---
title: "pstack"
description: "if you want to go fast, go deep first. pstack helps you write less, but higher quality code. rigorous agent workflows you can parallelize with confidence."
canonical: https://agentpluginsdirectory.com/plugins/pstack--cursor
last-updated: 2026-10-12
---

# pstack
if you want to go fast, go deep first. pstack helps you write less, but higher quality code. rigorous agent workflows you can parallelize with confidence.
- Slug: pstack--cursor
- Publisher: Lauren Tan
- Repository: https://github.com/cursor/plugins
- Manifest: pstack/plugin.json
- Version: 0.15.20
- License: MIT
- Category (editorial): other
- Skills: 52 (architect, arena, automate-me, benchmark-checklist, blast-radius, bro, correct, create-verification-skill, figure-it-out, how, interrogate, ketchup, maintain-verification-skill, make-bot-ui, no-comments, poteto-help, poteto-mode, principle-attack-the-premise, principle-boundary-discipline, principle-build-the-lever, principle-encode-lessons-in-structure, principle-exhaust-the-design-space, principle-experience-first, principle-explain-the-number, principle-fix-root-causes, principle-foundational-thinking, principle-guard-the-context-window, principle-laziness-protocol, principle-make-operations-idempotent, principle-migrate-callers-then-delete-legacy-apis, principle-minimize-reader-load, principle-model-the-domain, principle-never-block-on-the-human, principle-outcome-oriented-execution, principle-prove-it-works, principle-redesign-from-first-principles, principle-separate-before-serializing-shared-state, principle-sequence-verifiable-units, principle-subtract-before-you-add, principle-test-behavior-not-implementation, principle-type-system-discipline, recall, reflect, setup-pstack, show-me-your-work, swarm, tdd, teach, technical-writing, typescript-best-practices, unslop, why)
- MCP servers: 0
- Stars: 10998
- Repository created: 2026-01-23
- Repository last pushed: 2026-10-12
- Publisher type: Organization
- Listing: https://agentpluginsdirectory.com/plugins/pstack--cursor
- Schema: https://agent-plugins.org/schemas/1.0.0/plugin.schema.json

## What pstack does, in the publisher's words

i'm poteto. i'm not a president or ceo, but i've worked with millions of lines of code at Meta, Netflix, and Cursor. i'm also on the react core team where i help build and maintain react compiler.

there's a growing sense that ai writes too much slop code. i agree. i don't want to ship like a team of twenty slop artists. throughput without quality is not a goal i aspire to. if you want to go fast, go deep first.

pstack is my answer. these are the same skills i use everyday to ship high quality code at Cursor. this turns cursor into a real engineering team. the goal is not to maximize loc, in fact it's the opposite. pstack helps you write less, but higher quality code.

From the project README, punctuation lightly normalized. Full text: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cursor/plugins/HEAD/pstack/README.md

## Skills

- architect: Sketch types, signatures, and module structure before code, then stay in the loop while implementation fills in. Use for /architect, 'architect this', 'design this', or non-trivial work where jumping to code would lock in the wrong shape.
- arena: Spawn N parallel candidates at the same task, pick a base, graft the strongest parts of the losers into it. Use for /arena, 'arena this', 'throw it in the arena', or when one attempt at a non-trivial artifact would lock in the wrong shape.
- automate-me: Use for \"automate me\", \"create/update/refresh my -mode skill\", \"turn/capture my preferences or working style into a skill\", or wanting agents to follow how the user works. Drafts or revises a personal -mode skill via create-skill + unslop, optionally pulling fresh evidence from recent transcr…
- benchmark-checklist: Vet a perf measurement (limiter, tuning, limits, errors, repeatability, relevance, and whether the work happened) before you report or act on it. Use when you run a benchmark or report a speedup or regression you measured.
- blast-radius: Find what a change could break somewhere else before it ships, beyond the diff, and prove the one fact it's safe because of by running real code instead of writing it up. Use for 'blast radius of X', 'what could this break', or reviewing a small diff you don't trust.
- bro: Restate the last message in plain human language, with no jargon.
- correct: Find the mistakes agents keep repeating in this repo and make each one impossible. Try architecture first, then types, then a lint whose error names the fix, then a test, and write docs last. Prove each check fails on a real past mistake. Repeat this each time the operator corrects you. Use for /co…
- create-verification-skill: Generate a project-local verification skill that drives your app the way a user does, any language, framework, or platform. Use for /create-verification-skill, \"make a control skill for this repo\", or when a project has no scripted way to prove UI/CLI/service behavior.
- figure-it-out: Design an auditable playbook when no narrower one fits: a large migration, an ambitious multi-part change, or work a human reviews after stepping away. Scales rigor to the task, runs a hypothesis loop, and logs decisions. Use for /figure-it-out or 'figure it out'.
- how: Use for \"how does X work\", code walkthroughs before changing something, and placement / ownership / layering questions (\"where should this live\", \"which package owns this\", \"is this the right layer\"). Explains subsystem architecture, runtime flow, onboarding mental models. Use why for motiv…
- interrogate: Use for \"interrogate\", \"adversarial review\", \"multi-model review\", \"challenge this\", \"stress test this code\", \"find blind spots\", or \"tear this apart\". Multiple LLM reviewers challenge changes from independent angles.
- ketchup: Catch the user up on everything in this chat since their last message, in plain words. Give each action item an executive summary with enough context to make the call. Use for /ketchup.
- maintain-verification-skill
- make-bot-ui
- no-comments
- poteto-help
- poteto-mode
- principle-attack-the-premise
- principle-boundary-discipline
- principle-build-the-lever
- principle-encode-lessons-in-structure
- principle-exhaust-the-design-space
- principle-experience-first
- principle-explain-the-number
- principle-fix-root-causes
- principle-foundational-thinking
- principle-guard-the-context-window
- principle-laziness-protocol
- principle-make-operations-idempotent
- principle-migrate-callers-then-delete-legacy-apis
- principle-minimize-reader-load
- principle-model-the-domain
- principle-never-block-on-the-human
- principle-outcome-oriented-execution
- principle-prove-it-works
- principle-redesign-from-first-principles
- principle-separate-before-serializing-shared-state
- principle-sequence-verifiable-units
- principle-subtract-before-you-add
- principle-test-behavior-not-implementation
- principle-type-system-discipline
- recall
- reflect
- setup-pstack
- show-me-your-work
- swarm
- tdd
- teach
- technical-writing
- typescript-best-practices
- unslop
- why

Descriptions come from the frontmatter of each SKILL.md, punctuation lightly normalized.