Try default tools before adding more
Theo warns against installing every skill and plugin before the team has tried the tools as configured. He advises sending early prompts with little context and observing where the resulting work goes wrong. Those failures should guide additions to instruction files, instead of customizing the setup before any actual problem appears.
Add only what observed agent failures show missing
Start with the default configuration and a minimal prompt, then record where the agent fails. Add the smallest needed file entry, rule, or tool, and repeat the attempt to expose remaining gaps. Keep standing instructions, admitted tools, and runtime safeguards while reducing only the extra project explanation in the prompt.
Test new setups before installing extra tools
This fits new projects, newly agent-enabled repositories, and teams tempted to install large plugin collections in advance. The early attempts reveal whether the default setup already handles the work or lacks specific project context. It does not call for removing existing safeguards or withholding instructions that already govern the task.
This is about plugins, not writing your own tools
This advice concerns project steering and plugin adoption, rather than every activity involving a skill or instruction file. Authorized skill authoring remains a separate activity governed by current workspace rules rather than the video's preference. The approach still applies when you are testing how much additional project context a new setup actually needs.