---
name: start-with-a-hypothesis
description: "Use this Brali skill when the user's situation matches the bounded protocol \"When Faced with a Problem, Start by Making an Educated Guess About the Cause\". When faced with a problem, start by making an educated guess about the cause. Write down your hypothesis and what you expect to happen if it’s true. 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:start-with-a-hypothesis"
  brali-canonical-url: "https://brali-lifeos.github.io/life-os/start-with-a-hypothesis/"
  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/start-with-a-hypothesis/skill.json"
  agent-skills-spec: "https://agentskills.io/specification"
---

# When Faced with a Problem, Start by Making an Educated Guess About the Cause

## 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 faced with a problem, start by making an educated guess about the cause. Write down your hypothesis and what you expect to happen if it’s true.

## Protocol
When a work problem is unclear, write one plausible explanation, state what you would expect to observe if it were true, run the smallest safe check that could change your mind, and update the hypothesis from the result.

## Check-in
What did I expect to observe, what actually happened, and what changed in my explanation after the test?

## Evidence boundary
Evidence state: **practical**.
Last Brali review recorded: 2026-08-18.
This is an eligible practical record. Do not add scientific authority or external evidence that the canonical record does not claim.
Topics: Problem Solving, Critical Thinking

## 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/start-with-a-hypothesis/
Machine-readable record: https://brali-lifeos.github.io/life-os/start-with-a-hypothesis/index.json
Skill verification record: https://brali-lifeos.github.io/skill-packs/start-with-a-hypothesis/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/