /agent-workflow — it contains workflow principles, anti-patterns, and the **Context Gathering Protocol**. Follow the protocol before proceeding — if no workflow context exists yet, you MUST run /teach-maestro first.
Consult the agent-architecture reference in the agent-workflow skill for topology patterns and when multi-agent is justified.


---

Pull back from over-engineering. The most common mistake isn't building too little — it's building too much.

### Over-Engineering Detection

**Signs you've over-engineered:**

- Multi-agent for a single-agent problem
- Premature optimization before you have performance data
- Abstraction layers with one implementation
- Configuration for things that never change
- Evaluation loops on non-critical outputs
- Framework before features

### The Complexity Test

For each component:

1. **Is this solving a problem we actually have?** (not "might have")
2. **Is this the simplest solution that works?**
3. **Would removing this break anything?** (if not, remove it)
4. **Can someone new understand this in 5 minutes?** (if not, simplify)

### Tempering Strategies

**Collapse Unnecessary Agents**

```text
OVER-ENGINEERED: User → Classifier → Router → Specialist → Formatter → Checker (6 components)
TEMPERED: User → Single Agent with good prompt (1 component, same quality)
```

**Remove Premature Abstraction**

```text
OVER-ENGINEERED: class AgentOrchestrator with 5 strategy interfaces
TEMPERED: async function runWorkflow(input) — direct, readable
```

**Simplify Configuration**

```text
OVER-ENGINEERED: config.yaml (200 lines, 47 params, 3 inheritance levels)
TEMPERED: config.yaml (20 lines, essential params only, sensible defaults)
```

### What NOT to Temper

- Error handling — essential, not overhead
- Logging — saves you when things go wrong
- Input validation — prevents cascading failures
- Core guardrails — safety is non-negotiable
- The golden test set — how you know it still works

### Recommended Next Step

After tempering, run `/evaluate` to confirm quality is preserved, or `/diagnose` for a full health check.

**NEVER**:

- Temper without measuring output quality before and after
- Remove error handling in the name of simplicity
- Simplify below the level of correctness
- Remove features users actively rely on

Excerpt, first 2,593 characters of SKILL.md, verbatim from the audited commit. It is text from someone else’s repository, quoted so you can judge it before your agent reads it.

git clone https://github.com/sharpdeveye/maestro
git -C maestro checkout 4e163a7a8095

Works in

1. 2026-10-19
   !CAUTION B 89 / 100

   first audit · source 4e163a7a8095

Questions about Temper

• github.com/sharpdeveye/maestro/tree/main/source/skills/temper — the audited source at commit 4e163a7a8095 and every finding aboveObserved · 19 Oct 2026

Spotted something wrong? Report a correction · Methodology