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Meta-Pattern Recognition

Spot patterns appearing in 3+ domains to find universal principles

Published by obra ↗obra/superpowers-skills

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Meta-Pattern Recognition

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Use Meta-Pattern Recognition to analyze [three or more domain examples] to extract the shared abstract pattern, map its meaningful variations, and propose practical new applications.

Required inputs

  • [three or more domain examples]

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SKILL.md

name: Meta-Pattern Recognitiondescription: Spot patterns appearing in 3+ domains to find universal principleswhen_to_use: when noticing the same pattern across 3+ different domains or experiencing déjà vu in problem-solvingversion: 1.1.0

Meta-Pattern Recognition

Overview

When the same pattern appears in 3+ domains, it's probably a universal principle worth extracting.

Core principle: Find patterns in how patterns emerge.

Quick Reference

Pattern Appears InAbstract FormWhere Else?
CPU/DB/HTTP/DNS cachingStore frequently-accessed data closerLLM prompt caching, CDN
Layering (network/storage/compute)Separate concerns into abstraction levelsArchitecture, organization
Queuing (message/task/request)Decouple producer from consumer with bufferEvent systems, async processing
Pooling (connection/thread/object)Reuse expensive resourcesMemory management, resource governance

Process

  1. Spot repetition - See same shape in 3+ places
  2. Extract abstract form - Describe independent of any domain
  3. Identify variations - How does it adapt per domain?
  4. Check applicability - Where else might this help?

Example

Pattern spotted: Rate limiting in API throttling, traffic shaping, circuit breakers, admission control

Abstract form: Bound resource consumption to prevent exhaustion

Variation points: What resource, what limit, what happens when exceeded

New application: LLM token budgets (same pattern - prevent context window exhaustion)

Red Flags You're Missing Meta-Patterns

  • "This problem is unique" (probably not)
  • Multiple teams independently solving "different" problems identically
  • Reinventing wheels across domains
  • "Haven't we done something like this?" (yes, find it)

Remember

  • 3+ domains = likely universal
  • Abstract form reveals new applications
  • Variations show adaptation points
  • Universal patterns are battle-tested