Turn rough long-running work into a compact Codex /goal with a clear finish line.
goal-setter is a Codex skill for work that needs more than a one-off prompt. It turns a rough request into a short goal that fixes the result, the evidence for success, the boundaries, and the stop rules, while leaving implementation judgment to the runner.
It favors verification targets over rule-heavy procedures: the goal should say what must be proven, not prescribe every step.
Built for Codex. Works on Claude Code too.
Do not turn every request into a Goal. Use goal-setter when the work can keep going across several checks and the finish line must be judged by evidence.
| Work | Better format |
|---|---|
| One clear edit, explanation, or review | Normal prompt |
| Narrow work that may need a few tries | One sentence or short paragraph Goal |
| Migration, performance work, broad bug fixing, or evidence-backed research | Standard Goal |
| Long research or high-risk change | Goal plus the smallest needed plan, checklist, or evaluation file |
- Reconstructs the intended result before drafting.
- Adds only clauses that change the result, evidence, boundary, risk, or stop decision.
- Asks one material question at a time only when the answer would change the goal.
- Keeps small work light; for long work, keeps an evidence-based open-items loop and adds read-only review or separate write threads only when useful.
Details live in docs/RUNTIME.md. Examples live in docs/EXAMPLES.md.
Pick one install path:
| If you use | Install | Invoke with |
|---|---|---|
Codex App /plugins |
Codex App Plugin | $goal-setter:goal-setter ... |
| Codex local skills | Codex Skill | $goal-setter ... |
| Claude Code | Claude Code marketplace | /goal-setter:goal-setter ... |
| Another agent with Skills CLI support | Skills CLI | the agent's skill invocation syntax |
Most Codex App users should install only the Codex App Plugin.
In Codex, open /plugins, choose Add plugin marketplace, and enter:
Source: gotalab/goal-setter-skill
Git ref: main
Sparse paths: plugins/goal-setter
Then install Goal Setter from the Plugins screen.
In Codex chat:
$skill-installer install https://github.com/gotalab/goal-setter-skill/tree/main/skills/goal-setter
Restart Codex, then invoke with $goal-setter.
/plugin marketplace add gotalab/goal-setter-skill
/plugin install goal-setter@goal-setter
Invoke with /goal-setter:goal-setter.
npx skills add gotalab/goal-setter-skillDraft a goal without activating it:
$goal-setter draft a goal for migrating our API client to v2
Shape and activate a goal when Codex does not need extra worker tools:
$goal-setter set a goal: all checkout tests pass after the refactor
When the goal must launch Codex worker tools such as spawn_agent or
create_thread, goal-setter returns an exact /goal ... line for you to send.
That user-sent line is what authorizes those tools.
skills/goal-setter/SKILL.md # the skill
skills/goal-setter/scripts/ # goal length validator
scripts/ # packaging and release checks
plugins/goal-setter/ # Codex plugin bundle
.claude-plugin/ # Claude Code plugin metadata