Attention Theory Skills for AI Agents

Portable Agent Skills that help AI agents analyze, design, and improve communication using Gary Meyer's Attention Theory framework.

Attention Theory describes human attention as a sequence of three gates — Trigger, Tune, and Transfix — biased by five drivers and operating along a reflex–decision spectrum.

This repository is intended to work with Claude Code, OpenAI Codex, Cursor, Windsurf, Hermes Agent, and any agent or client that supports the Agent Skills spec.

What are these skills?

Skills are markdown folders that give AI agents specialized procedures. Instead of merely knowing about Attention Theory, these skills teach an agent how to use it:

• diagnose why a message, page, product, pitch, lesson, or experience is ignored
• distinguish cheap interruption from earned attention
• improve copy, UX, teaching, storytelling, marketing, and product communication
• design for Trigger, Tune, and Transfix intentionally
• use the five drivers without collapsing into gimmicks

Available skills

Skill	Description
attention-theory	Use when analyzing, designing, or improving communication, products, teaching, marketing, writing, UX, pitches, or experiences through Gary Meyer’s Attention Theory framework: Trigger, Tune, Transfix; the five drivers of attention; and the reflex–decision spectrum.

Installation

Option 1: Claude Code plugin

Add this repository as a Claude Code marketplace, then install the plugin:

claude plugin marketplace add garymeyerca/attention-theory-skills
claude plugin install attention-theory-skills

Claude Code will auto-discover the attention-theory skill from the plugin's skills/ directory and invoke it when relevant.

Option 2: Agent Skills CLI

npx skills add garymeyerca/attention-theory-skills

Install a specific skill:

npx skills add garymeyerca/attention-theory-skills --skill attention-theory

Option 3: Clone and copy

git clone https://github.com/garymeyerca/attention-theory-skills.git
cp -r attention-theory-skills/skills/* .agents/skills/

Option 4: Git submodule

git submodule add https://github.com/garymeyerca/attention-theory-skills.git .agents/attention-theory-skills

Skill philosophy

This is not a repository of generic persuasion hacks. Attention Theory is useful because it treats attention as a staged process:

1. Trigger — first capture; crossing the threshold into awareness.
2. Tune — appraisal and filtering; deciding whether the stimulus is worth keeping.
3. Transfix — sustained focus; attention entering memory, reasoning, and behaviour.

The job is not merely to be noticed. The job is to earn the right kind of attention for the right audience in the right context.

Source material

Canonical framework: https://theoryofattention.com

Contributing

Contributions should preserve the canonical vocabulary and avoid turning Attention Theory into generic marketing advice. Good contributions add:

• sharper diagnostics
• better examples
• better templates
• clearer distinctions between Trigger, Tune, and Transfix
• practical applications in communication, UX, teaching, leadership, and product design

License

MIT, unless changed before publication.