Working Modes Plugin Package
Codex session that began with a Critical Thinking Partner mode request and ultimately produced the Working Modes plugin: a local plugin bundle for choosing among critical thinking, rapid iteration, echo-chamber drift correction, and general mode selection.
Source
- Provider
- codex
- Created
- May 31, 2026
- Last updated
- Jun 3, 2026
Highlights
- Turned a single-mode request into the Working Modes plugin, an installable local bundle for choosing the right collaboration posture in a Codex thread.
- Bundled four skills under the plugin: working-modes, critical-thinking-partner, echo-chamber-drift-check, and rapid-iteration-mode.
- Kept the plugin lightweight: it organizes and distributes mode skills without adding a heavy runtime wrapper or mode-management overhead.
- Committed the plugin migration in codex-skills as `07c48e9 Package working modes and refresh skill catalog`, after catalog regeneration and validation.
Source conversation
Source conversation
UnavailableNo public source URL is available. Full transcripts are kept private by default.
Created artifacts
Working Modes plugin skill for pressure testing ideas, surfacing tradeoffs, and avoiding validation-only responses during deliberation.
Recovery skill bundled under the Working Modes plugin for resetting over-agreeable or mirrored assistant behavior into independent judgment.
Working Modes plugin skill for tight visual and product iteration loops.
Index skill bundled under the Working Modes plugin for choosing among critical deliberation, rapid iteration, and drift correction modes.
Decision evidence

Plugin page showing the Working Modes bundle, default prompts, four enabled skills, and plugin metadata.
Related nodes
Tags
Actions and follow-ups
Actions Taken
- Started from a Critical Thinking Partner mode request and defined the mode boundary: use pressure testing during deliberation, not as automatic debate during concrete execution.
- Created and backfilled the mode skills into the local skill installation and the codex-skills suite.
- Completed the follow-up plugin migration in thread
019e8406-a75d-7a80-9206-1502de35ec52, adding Rapid Iteration Mode and packaging all four mode skills as the Working Modes plugin. - Regenerated catalog outputs, validated the plugin and copied skills, and committed the migration as
07c48e9 Package working modes and refresh skill catalog. - Added the Working Modes plugin screenshot as linked image evidence so the chat record shows the final plugin surface.
Actions Outstanding
- Keep this record aligned with the plugin if the Working Modes bundle changes skills, metadata, install behavior, or public distribution status.
Decisions
- Treat Working Modes as the primary artifact: a plugin package, not just a loose Critical Thinking Partner skill.
- Keep Critical Thinking Partner as one mode inside the plugin for brainstorming, design direction, and uncertainty.
- Bundle Rapid Iteration Mode and Echo-Chamber Drift Check with the index skill so mode selection, iteration, and drift correction stay discoverable together.
- Keep the plugin lightweight: it is an organizing and distribution layer around skills, not a heavy runtime wrapper.