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One Three One Rule
Structured decision-making framework for technical proposals and trade-off analysis. When the user faces a choice between multiple approaches (architecture decisions, tool selection, refactoring strategies, migration paths), this skill produces a 1-3-1 format: one clear problem statement, three distinct options with pros/cons, and one concrete recommendation with definition of done and implementation plan. Use when the user asks for a "1-3-1", says "give me options", or needs help choosing between competing approaches.
Skill metadata
| Source | Optional — install with hermes skills install official/communication/one-three-one-rule |
| Path | optional-skills/communication/one-three-one-rule |
| Version | 1.0.0 |
| Author | Willard Moore |
| License | MIT |
| Tags | communication, decision-making, proposals, trade-offs |
Reference: full SKILL.md
The following is the complete skill definition that Hermes loads when this skill is triggered. This is what the agent sees as instructions when the skill is active.
1-3-1 Communication Rule
Structured decision-making format for when a task has multiple viable approaches and the user needs a clear recommendation. Produces a concise problem framing, three options with trade-offs, and an actionable plan for the recommended path.
When to Use
- The user explicitly asks for a "1-3-1" response.
- The user says "give me options" or "what are my choices" for a technical decision.
- A task has multiple viable approaches with meaningful trade-offs (architecture, tooling, migration strategy).
- The user needs a proposal they can forward to a team or stakeholder.
Do NOT use for simple questions with one obvious answer, debugging sessions, or tasks where the user has already decided on an approach.
Procedure
-
Problem (one sentence)
- State the core decision or desired outcome in a single concise sentence.
- Focus on the what, not the how — no implementation details, tool names, or specific technologies.
- Keep it tight. If you need "and", you're describing two problems.
-
Options (exactly three)
- Present three distinct, viable approaches labeled A, B, C.
- Each option gets a brief description, pros, and cons.
- Options should represent genuinely different strategies, not minor variations of the same approach.
-
Recommendation (one option)
- State which option you recommend and why, based on the user's context and priorities.
- Be direct — this is your professional judgment, not a hedge.
-
Definition of Done
- List the specific success criteria for the recommended option.
- These are concrete, verifiable outcomes — not vague aspirations.
- If the user picks a different option, revise this section to match.
-
Implementation Plan
- Concrete steps to execute the recommended option.
- Include specific commands, tools, or actions where applicable.
- If the user picks a different option, revise this section to match.
Verification
- Response has exactly one Problem sentence.
- Response has exactly three Options (A, B, C) with pros and cons for each.
- Response has a single Recommendation that picks one option with reasoning.
- Definition of Done and Implementation Plan align with the recommended option.
- If the user selects a different option, Recommendation, DoD, and Implementation Plan update accordingly.
Example
User: "Give me a 1-3-1 for adding retry logic to our API client."
Agent:
Problem: API calls to external services fail intermittently under load and need graceful retry handling.
Options:
-
Option A: Exponential backoff with jitter in a shared utility. Pros: Simple, well-understood pattern; single implementation shared across all callers. Cons: No circuit-breaking; callers still block during retries.
-
Option B: Retry library (tenacity) as a decorator on each endpoint call. Pros: Configurable per-endpoint; built-in support for circuit breakers and rate limits. Cons: Adds a dependency; decorator pattern can obscure control flow.
-
Option C: Queue-based async retry with dead letter handling. Pros: Non-blocking; failed calls are tracked and replayable; scales well. Cons: Significant complexity increase; requires a queue backend; overkill for low-volume services.
Recommendation: Option A. The call volume doesn't justify queue infrastructure, and a shared utility with exponential backoff + jitter covers the failure mode cleanly without new dependencies.
Definition of Done:
api_retry()utility handles transient HTTP errors (429, 502, 503, 504).- Retries up to 3 times with exponential backoff and jitter.
- All external API calls route through the retry utility.
- Logs each retry attempt with endpoint and attempt number.
- Tests cover retry exhaustion, immediate success, and transient-then-success scenarios.
Implementation Plan:
- Create
utils/api_retry.pywith configurable max retries, base delay, and retryable status codes. - Add jitter using
random.uniform(0, base_delay)to prevent thundering herd. - Wrap existing API calls in
api_client.pywith the retry utility. - Add unit tests mocking HTTP responses for each retry scenario.
- Verify under load with a simple stress test against a flaky endpoint mock.