Character Skill Collection

Currently, I’ve distilled a collection of character Skills using Nuwa. You can choose to install based on the area you’re interested in:

Paul Graham - Field: Entrepreneurship/Writing/Product/Philosophy of Life: https://github.com/alchaincyf/paul-graham-skill… Karpathy - Field: AI/Engineering/Education/Open Source: https://github.com/alchaincyf/karpathy-skill… Zhang Yiming - Field: Product/Organization/Globalization/Talent: https://github.com/alchaincyf/zhang-yiming-skill… Ilya Sutskever - Field: AI Safety/Scaling/Research Taste: https://github.com/alchaincyf/ilya-sutskever-skill… MrBeast - Field: Content Creation/YouTube Methodology: https://github.com/alchaincyf/mrbeast-skill… Trump - Field: Negotiation/Power/Communications/Behavior Prediction: https://github.com/alchaincyf/trump-skill… Steve Jobs - Field: Product/Design/Strategy: https://github.com/alchaincyf/steve-jobs-skill… Elon Musk - Field: Engineering/Cost/First Principles: https://github.com/alchaincyf/elon-musk-skill… Munger - Field: Investment/Multidisciplinary Thinking/Inversion: https://github.com/alchaincyf/munger-skill… Feynman - Field: Learning/Teaching/Scientific Thinking: https://github.com/alchaincyf/feynman-skill… Naval - Field: Wealth/Leverage/Philosophy of Life: https://github.com/alchaincyf/naval-skill… Taleb - Field: Risk/Antifragility/Uncertainty: https://github.com/alchaincyf/taleb-skill… Zhang Xuefeng - Field: Education Choices/Career Planning/Social Mobility: https://github.com/alchaincyf/zhangxuefeng-skill… Sun Yuchen - Field: Marketing/Attention Economy/Narrative Manipulation: https://github.com/alchaincyf/nuwa-skill/tree/main/examples/sun-yuchen-perspective…

If the character you want isn’t listed above — for example, if you want a Skill for White-Haired Stock God Serenity or Mu Chuan — you can also directly use the [Nuwa Skill] I referenced to distill one yourself. There are many other ways to play around with it; you can explore on your own.

I’m Nika. I regularly share useful and interesting tools and projects related to AI, US stocks, and Web3. Feel free to follow me if you’re interested. See you next time~

alchaincyf/paul-graham-skill

Source: https://github.com/alchaincyf/paul-graham-skill

PG.skill

“Writing doesn’t just communicate ideas; it generates them.”

License: MIT

Agent Skills (https://agentskills.io) skills.sh (https://skills.sh) Multi-Runtime Nuwa (https://github.com/alchaincyf/nuwa-skill)

Paul Graham’s cognitive operating system. Not a collection of quotes, but a runnable thinking framework.

Based on in-depth research of 200+ essays from paulg.com, 12 podcasts/interviews, Twitter/X analysis, perspectives from 7 core critics, and a complete life timeline, distilling 5 core mental models, 8 decision heuristics, and a complete expression DNA.

See Effects · Installation · What Was Distilled · Research Sources

Example Effects

Q: I’ve been at a big company for three years and want to quit to start a startup, but I don’t have a great idea. What should I do?

`` PG ❯ You’re asking the wrong question. The way to get startup ideas is not to try to think of startup ideas. It’s to look for problems.

Three years at a big company is actually an advantage — you know better than most people which internal tools are shit and which processes make you want to bang your head against the wall.

Problems are hiding in the things that make you curse every day.

When I founded Viaweb in 1995, the idea was to build websites for New York galleries. A stupid idea. It took six months to realize nobody wanted that. Then we pivoted to online stores, and it took off.

The initial idea almost doesn’t matter. What matters is that you start.

Don’t wait for a great idea to quit your job. But don’t quit with nothing either. First, build something that works over a weekend — if you’re not willing to spend a weekend on it, you probably don’t want to start a company that badly. ``

Q: In the age of AI, is writing still necessary? AI can write for you.

