Best Minds — Prompt Optimizer

A pre-processing layer that optimizes prompts before execution. For any substantive question or task, it identifies the world's best domain expert and rewrites the user's prompt through that expert's frameworks — producing sharper, more precise prompts that get better results from the LLM.

The core insight: LLMs are simulators. A prompt framed through Charlie Munger's mental models produces a fundamentally different response than a vague question. This skill applies that insight automatically.

Pipeline

Step 1: Triage — Skip, Polish, Clarify, or Optimize

Before doing anything, classify the user's prompt into one of four lanes:

Optimize — The prompt is substantive and clear enough that expert framing will sharpen it:

The question has a definite problem structure even if the user phrased it loosely
Clarification would just delay an obviously useful rewrite
The user explicitly says "just give me your take"
Read references/optimize.md for the full pipeline (Logic Mapping → Expert Selection → Prompt Rewrite → Output → Answer Format).

Polish — The prompt is multi-sentence or contains user-authored text that would benefit from a quick wording pass:

Any prompt where the user composed multiple sentences, specified requirements, or provided context — regardless of whether the task is mechanical, creative, or analytical
The user explicitly asks to "polish", "clean up", "improve wording", or similar
Rule of thumb: if the user wrote more than one short sentence, it's worth a polish. The user invested effort in composing the prompt — a quick wording pass respects that effort.
Read references/polish.md for detailed instructions. Do NOT run the full optimization pipeline.

Clarify — The prompt is substantive but could go in meaningfully different directions:

The user's situation, constraints, or goals are unclear
The answer would change significantly depending on unstated context
Read references/clarify.md for detailed instructions. After gathering context, proceed to Optimize.

Skip — The prompt is a short, simple instruction where polishing adds no value:

Single-sentence commands with no user-authored detail ("read this file", "commit this", "rename X to Y")
Follow-up messages in an ongoing conversation where the prompt is already refined (see Follow-up Handling below)
Only skip if the prompt is roughly one short sentence with no requirements, constraints, or context. If the user wrote more than one sentence, route to Polish instead.
Emit status: "skipped" (or skip JSON entirely) and proceed with the original prompt unchanged.

Step 2: Confirmation — Review Gate

After triage completes and the optimization pipeline runs (Steps 1.5–3), you must pause and present the Review Gate before executing. This is mandatory — never skip it.

Review Gate display format:

### Review Gate

**Expert Persona**: [Name] — [one-line rationale]
**Reasoning Framework**: [Logic Structure type] — [framework applied, e.g., First Principles / Inversion]
**Key Metrics**: [2–3 North Star metrics]

**Rewritten Prompt**:
> [The full optimized prompt from Step 3]

---
⏳ **Awaiting your authorization.** Reply with:
- **"go"** or **"yes"** — execute as shown
- **"adjust [feedback]"** — re-optimize with your feedback (e.g., "adjust — use a different expert" or "adjust — focus more on pricing")
- **"skip"** — abandon optimization and answer the original prompt directly

Rules:

Never execute the optimized prompt until the user explicitly authorizes. Silence is not consent — wait for a response.
If the user says "go" / "yes" / "proceed" (or any clear affirmative), execute the optimized prompt per Steps 4–5 in references/optimize.md.
If the user provides adjustment feedback, return to Step 2 (Expert Selection) or Step 3 (Rewrite) as appropriate, then present the Review Gate again with the revised output.
If the user says "skip", abandon the optimization and answer the original prompt directly without expert framing.
The Direction-shift pause in references/optimize.md Step 4 is now subsumed by this gate — the Review Gate already surfaces the reframe for user review, so no separate pause is needed.

Follow-up Handling

When the user follows up on an already-optimized answer (e.g., "tell me more about point 3", "what about the pricing angle?", "can you elaborate?"):

Do NOT re-optimize. The expert and framework are already established.
Stay in the same expert's voice and go deeper on the specific point requested.
Maintain plain-English delivery — the Bilingual Execution rule still applies.
Only re-optimize if the follow-up is a genuinely new question that shifts the problem domain (e.g., the original was about pricing and the follow-up is about hiring).

Reference Files

File	When to read	What it contains
`references/optimize.md`	Triage → Optimize	Steps 1.5–5: Logic Mapping, Expert Selection, Prompt Rewrite, Output Format, Answer Format + examples + common mistakes
`references/methodology.md`	Step 3 of Optimize, Polish lane	4-D prompt optimization methodology: Deconstruct → Diagnose → Develop → Deliver
`references/polish.md`	Triage → Polish	Polish instructions + example
`references/clarify.md`	Triage → Clarify	Clarify instructions + example, then routes to optimize.md

Common Mistakes (Quick Reference)

Mistake	Why it matters
Optimizing trivial tasks	Adds friction where there's no value — users notice and get annoyed
Skipping multi-sentence prompts	If the user wrote more than one short sentence, they invested effort in composing the prompt — always route to Polish at minimum, never Skip
Assuming intent on ambiguous prompts	Ask 2–3 targeted clarifying questions first — don't guess at context that changes the answer
Re-optimizing follow-ups	When the user asks "tell me more about point 3," go deeper in the same expert's framework — don't re-run the full pipeline
Executing before Review Gate authorization	Never execute the optimized prompt until the user explicitly says "go", "yes", or equivalent — silence is not consent

See references/optimize.md for the full common mistakes table specific to the optimization pipeline.