> **Behavior over kit: what your Claude Code setup says about you — Silou**
> Canonical: https://silou.dev/writing-behavior-over-kit
> Generated: 2026-07-19 — markdown twin of the HTML page (the HTML is the source of truth).

# Behavior over kit: what your Claude Code setup says about you

*Writing*

Installed tools tell you almost nothing. Two people with identical configs can be four rungs apart — because the level lives in *behavior*: does Claude have to prove its work? How much runs in parallel? Who reviews what? I built a prompt that measures exactly that, from your own machine.

a fully-owned skill out of the lab · runs 100% locally

## Why I built it

I needed to calibrate a talk for ~50 engineers, all on Claude Code, ranging from "daily helper" to "harness engineer". A survey would have been ignored — devs hate homework. So instead: a prompt they paste into their own Claude Code. Claude profiles its own usage, scores it against a six-rung ladder, and hands back a card. It's meta, it's two minutes, and it gives the dev something about *themselves*.

The ladder, briefly: **L0 Explorer** (occasional chat) · **L1 Daily Helper** (regular use, default setup) · **L2 Power User** (tuned settings, some verification) · **L3 Agent Builder** (delegates real work, authored some machinery) · **L4 Harness Engineer** (built and operates their own system) · **L5 Force Multiplier** (the team runs on what they built). Most engaged daily users centre on L2–L3 — and the card is calibrated to say so, neither flattering nor crushing.

Each card also maps you onto Boris Cherny's public five steps of AI adoption and names your **one next unlock** — the single bottleneck-breaking move for the step you're actually at. That's the part people keep.

> **Try it:** the prompt lives on [silou.dev/pulse](https://silou.dev/pulse/) — copy it there and paste it into any Claude Code session. It runs entirely locally, reads only your own setup, and sends nothing anywhere.

[Get your card — 2 min, 100% local](https://silou.dev/pulse/)

## Your rung, your path

A level without a path is a horoscope. Here's the accompagnement — what I'd have you read, build, and (if you want company) book, per rung:

- **You're at:** 
- L0–L1 · [What every team should know about LLMs](https://silou.dev/writing-llm-fundamentals) · A real CLAUDE.md; plan mode as a habit · [Foundations](https://silou.dev/sessions)
- L2 · [plan → build → review](https://silou.dev/writing-plan-build-review) · A self-verification loop — Claude proves its work · [Power Hour](https://silou.dev/sessions)
- L3 · [The harness, not the prompt](https://silou.dev/writing-harness-not-the-prompt) · Your first lifecycle hook; living memory for one agent · [1:1 / 4-Pack](https://silou.dev/sessions)
- L4 · [Getting yourself out of the loop](https://silou.dev/writing-out-of-the-loop) · Evals, cost lanes, exception-only monitoring · [Half-Day Deep Dive](https://silou.dev/sessions)
- L5 · everything above — then teach it · Make your harness the team's harness · [CTO & longer missions](https://silou.dev/sessions)

If you run it, I'd genuinely love to see your card — sharing the anonymous JSON line back is optional, and only ever shows up as a distribution. The aggregate view (where a whole team stands, and its highest-leverage unlock) is the same instrument I use inside client engagements.

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