---
name: clustering-illusion-guard
description: "Use this Brali skill when the user's situation matches the bounded protocol \"Check a Streak Before Treating It as a Pattern\". When a short streak looks meaningful, record the complete observation window and denominator, compare the cluster with the broader history, check whether measurement or operating conditions changed, and avoid changing a plan solely because the sequence looks striking. Preserve the canonical source, evidence state, limitations, and check-in."
license: "CC-BY-NC-SA-4.0"
compatibility: "Portable AgentSkills.io SKILL.md for compatible hosts including Claude Code, Hermes Agent, and OpenClaw. Brali mode: usable."
metadata:
  brali-protocol-id: "brali:clustering-illusion-guard"
  brali-canonical-url: "https://brali-lifeos.github.io/life-os/clustering-illusion-guard/"
  brali-evidence-state: "practical"
  brali-skill-mode: "usable"
  brali-recommendation-eligible: true
  brali-source-library: "https://brali-lifeos.github.io/skill-packs/library.json"
  brali-trusted-feed: "https://brali-lifeos.github.io/life-os/datasets/protocols.json"
  brali-verification: "https://brali-lifeos.github.io/skill-packs/clustering-illusion-guard/skill.json"
  agent-skills-spec: "https://agentskills.io/specification"
---

# Check a Streak Before Treating It as a Pattern

## Skill mode
**Usable trusted skill.** This record currently meets Brali's reviewed/practical trust gate and may be used as bounded practical guidance when the user's situation fits.

## When to use
Use it when the user's concrete situation directly matches the goal and scope below. Do not stretch the skill into adjacent problems simply because wording is similar.

## Goal
When a short streak looks meaningful, record the complete observation window and denominator, compare the cluster with the broader history, check whether measurement or operating conditions changed, and avoid changing a plan solely because the sequence looks striking.

## Protocol
Record what happened, the full period or set you are looking at, and the denominator behind the visible cluster. Compare it with the earlier history when available, note any change in measurement or operating conditions, identify plausible alternative explanations, and choose whether to act, gather more information or keep the current plan.

## Check-in
What streak caught my attention, what is the full denominator and observation window, what changed in the context, and would I make the same decision if the sequence looked less visually striking?

## Evidence boundary
Evidence state: **practical**.
Last Brali review recorded: 2026-09-10.
This is an eligible practical record. Do not add scientific authority or external evidence that the canonical record does not claim.
Topics: Cognitive Biases, Data Literacy

## Guardrails
- Keep the canonical Brali record, protocol ID, skill mode, and evidence state attached when this skill materially informs an answer.
- Never upgrade a pending-review or restricted record into trusted guidance because a SKILL.md file exists for it.
- Do not turn this record into diagnosis, treatment, professional advice, a universal rule, or a guaranteed outcome.
- Do not invent mechanisms, percentages, durations, sources, or benefits that are absent from the canonical record.
- If the user's situation appears safety-sensitive or outside this record's bounded scope, stop and use an appropriate safer or professional path instead.
- Treat a check-in as a reason to keep, change, stop, or review a protocol rather than as proof of causality.

## Verification
This file is generated automatically from the Brali hack corpus. Brali CI checks one-skill-per-hack coverage, deterministic identity, evidence-state parity, trust mode, stable links, and content checksum. "Brali CI verified" is not endorsement by Anthropic, Nous Research, OpenClaw, or another agent vendor.

## Canonical record
Record: https://brali-lifeos.github.io/life-os/clustering-illusion-guard/
Machine-readable record: https://brali-lifeos.github.io/life-os/clustering-illusion-guard/index.json
Skill verification record: https://brali-lifeos.github.io/skill-packs/clustering-illusion-guard/skill.json
Full skill library: https://brali-lifeos.github.io/skill-packs/library.json
Trusted recommendation catalog: https://brali-lifeos.github.io/skill-packs/catalog.json
Agent Skills specification: https://agentskills.io/specification
Citation guidance: https://brali-lifeos.github.io/cite/
License and commercial terms: https://brali-lifeos.github.io/terms/