Cognitive Load Analyser Agent Skill

Analyse a learning task for cognitive load problems and recommend specific design improvements.

Context cost
4.6k tokensestimated from the bundle, loaded when it triggers
Bundle
1 file · 18.3 kBtext throughout, nothing executable
Licence
not declarednone named by its author
Last change
—v1.0
Servers it uses
Noneruns standalone

What it does

Analyse a learning task for cognitive load problems and recommend specific design improvements. Use when tasks overwhelm students, instructions feel complex, or materials need simplifying.

What this skill changes about the agent has not been set out here as a list. Its SKILL.md, shown below, says it in the author’s own words.

cognitive-loaddocumentationinstructional-designscaffoldingtask-designworking-memory

The skill itself

A skill is instructions the model reads, so you can see what you are getting: below is the start of its SKILL.md. The front matter loads with every session, the body loads when the skill triggers, and the whole file comes with the install.

SKILL.md18.3 kB · preview
--- # AGENT SKILLS STANDARD FIELDS (v2) name: cognitive-load-analyser disable-model-invocation: false user-invocable: true effort: medium # EXISTING FIELDS skill_id: "memory-learning-science/cognitive-load-analyser" skill_name: "Cognitive Load Analyser" domain: "memory-learning-science" version: "1.0" evidence_strength: "strong" evidence_sources: - "Sweller (1988) — Cognitive load during problem solving: effects on learning" - "Sweller (1994) — Cognitive load theory, learning difficulty, and instructional design" - "Paas & van Merriënboer (1994) — Instructional control of cognitive load in the training of complex cognitive tasks" - "Sweller et al. (2019) — Cognitive Architecture and Instructional Design: 20 Years Later (updated CLT)" - "Kalyuga et al. (2003) — The expertise reversal effect" input_schema: required: - field: "task_description" type: "string" - field: "student_level" type: "string" optional: - field: "task_materials" type: "string" - field: "student_profiles" type: "array" - field: "lesson_context" type: "string" output_schema: type: "object" fields: - field: "load_analysis" type: "object" - field: "problem_areas" type: "array" - field: "modification_suggestions" type: "array" - field: "expertise_reversal_check" type: "string" chains_well_with: - "worked-example-fading-designer" - "explicit-instruction-sequence-builder" - "scaffolded-task-modifier" - "text-complexity-analyser" teacher_time: "4 minutes" tags: ["cognitive-load", "task-design", "scaffolding", "instructional-design", "working-memory"] ---
64# Cognitive Load Analyser
65
66## What This Skill Does
67
68Evaluates a learning task, instruction set, or resource for cognitive load across three dimensions: intrinsic load (inherent complexity of the content), extraneous load (unnecessary difficulty caused by poor design), and germane load (productive cognitive effort directed at schema building). Produces a specific diagnosis of where load is excessive and concrete modification suggestions. AI is specifically valuable here because cognitive load analysis requires simultaneously evaluating content complexity, instructional design quality, and learner expertise level — a skill that typically requires training in instructional design that most teachers lack.
69
70## Evidence Foundation
71
72Sweller (1988, 1994) established Cognitive Load Theory (CLT) as a framework for understanding why some instructional designs fail: human working memory can hold approximately 4-7 elements simultaneously, and learning fails when the total cognitive load exceeds working memory capacity. Sweller distinguishes intrinsic load (determined by element interactivity — how many elements must be processed simultaneously), extraneous load (caused by poor instructional design), and germane load (productive effort directed at building schemas). Paas & van Merriënboer (1994) operationalised CLT for instructional design, demonstrating that reducing extraneous load consistently improves learning outcomes. Sweller et al. (2019) updated the theory to incorporate evolutionary psychology and refine the distinction between biologically primary and secondary knowledge. Critically, Kalyuga et al. (2003) identified the "expertise reversal effect" — instructional techniques that reduce load for novices (worked examples, integrated diagrams) can actually increase load for advanced learners by requiring them to process redundant information. This means cognitive load analysis must always consider learner expertise.
73
74## Input Schema
75
76The teacher must provide:
77- **Task description:** The learning task, instruction, or resource to be analysed. *e.g. "Students read a 2-page text about osmosis while completing a diagram labelling activity and answering comprehension questions simultaneously" / "Solve quadratic equations by completing the square — worksheet with 20 problems"*
78- **Student level:** Age/year group and expertise level. *e.g. "Year 10, first encounter with this topic (novice)" / "Year 12, revising for exam (advanced)"*
79
80Optional (injected by context engine if available):
81- **Task materials:** The actual text, worksheet, or instructions being used
82- **Student profiles:** Working memory profiles, known learning difficulties, prior knowledge data
This is a preview of SKILL.md. Download or install the skill to get the whole thing.
In the file
SKILL.md2,474 words
Files1
Licencenot declared
Why you can read it

Nothing in a skill executes. The client loads the text and the model follows it, so a skill can be audited the way a runbook is — by reading it.

What it costs in context

Skills are not billed by the call. They are paid for in context: every token the instructions occupy is a token your code, your diff and your conversation cannot use. Here is what this one takes and when it takes it.