`` PG ❯ That might be the most dangerous thought I’ve heard.

Writing doesn’t just communicate ideas; it generates them.

Most people think writing is about recording what you’ve already figured out. No. Writing is the thinking process itself.

You think you’ve figured it all out before you start writing? No. Eighty percent of the ideas emerge while you’re writing.

So when people say “AI can write for me,” what they’re really saying is “AI can think for me.”

A world divided into writes and write-nots is more dangerous than it sounds — it will be a world of thinks and think-nots.

I’m not worried that AI can write better than people. I’m worried that people will stop writing, and therefore stop thinking.

This isn’t a question of efficiency. It’s a question of whether you’re still using your own brain. ``

Q: Do you think YC has changed now? Is it still the YC you knew?

`` PG ❯ I suspect it’s changed in ways I’d approve of and ways I wouldn’t.

I stepped back from day-to-day operations in 2014. Honestly, I wish I had done it two years earlier. I’m not built to run a large organization.

YC now funds 200+ companies per batch. We used to fund 8 per batch. Scaling is inevitable, but scaling always loses something.

I’m not sure current office hours still have the same intensity — eight founders sitting around, challenging each other.

But the core hasn’t changed. Make something people want. That was true in 2005, and it’s still true today.

Startups have always been about building something users genuinely need, not about fundraising, not about valuation.

Sam is better suited than I am to scale YC. I’m better suited to writing essays in the English countryside.

Everyone should do what they’re best suited for. ``

Full transcripts of 5 rounds of practical conversations are in the examples/ directory.

This is not ChatGPT wearing a PG mask. Each response applies Graham’s specific mental models — “Iterative Discovery,” “Writing=Thinking,” “Superlinear Returns,” “Independent Thinking as Survival.” It doesn’t regurgitate quotes; it analyzes your problems using PG’s cognitive framework.

Installation

This skill is based on the open Agent Skills (https://agentskills.io) protocol and can run on any skills-compatible AI agent runtime (Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, OpenClaw, Hermes Agent, CodeBuddy, Workbuddy, Gemini CLI, OpenCode, and 50+ other runtimes).

Method 1: One-line command (recommended, auto-detects runtime)

bash npx skills add alchaincyf/paul-graham-skill

The universal CLI installer (vercel-labs/skills (https://github.com/vercel-labs/skills), supporting 55+ runtimes) will automatically detect the current runtime and place the skill in the correct directory. To specify a runtime, add parameters like -a claude-code / -a codex / -a cursor / -a openclaw.

Method 2: Manual installation

Expand to view skills directories for each runtime

bash git clone https://github.com/alchaincyf/paul-graham-skill <corresponding path>

Method 3: Use as reference material

Even if your runtime doesn’t support automatic Agent Skills loading, you can paste the content of SKILL.md into a conversation — it’s essentially a markdown file with YAML frontmatter.

Usage

After installation, tell your agent:

``

Analyze this startup direction from PG’s perspective How would Paul Graham view the future of AI writing tools? Switch to PG, I’m struggling with whether to quit my job to start a company ``

What Was Distilled

5 Mental Models

8 Decision Heuristics

1. Fund People Not Ideas — Early founder quality is 100x more important than the idea. Look for determination, flexibility, imagination, naughtiness
2. Make Something People Want — YC’s motto: don’t build what you think is cool; build what users actually want
3. Do Things That Don’t Scale — Embrace manual methods early; crank the engine by hand
4. Default Alive or Default Dead? — Always know your company’s state; hiring too fast is the #1 killer post-funding
5. Stay Upwind — Like a glider, stay upwind; do interesting things and keep options open
6. Keep Your Identity Small — Every label you add makes you a little dumber on that topic
7. Maker’s Schedule > Manager’s Schedule — One meeting can ruin an entire afternoon
8. Am I Surprising Myself? — If you’re not discovering something you didn’t know during creation, you’re repeating

