Quick start
Goal: externalize a long reasoning chain when the problem is ambiguous, multi-stage, or likely to need course correction.
Primary entry point:
mcp__sequential_thinking__sequentialthinking
Reference notes: skills/sequential-thinking/references/sequential-thinking.md
When to use it
- Complex debugging with multiple hypotheses.
- Planning or design with tradeoffs.
- Problems where you may need to revise earlier assumptions.
- Multi-step analysis where the answer is not obvious upfront.
When not to use it
- Simple factual lookups.
- Straightforward code edits with already-clear scope.
- Cases where direct execution is faster than explicit deliberation.
Workflow
- Start with an estimated
totalThoughts. - Record each step with increasing
thoughtNumber. - Mark revisions or branches when you change course.
- Stop only when the solution is actually stable.
Guardrails
- Keep thoughts decision-oriented, not verbose for its own sake.
- Revise earlier thoughts when evidence changes.
- Do not use it as a substitute for gathering facts from code or tools.
References
- Condensed notes:
skills/sequential-thinking/references/sequential-thinking.md