MIT Reasoning Lite — Free Agent Decision Framework#

Your AI agents are making decisions right now. Do you know how?

MIT Reasoning Lite gives your agents a 3-step reasoning scaffold that stops them from taking shortcuts you'll regret.

What This Skill Does#

Forces structured thinking before action. Three steps, drop-in install, no configuration required.

The 3-Step Scaffold#

Step 1 — Clarify the Objective What is actually being asked? Not the surface request — the real intent. What outcome are we optimizing for?

Step 2 — Check Constraints What rules, limits, history, or context applies to this decision? What's out of bounds?

Step 3 — Reason Before Acting Articulate the reasoning before taking action. Show the work. If the reasoning doesn't hold up, the action doesn't happen.

When to Use#

Add this to your agent's SKILL.md or AGENTS.md to activate for any significant decision:

• Actions that affect external parties (sending emails, posting content, client communications)
• Actions that are difficult to reverse (file changes, purchases, delegations)
• Situations with ambiguous instructions
• Any time an agent has had a "why did it do that?" moment before

Install#

bash

npx clawhub@latest install mit-reasoning-lite

Or manually: copy SKILL.md to your agent workspace.

Usage#

Reference in AGENTS.md:

text

Before any significant decision or action, apply MIT Reasoning Lite:
1. Clarify the real objective (not just the surface request)
2. Check all constraints and rules that apply
3. State your reasoning before acting

Part of Trust AI Suite#

MIT Reasoning Lite is the entry point to the Trust AI framework:

Free skills (ClawHub):

• Accountable AI — governance & accountability
• Proof of Work — verify agents completed what they claimed
• MIT Reasoning Lite (this) — structured decision-making

Full version — MIT Reasoning ($19 on ClawMart):

• 9-step full reasoning framework with branching logic
• Decision logging with timestamped rationale
• Uncertainty escalation (agent flags low-confidence decisions)
• Cross-agent consistency checks
• 6 pre-built decision templates

→ Full suite: Trust AI Stack on ClawMart