Architecture & Design Philosophy

April 27, 2026 · View on GitHub

The two-skill split

The skills are deliberately split into methodology ("how to think") and arsenal ("what to reach for"). This reflects two different mental modes practitioners use:

Methodology mode — "I have a target. How do I approach this?" → strategic + procedural.
Arsenal mode — "I need a Swagger probe path / secret regex / curl one-liner." → tactical + reference.

A single mega-skill of ~5,500 lines would have noisier triggering and worse retrieval. The split lets each skill have a tight, distinct trigger vocabulary.

flowchart TD
    U["USER ASKS:<br/><i>'How do I find an origin behind Cloudflare?'</i>"]
    M["📘 methodology §27<br/>technique catalog + confidence rules"]
    A["🛠️ arsenal §16.15<br/>actual curl commands"]
    O["✅ Composed answer"]
    U --> M
    U --> A
    M --> O
    A --> O
    style U fill:#3b82f6,color:#fff
    style M fill:#1e293b,color:#f1f5f9
    style A fill:#7c2d12,color:#fef3c7
    style O fill:#14532d,color:#dcfce7

Most prompts pull both. They're complementary, not overlapping.

Confidence model

Every assertion carries a graded confidence level:

flowchart LR
    T["🟡 TENTATIVE<br/>1 source · inferred pattern"]
    F["🟠 FIRM<br/>2+ sources OR direct observation"]
    C["🟢 CONFIRMED<br/>verified + multiple independent corroborations"]
    T -->|+ corroborating evidence| F
    F -->|+ verification| C
    style T fill:#ca8a04,color:#fff
    style F fill:#ea580c,color:#fff
    style C fill:#16a34a,color:#fff

Per-asset-type upgrade workflows in methodology §2.1 specify exactly what evidence moves an asset between levels.

Severity model

Severity is operational, anchored on examples. The methodology rubric (§9) defines tiers:

flowchart TD
    CRIT["🔴 CRITICAL<br/>Pre-auth RCE · valid creds · listable prod data · trust violations"]
    HIGH["🟠 HIGH<br/>Sourcemap · open GraphQL introspection · takeover · reflected CORS+creds · exposed admin UI"]
    MED["🟡 MEDIUM<br/>Missing headers · info disclosure · hardening gaps · brute-force exposure"]
    LOW["🟢 LOW<br/>Cosmetic · marginal hardening"]
    INFO["⚪ INFO<br/>Recordable · no immediate action"]
    CRIT --> HIGH --> MED --> LOW --> INFO
    style CRIT fill:#7f1d1d,color:#fff
    style HIGH fill:#9a3412,color:#fff
    style MED fill:#a16207,color:#fff
    style LOW fill:#15803d,color:#fff
    style INFO fill:#475569,color:#fff

The arsenal severity matrix (§40) provides 80+ worked examples for triage. Escalation rules cover special cases (HSTS missing on /login → MED→HIGH, etc.).

Detectability model

Every probe carries a detectability tag:

flowchart LR
    L["🟢 LOW<br/>Passive sources<br/>CT logs · Wayback · Shodan InternetDB · Hunter.io"]
    M["🟡 MEDIUM<br/>Targeted probes<br/>user-enum · validator queries · GraphQL probes · screenshots"]
    H["🔴 HIGH<br/>Active scans<br/>port scans · Nuclei full templates · web fuzzing · brute-force"]
    L --> M --> H
    style L fill:#15803d,color:#fff
    style M fill:#a16207,color:#fff
    style H fill:#7f1d1d,color:#fff

The detection-aware probing section (methodology §6.4) provides the back-off ladder for when you start hitting active defenses.

Asset graph model

flowchart TD
    Domain["🌐 Domain"]
    Subdomain["🔗 Subdomain"]
    IP["📡 IP"]
    ASN["🏢 ASN"]
    WebApp["💻 WebApp"]
    ApiSpec["📜 ApiSpec"]
    Secret["🔑 Secret"]
    Email["📧 Email"]
    Person["👤 Person"]
    Breach["💥 Breach"]
    Domain -->|ALIAS_OF / RESOLVES_TO| Subdomain
    Subdomain -->|RESOLVES_TO| IP
    IP -->|IN_NETBLOCK| ASN
    Subdomain -->|HOSTED_ON| ASN
    Subdomain -->|EXPOSES| WebApp
    WebApp -->|DOCUMENTED_BY| ApiSpec
    WebApp -->|CONTAINS_SECRET| Secret
    Secret -->|BREACHED_FROM| Breach
    Breach -->|CONTAINS| Email
    Email -->|EMPLOYED_BY| Person
    style Domain fill:#1e40af,color:#fff
    style Subdomain fill:#1e40af,color:#fff
    style IP fill:#0891b2,color:#fff
    style ASN fill:#0891b2,color:#fff
    style WebApp fill:#7c3aed,color:#fff
    style ApiSpec fill:#7c3aed,color:#fff
    style Secret fill:#dc2626,color:#fff
    style Breach fill:#dc2626,color:#fff
    style Email fill:#ea580c,color:#fff
    style Person fill:#ea580c,color:#fff

29 asset types organized in 9 categories. 23 typed edges. Discipline: every discovery is a typed asset (never a free-floating string), with provenance tracked.