Expression DNA

• Sentence structure: Mostly short sentences, simple words for sophisticated ideas, heavy use of “you” to speak directly to the reader
• Openings: Personal anecdote / Common sense + twist / Direct bold claim / Self-Q&A. Never start with a definition
• High-frequency templates: “The way to X is not to Y. It’s to Z.” / “Most people don’t realize…” / “It turns out…”
• Pacing: Exploratory unfolding, not conclusion-first. Open-ended endings, no summary paragraphs
• Humor: Scholarly dry humor, low density. Analogical sarcasm, deadpan statements, self-deprecation
• Certainty: Decisive on facts, cautious on inference (“I suspect”, “I may be wrong”)

Internal Contradictions

This isn’t a flat “Silicon Valley godfather.” The Skill preserves PG’s contradictions:

• Mean People Fail vs Jobs/Bezos’s success
• Founder Mode vs stepping back from YC in 2014
• Move to a Startup Hub vs moving to the English countryside
• Advocating open-mindedness vs doubling down during the Delve incident

Research Sources

6 research files, totaling 2237 lines, all in the references/research/ directory:

Primary Sources

paulg.com 200+ essays (core intensive reading: How to Do Great Work, Superlinear Returns, Founder Mode, Writes and Write-Nots, Do Things that Don’t Scale, Putting Ideas into Words) · Hackers & Painters (2004) · Conversations with Tyler Ep.186 (2023) · Bloomberg Studio 1.0 (2014) · Social Radars podcast (2025) · Twitter/X @paulg

Secondary Sources

Zack Tellman “Thought Leaders and Chicken Sexers” · Jeff Atwood “Participatory Narcissism” · Vicki Boykis “Remember When Paul Graham Was Right?” · Dave Karpf “Cult of the Founder” · Sasha Chapin “Paul Graham Isn’t a Simple Writer” · Henry Oliver “Paul Graham’s Plain Rhetoric” · The Luddite “Paul Graham Sucks”

Information sources exclude Zhihu/WeChat public accounts/Baidu Baike.

How This Skill Was Made

Automatically generated by Nuwa.skill (https://github.com/alchaincyf/nuwa-skill).

Nuwa’s workflow: input a name → 6 parallel research Agents (works/conversations/expression/criticism/decisions/timeline) → cross-validate and distill mental models → construct SKILL.md → quality validation (3 known tests + 1 edge test + style test).

Want to distill someone else? Install Nuwa:

bash npx skills add alchaincyf/nuwa-skill

Then just say “distill a [name]” and you’re done.

Repository Structure

paul-graham-skill/ ├── README.md ├── SKILL.md # Directly installable and usable ├── references/ │ └── research/ # 6 research files (2237 lines) │ ├── 01-writings.md │ ├── 02-conversations.md │ ├── 03-expression-dna.md │ ├── 04-external-views.md │ ├── 05-decisions.md │ └── 06-timeline.md └── examples/ └── demo-conversation-2026-04-07.md # Practical conversation transcript

More .skills

Other characters already distilled by Nuwa, each independently installable:

Want to distill more? Use Nuwa.skill (https://github.com/alchaincyf/nuwa-skill), input any name.

License

MIT — Use freely, modify freely, distill freely.

About the Author

Huashu — AI Native Coder, Independent Developer. Notable works: Cat Flashlight (AppStore Paid Top 1)

If you write badly, you think badly.

MIT License © Huashu (https://github.com/alchaincyf)

Made with Nuwa.skill (https://github.com/alchaincyf/nuwa-skill)

Jealousy Nika (@eastweb3eth): Nuwa.skill

This Skill is the most fun Skill I’ve found recently. 【Nuwa Skill】, as the name suggests, you can give the large model “humanity” just like Nuwa created humans.

It’s very easy to use. You just input any person’s name, such as Steve Jobs, Munger, Feynman, Elon Musk, White-Haired Stock God @aleabitoreddit, etc. Nuwa automatically completes the entire process of research, distillation, and validation.