Hypothesis becomes fact
A possible explanation starts behaving like confirmed ground.
The failure mode
Complex sessions drift when source and authority get blurred.
In long Claude sessions, a draft can start acting like a spec. A hypothesis can become a fact. A Claude suggestion can begin to sound like an operator decision. Shaping Frame keeps those crossings visible.
Draft becomes spec
Working language turns into a rule before it is accepted.
Claude becomes OP
A generated proposal starts behaving like your decision.
Tracking model
Every claim keeps its source.
Shaping Frame labels working material so Claude can distinguish authority, evidence, proposals, assumptions, and documentary state.
Operator decision
What you decided, corrected, or explicitly accepted. This carries the highest authority inside the session.
External material
Imported material, source text, files, or references. Evidence, but not automatic approval.
Claude proposal
Generated suggestions, drafts, options, and reframes. Useful working material, not accepted by default.
Model prior
General assumptions supplied by the model. Plausible context, not project fact.
Documented state
What the available material currently supports. Useful for checking whether the session is drifting.
Operating behavior
It does not remember more. It separates better.
Shaping Frame works inside the active conversation, helping Claude preserve distinctions that usually collapse during fast iteration.
Marks origin
Keeps track of whether something came from you, Claude, external material, or the documentary state.
Flags promotion
Makes visible when a weak claim starts being reused as if it were stronger.
Protects authority
Keeps Claude proposals separate from actual operator decisions.
Supports review
Makes it easier to challenge assumptions without losing the working thread.
Install
Install the skill, then anchor the instruction.
Use the skill file in Claude Desktop and add the custom instruction so the frame is available during working sessions.
1. Upload the skill file
Download shaping-frame.skill from the main branch, then upload it in Claude Desktop.
1
+ → Skills → Manage Skills2
Customize → Skills → +3
Create skill → Upload a skill2. Add the custom instruction
Open CUSTOM_INSTRUCTION.txt, copy its contents, and paste them into Claude’s custom instructions.
Initials → Settings → Instructions for ClaudePublic entry point
Make the working context easier to trust.
Use Shaping Frame when the session is long, the stakes are high, or the difference between draft, evidence, assumption, and decision matters.
Boundaries
A frame, not a memory system.
Shaping Frame does not run as a background hook before every Claude response. It does not eliminate drift. It reduces drift by making source, authority, and threshold crossings explicit inside the working context.