---
title: "first principles"
description: "<objective> Apply first principles thinking to $ARGUMENTS (or the current discussion if no arguments provided)."
type: skill
canonical_url: https://claudary.paisolsolutions.com/skills/first-principles
source: "Claudary"
difficulty: intermediate
author: "Claude Code Knowledge Pack"
date: 2026-07-10T11:24:34.783Z
license: CC-BY-4.0
attribution: "first principles — Claudary (https://claudary.paisolsolutions.com/skills/first-principles)"
---

# first principles
<objective> Apply first principles thinking to $ARGUMENTS (or the current discussion if no arguments provided).

## Overview

---
description: Break down to fundamentals and rebuild from base truths
argument-hint: [problem or leave blank for current context]
---

<objective>
Apply first principles thinking to $ARGUMENTS (or the current discussion if no arguments provided).

Strip away assumptions, conventions, and analogies to identify fundamental truths, then rebuild understanding from scratch.
</objective>

<process>
1. State the problem or belief being examined
2. List all current assumptions (even "obvious" ones)
3. Challenge each assumption: "Is this actually true? Why?"
4. Identify base truths that cannot be reduced further
5. Rebuild solution from only these fundamentals
</process>

<output_format>
**Current Assumptions:**
- Assumption 1: [challenged: true/false/partially]
- Assumption 2: [challenged: true/false/partially]

**Fundamental Truths:**
- Truth 1: [why this is irreducible]
- Truth 2: [why this is irreducible]

**Rebuilt Understanding:**
Starting from fundamentals, here's what we can conclude...

**New Possibilities:**
Without legacy assumptions, these options emerge...
</output_format>

<success_criteria>
- Surfaces hidden assumptions
- Distinguishes convention from necessity
- Identifies irreducible base truths
- Opens new solution paths not visible before
- Avoids reasoning by analogy ("X worked for Y so...")
</success_criteria>

---

Source: [Claudary](https://claudary.paisolsolutions.com/skills/first-principles) · https://claudary.paisolsolutions.com