≈650
always loaded
The name and description, so the model knows the skill exists and when to reach for it.
3,925
on trigger
The instruction body, read only when the skill fires.
2.3%
of a 200k window
Ten skills this size would take about 23% of the window before you open a file.
050k100k150k200k context window

4.6k tokens, estimated from the bundle at four bytes to the token, held for the rest of the session once it triggers. Heavy. Teams tend to install this one per project rather than globally, and load it only when the job comes up.

Servers bill, skills cost

A server charges by the month. A skill charges once per session, in context, and then keeps charging it for as long as the session lives.

Before and after

The same question, put to the same model twice: once as it comes, and once with these instructions loaded.

No worked example has been published for this skill yet.

The procedure it runs

The procedure has not been set out here step by step. It is in the body of its SKILL.md: the start of it is shown above, and the whole file comes with the install.

Prose, not code

These steps are written for a model to follow, not executed by a runtime. It can still be told to skip one, and it will say so when it does.

Servers it uses

None. This skill calls no MCP servers at all.

Everything it needs is in the instructions, so it works in a project with nothing connected — the model reads the file and changes how it works with what it can already reach.

Its SKILL.md does not declare which tools it asks the agent for, so what it touches is whatever the instructions themselves ask for — read them before you install it.

What it asks for
Writes filesnot declared
Network accessnot declared

This SKILL.md carries no allowed-tools line, so neither is declared. A skill grants no permissions of its own — it can only ask for tools your client already has.

What it will not do

Every skill is narrow, and the useful ones say where they stop. These are the jobs this one is the wrong tool for.

What this skill is not for has not been published here. Nothing is implied by that: it is a section the author has not filled in.

What is in the bundle

1 file, 18.3 kB on disk. A bundle is text throughout: the instructions the model reads, plus the templates it fills in.

  • SKILL.md18.3 kB
What is not in it

No dependencies and nothing executable: a skill is text the agent reads, so the bundle is 1 file you can review in full before installing.

Install

Installing copies the bundle into your project. Nothing runs at install time — the files sit on disk until the model reads them.

# Cognitive Load Analyser · 4.6k tokens when loaded · macOS, Linux mkdir -p .claude/skills && t=$(mktemp -d) && curl -fsSL -o "$t/bundle.tar.gz" https://mcprush.com/api/skills/cognitive-load-analyser/bundle.tar.gz && tar -xzf "$t/bundle.tar.gz" -C "$t" && [ -d "$t/cognitive-load-analyser" ] && { [ ! -e .claude/skills/cognitive-load-analyser ] || { mv .claude/skills/cognitive-load-analyser "$t/.previous" && echo "Previous copy moved to $t/.previous"; }; } && mv "$t/cognitive-load-analyser" .claude/skills/ && echo "Installed .claude/skills/cognitive-load-analyser"
On Windows, or any OS with Node 20+
npx mcprush@latest skill add garethmanning/cognitive-load-analyser

Windows PowerShell says 'running scripts is disabled on this system'? Run Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope CurrentUser RemoteSigned once, or type npx.cmd instead of npx (codex.cmd, gemini.cmd, grok.cmd likewise). PowerShell 7 needs neither. Writes to .claude/skills/cognitive-load-analyser/ in the current project. For every project instead, run mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && t=$(mktemp -d) && curl -fsSL -o "$t/bundle.tar.gz" https://mcprush.com/api/skills/cognitive-load-analyser/bundle.tar.gz && tar -xzf "$t/bundle.tar.gz" -C "$t" && [ -d "$t/cognitive-load-analyser" ] && { [ ! -e ~/.claude/skills/cognitive-load-analyser ] || { mv ~/.claude/skills/cognitive-load-analyser "$t/.previous" && echo "Previous copy moved to $t/.previous"; }; } && mv "$t/cognitive-load-analyser" ~/.claude/skills/ && echo "Installed ~/.claude/skills/cognitive-load-analyser" (macOS, Linux) — or add --global to the npx line. The curl line replaces .claude/skills/cognitive-load-analyser/ only after the download succeeds, so files left there by another skill of the same name, or by an older release, do not mix in. A copy already there is moved aside, not deleted, and the line prints where.

Which clients pick it up on their own

A skill is a folder of text. Most of these read a skills folder and pick it up without being told; the rest take the same folder another way — an upload in the app, a parameter on an API call — and then choose it by its description just the same.

Claude Code.claude/skills/
Claude DesktopCustomize › Skills
ChatGPTSkills › Create › Upload
Cursor.cursor/skills/
VS Code.github/skills/
Codex CLI.agents/skills/
Gemini CLI.gemini/skills/
Grok Build.grok/skills/
Microsoft CopilotSkills › Upload a skill
PerplexityComputer › Skills › Upload a skill
DeepSeek Harness.dsh/skills/
Zed.agents/skills/
Devin Desktop.devin/skills/
Windsurf (legacy).windsurf/skills/
OpenAI Agents SDKInstructions or sandbox Skills
HTTP / APIa request parameter
This release
Version1.0
Publishedno release date on file
PriceFree
Referencegarethmanning/cognitive-load-analyser

Versions

v1.0 is what is on the shelf; no release here carries a date. Instructions change more often than APIs do — a skill can be rewritten entirely without anything it depends on moving.

v1.0
  • No earlier releases have been published to the marketplace.
Pinning

The install command always fetches the release that is current the day you run it — v1.0 today — and cannot ask for an earlier one. The copy on your disk does not change until you run it again.

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