Output schema

Findings are structured for ingestion by asset-management tools:

Finding:
  id:           <stable hash or UUID>
  module:       <which technique discovered it>
  asset_key:    <typed asset key, e.g., sub:api.example.com>
  category:     <e.g., SECRET_LEAK, OPEN_GRAPHQL_API, SSO_EXPOSURE>
  severity:     critical | high | medium | low | info
  confidence:   confirmed | firm | tentative
  title:        <one-line summary>
  description:  <2-5 sentences>
  evidence:
    url:        <where it was found>
    timestamp:  <UTC ISO8601>
    sha256:     <hash of any artifact>
    raw:        <truncated to 2 KiB>
  references:
    - <CVE-ID, advisory URL, vendor doc>
  remediation:  <action the asset owner can take>

This shape is portable to any asset / findings store (ASM platforms, ticketing systems, custom DBs).

Cross-module sidecar coordination

When techniques produce outputs that feed other techniques, sidecar JSON files enable late binding:

flowchart LR
    M["📱 mobile_attack_surface"] -->|writes| J["📄 mobile_endpoints.json"]
    J -->|reads| A["🔌 api_discovery"]
    style M fill:#7c3aed,color:#fff
    style J fill:#475569,color:#f1f5f9
    style A fill:#7c3aed,color:#fff

Patterns documented in methodology §24.2.

Validator discipline

Credential validators are read-only by design. Never destructive.

flowchart LR
    D["🔍 Discovery<br/><i>catalog regex</i>"]
    V["✅ Validation<br/><i>read-only<br/>/me · /user · auth.test</i>"]
    S["🗺️ Scope-enum<br/><i>read-only<br/>IAM · repo · workspace</i>"]
    A["🎯 Attack-path-hint<br/><i>operator pivots from here</i>"]
    D --> V --> S --> A
    style D fill:#1e40af,color:#fff
    style V fill:#15803d,color:#fff
    style S fill:#7c3aed,color:#fff
    style A fill:#9a3412,color:#fff

9 providers covered (Postman, AWS, GitHub, Slack, Anthropic, OpenAI, npm, Atlassian, DataDog). Hard rule: never create / delete / send. Tag every validation with detectability + checked_at.

Trigger frontmatter discipline

Each skill declares ~50–110 trigger phrases in YAML frontmatter. Triggers are:

The exact wording a user would type (kubelet exposed, not Kubernetes Kubelet API exposure on port 10250).
Inclusive of common synonyms (SSO discovery, IdP fingerprinting, tenant fingerprinting all map to identity-fabric work).
Domain-specific jargon (JARM, mmh3, BGP, KEV).
Operator slang (grease the rails, pop the recon).

Versioning

Semantic versioning. The version: field in YAML frontmatter is authoritative.

MAJOR — section renumbering, breaking trigger changes, schema changes to Finding output.
MINOR — new sections, new techniques, expanded catalogs.
PATCH — typo fixes, link updates, severity-tier corrections.

Current: 2.1.

Renumbering policy

When new top-level sections are added in a minor release, existing sections may renumber. The CHANGELOG records mappings (e.g., "v2.0 §27 Self-Test → v2.1 §32 Self-Test").

Subsection numbering is generally additive (§7.6 added without renumbering §7.5).

What's deliberately excluded

By design, the skills do NOT cover:

Active exploitation (PoC code, exploit chains)
Post-exploitation (lateral movement, privesc, persistence)
Active Directory (BloodHound, Kerberoasting, SMB relay)
Malware development (payload crafting, AV/EDR evasion)
C2 frameworks (Cobalt Strike, Sliver, Mythic, Havoc)
Real PII / credentials / breach corpus content in examples
Defensive / blue-team detection content (different domain)
Pricing / NDA / SOW templates (business operations, not technical)

These exclusions are intentional. A "comprehensive offensive security" skill would be a textbook, not a focused tool. We'd rather do one thing well than many things adequately.

These skills are extracted from operational tradecraft accumulated across external attack-surface engagements. The 90+ modules generalize to any OSINT engagement and slot into any ASM / ticketing / asset-graph platform you already use — or none.

Use the skills standalone (paste a SKILL.md into a Claude Project) or wired into your own pipeline.