What is the Telos protocol in Claude Code?

Telos is a specialized skill for co-constructing defined goals. It uses a structured dialogue where Claude proposes concrete candidates for outcomes and metrics, which the user then shapes into a final GoalContract.

How does Telos differ from standard requirements gathering?

Unlike traditional gathering which assumes the user has all the answers, Telos assumes neither party has the complete answer and uses AI proposals to surface hidden constraints and preferences.

Can I skip the Telos process?

Yes. Telos is designed to be elidable. Users can explicitly decline goal definition or trigger an early exit if they feel the current state of the goal is already sufficient.

What is a GoalContract?

A GoalContract is the formal output of the Telos protocol. it defines the desired result, how success is measured, what is out of scope, and which priorities should be weighted most heavily during execution.

When does the Telos skill activate?

It can be manually invoked via the /goal command or automatically suggested by Claude when it detects that two or more dimensions (outcome, metric, boundary, or priority) are missing from a request.

Telos Goal Definition

Name: Telos Goal Definition
Author: jongwony

byjongwony

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Productividad y Flujo de Trabajo

Co-constructs clear, actionable goals from vague user intent through a structured dialogic protocol and falsifiable proposals.

Telos (from the Greek word for 'end' or 'purpose') is an epistemic protocol for Claude Code designed to resolve goal indeterminacy before execution begins. Rather than simply extracting requirements, Telos uses a 'Construction over Extraction' approach where Claude proposes concrete end states, success metrics, boundaries, and priorities for the user to shape. This collaborative process builds a robust GoalContract, ensuring that both the AI and the user are perfectly aligned on what success looks like, which significantly reduces rework and misaligned implementations in complex software tasks.

Características Principales

01AI-generated falsifiable proposals that surface trade-offs and value conflicts early.

02Structured 'Accept, Modify, Reject' feedback loop for precise goal shaping.

03Phase-based transitions that provide a clear audit trail from vague idea to defined end state.

0488 GitHub stars

05Interactive GoalContract construction covering Outcomes, Metrics, Boundaries, and Priorities.

06Automated detection of vague intent to trigger goal-setting phases before implementation.

Casos de Uso

01Resolving architectural trade-offs by forcing priority definitions before any code is written.

02Transforming high-level 'brainstorming' ideas into technical specifications with clear success criteria.

03Defining project scope and explicit non-goals to prevent scope creep in automated coding tasks.

Características Principales

01AI-generated falsifiable proposals that surface trade-offs and value conflicts early.

02Structured 'Accept, Modify, Reject' feedback loop for precise goal shaping.

03Phase-based transitions that provide a clear audit trail from vague idea to defined end state.

0488 GitHub stars

05Interactive GoalContract construction covering Outcomes, Metrics, Boundaries, and Priorities.

06Automated detection of vague intent to trigger goal-setting phases before implementation.

Casos de Uso

01Resolving architectural trade-offs by forcing priority definitions before any code is written.

02Transforming high-level 'brainstorming' ideas into technical specifications with clear success criteria.

03Defining project scope and explicit non-goals to prevent scope creep in automated coding tasks.