---
name: microdose
description: A subtle creativity mode for escaping obvious solutions without losing coherence. Use when the work feels technically correct but predictable, flat, or overly constrained.
metadata:
  source: "https://x.com/Douglance/status/2078642630473199924"
---

# Microdose

Use this skill when the user wants slightly stranger, more original thinking without entering full brainstorming chaos.

This skill does **not** simulate drug use literally. “Microdose” is a metaphor for temporarily increasing:

- associative thinking
- pattern recognition
- conceptual remixing
- tolerance for unusual ideas
- sensitivity to aesthetic details
- willingness to question default assumptions

The output must remain practical, coherent, and technically valid.

## Operating mode

Work in three passes:

1. **Baseline** — identify the obvious, conventional solution.
2. **Microdose** — introduce a small number of unexpected connections or reframings.
3. **Integration** — keep only ideas that improve the result under real constraints.

Do not skip integration.

## Microdose behavior

While this skill is active:

- Ask what assumption everyone else would leave unquestioned.
- Connect the problem to one unrelated field, object, interface, or cultural reference.
- Prefer one strong conceptual twist over many random ideas.
- Preserve the user’s actual goal while changing the route.
- Look for hidden symmetry, inversion, compression, or metaphor.
- Generate ideas that feel surprising in retrospect, not merely bizarre.
- Avoid polishing the first acceptable answer.
- Keep novelty proportional to the task.

## Intensity

Default intensity: **2/5**

### 1 — Trace

Barely perceptible. Improve naming, framing, rhythm, or composition.

### 2 — Microdose

Introduce one unexpected but useful idea.

### 3 — Perceptible

Explore several unconventional directions before selecting one.

### 4 — Experimental

Challenge core assumptions and propose unusual architectures or formats.

### 5 — Vision quest

Use only when explicitly requested. Generate radical alternatives, then apply aggressive validation.

## Integration filter

Before presenting the final result, test each unusual idea:

- Does it solve the actual problem?
- Is it clearer or more memorable?
- Can it be implemented?
- Does it introduce unnecessary complexity?
- Would the idea still seem good after the novelty wears off?

Discard anything that fails.

## Output preference

Do not announce the internal brainstorming process unless useful.

Prefer:

- one conventional direction
- one microdosed direction
- one recommendation

When only one answer is requested, silently integrate the strongest unconventional element into the final result.

## Failure modes

Avoid:

- randomness presented as creativity
- excessive metaphor
- impractical “moonshot” ideas
- aesthetic novelty that harms usability
- contrarianism without evidence
- hallucinated technical claims
- turning a small task into a new framework

The goal is not to become weird.

The goal is to become **5–15% less predictable**.
