Detangler docs

Skill

The product is the comb folder: detangler. An agent reads it and writes the report. That is the first install.

detangler-apply is a second folder. It works findings you approve after a report exists. Drop it in if you want an agent to work the knots. It is not inside the comb skill.

Each folder is SKILL.md plus the reference files it reads.

The comb skill runs after a long draft has been edited a lot — especially with an agent, or by more than one person.

Download the ZIP

Download detangler.zip · Download detangler-apply.zip

Unpack one. Move the folder that contains SKILL.md into a skills directory.

On claude.ai, skip unpacking. Upload the ZIP under Settings, Customize, Skills.

Clone the repo

git clone https://github.com/Catalyst-Forge-LLC/detangler.git

Copy skills/detangler/ and, if you want the apply pass, skills/detangler-apply/ from the clone into a skills directory.

Install from npm

pnpm add -D detangler

Copy node_modules/detangler/skills/detangler/ and node_modules/detangler/skills/detangler-apply/ into a skills directory.

Skills directories

  • Claude Code, every project: ~/.claude/skills/<name>/
  • Claude Code, one repo: .claude/skills/<name>/
  • Cursor: .cursor/skills/<name>/ or ~/.cursor/skills/<name>/

The folder you drop in must be named detangler or detangler-apply and must contain SKILL.md.

What the agent does

Comb pass (detangler):

  1. Locate the draft.
  2. Extract the outline from headings (s1, s1.2).
  3. Check references, argument, repetition, and weight.
  4. Write report.md. Hand it over. Do not edit the draft.

Apply (detangler-apply):

  1. Read report.md.
  2. Work approved findings only (chat). Unnamed apply means every broken finding, then ask.
  3. One approved finding at a time, including orphans that edit creates.
  4. Re-run the comb skill. Show what is gone and what is new.

Example prompts

  • Does this still hang together after all these edits?
  • An agent has been through this file. What tangled?
  • Comb this draft.
  • Reverse outline, then tell me what broke.
  • Structural pass only. Leave the sentences.
  • Apply this report.
  • Work the broken findings.

It runs after a long draft has been edited a lot — especially with an agent — or when you name it. Not for grammar, tone, or a one-paragraph email.