Agent Skills: Sequential Thinking & UltraThink

Sequential Thinking & UltraThink

Structured reasoning system for complex problem analysis and decision-making.

Activation Triggers

Use Sequential Thinking MCP when:

• Breaking down complex problems into steps
• Planning and design with room for revision
• Architecture decisions affect 3+ files
• Technology selection between multiple options
• Performance vs maintainability trade-offs
• Breaking changes under consideration
• Multiple approaches exist to solve the same problem
• Repetitive errors occur

Tool Parameters

Required Parameters:

• thought (string): Current thinking step content
• nextThoughtNeeded (boolean): Whether another step is needed
• thoughtNumber (integer): Current thought number (starts from 1)
• totalThoughts (integer): Estimated total thoughts needed

Optional Parameters:

• isRevision (boolean): Whether this revises previous thinking
• revisesThought (integer): Which thought is being reconsidered
• branchFromThought (integer): Branching point for alternatives
• branchId (string): Branch identifier
• needsMoreThoughts (boolean): If more thoughts needed beyond estimate

Usage Pattern

Step 1 - Initial Analysis:

thought: "Analyzing the problem: [describe problem]"
nextThoughtNeeded: true
thoughtNumber: 1
totalThoughts: 5

Step 2 - Decomposition:

thought: "Breaking down: [sub-problems]"
nextThoughtNeeded: true
thoughtNumber: 2
totalThoughts: 5

Step 3 - Revision (if needed):

thought: "Revising thought 2: [correction]"
isRevision: true
revisesThought: 2
thoughtNumber: 3
totalThoughts: 5
nextThoughtNeeded: true

Final Step - Conclusion:

thought: "Conclusion: [final answer]"
thoughtNumber: 5
totalThoughts: 5
nextThoughtNeeded: false

UltraThink Mode

Enhanced analysis mode activated by --ultrathink flag.

Activation:

"Implement authentication system --ultrathink"
"Refactor the API layer --ultrathink"

Process:

1. Request Analysis: Identify core task, detect keywords, recognize complexity
2. Sequential Thinking: Begin structured reasoning
3. Execution Planning: Map subtasks to agents, identify parallel opportunities
4. Execution: Launch agents, integrate results

UltraThink Parameters:

Initial Analysis:

thought: "Analyzing user request: [content]"
nextThoughtNeeded: true
thoughtNumber: 1
totalThoughts: [estimate]

Subtask Decomposition:

thought: "Breaking down: 1) [task1] 2) [task2] 3) [task3]"
nextThoughtNeeded: true
thoughtNumber: 2

Agent Mapping:

thought: "Mapping: [task1] → expert-backend, [task2] → expert-frontend"
nextThoughtNeeded: true
thoughtNumber: 3

Execution Strategy:

thought: "Strategy: [tasks1,2] parallel, [task3] depends on [task1]"
nextThoughtNeeded: true
thoughtNumber: 4

Final Plan:

thought: "Plan: Launch [agents] in parallel, then [agent]"
nextThoughtNeeded: false

When to Use

UltraThink is ideal for:

• Complex multi-domain tasks (backend + frontend + testing)
• Architecture decisions affecting multiple files
• Performance optimization requiring analysis
• Security review needs
• Refactoring with behavior preservation

Benefits:

• Structured decomposition of complex problems
• Explicit agent-task mapping with justification
• Identification of parallel execution opportunities
• Context maintenance throughout reasoning
• Revision capability when approaches need adjustment

Guidelines

1. Start with reasonable totalThoughts estimate
2. Use isRevision when correcting previous thoughts
3. Maintain thoughtNumber sequence
4. Set nextThoughtNeeded to false only when complete
5. Use branching for exploring alternatives