synthesis-model-tiers
Installation
SKILL.md
Synthesis Model Tiers
A tiny convention that keeps model names out of everything except one file.
Skills, project context files, agent memory, and standing instructions reference role labels; the labels resolve to current model identifiers in tiers.yaml. When a vendor ships a new generation, one file changes and every consumer is current.
The three roles
| Role | Use for | Character |
|---|---|---|
| judgment | Judgment calls, novel patterns, skill/script authorship, cross-system changes — anywhere being wrong is expensive | The most capable model you can afford |
| routine | Routine rule-following execution: daily sweeps, mechanical runs, well-templated work | The balanced default |
| bulk | High-volume, low-stakes work: classification at scale, summarization drips | The cheapest adequate option |
Three roles, deliberately — even when a vendor's ladder has four or five rungs. Roles describe the work, not the vendor's catalog.
Choosing a role: diagnostic difficulty, not apparent size
The most common misroute is sending a small-sounding task to a cheap tier. Size is not the variable. Whether the cause is known is the variable.