Linus Torvalds Skill: pricing, features, alternatives

Linus Torvalds Skill is a loadable code-review skill distilled from Linus Torvalds' Linux kernel mailing-list mail. The repo Mte90/linus-torvalds-skill is CC0-1.0, created 2026-08-04, Python. On 2026-09-11 GitHub listed 111 stars and 13 forks, last push 2026-09-10. r/PromptEngineering on 2026-09-10 linked Daniele Scasciafratte's write-up covering the post-launch pipeline: 31,397 emails, 38,293 review moves, four SKILL/soul variants, and a smallchat benchmark. The same author also posted it on X.

Compare Requesting Code Review if you wanted Superpowers' review-dispatch skill, Receiving Code Review if you needed the author-side skill, or Claude Code if you needed the host that loads a SKILL.md.

Key Features

Four model variants: SKILL.md (gpt-oss-120b, recommended default), SKILL-GLM.md, SKILL-Mistral.md, SKILL-Qwen.md. Same corpus, different distillations. Matching files live under soul/.
Language-agnostic rules: README says a forbidden-terms pass strips C-only kernel jargon so the skill is usable outside LKML.
Reproducible pipeline: python3 scripts/run_pipeline.py --dry-run prints stages. Generated files carry prompt hash, input hash, model, and pipeline version. Artifacts are not hand-edited.
Published data dump: data.tar.gz on GitHub Releases so you can regenerate without refetching the mbox.

Limitation: 111 stars is a heat signal, not an audit. The smallchat table is one 706-LOC C repo, not your codebase. GLM 5.2 lost net critical findings with the skill on that fixture (author's 2026-09-10 comparison). This is not Linus Torvalds, the kernel, or an official Linux Foundation pack.

Use Cases

Claude Code / Codex / other skill hosts that can load a SKILL.md for review passes.
People comparing distillations who want four models on one corpus.
People who should use Requesting Code Review instead if they only needed Superpowers' "dispatch a reviewer" loop.

Pricing

Piece	Price	Notes from first-party pages 2026-09-11
Skill, soul, scripts	$0	CC0-1.0. About 111 stars.
Regenerate pipeline	Your LLM API bill	Author used Regolo.AI (GLM 5.2, Mistral-small-4-119b, GPT-OSS-120b, Qwen3.8-27b). About 2,000 calls for a full run.
Host agent	Confirm that product	Claude Code or any tool that accepts a skill file.

Getting Started

Clone github.com/Mte90/linus-torvalds-skill.
Pick SKILL.md unless you have a reason to use GLM, Mistral, or Qwen.
Copy it into your agent's skill directory or paste it as a system prompt.
Optional: download data.tar.gz from Releases if you will rerun scripts/run_pipeline.py.

First-party resource: the README and the comparison report.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does this make the model swear like Linus?

Profanity lives in soul.md by the author's note. The skill file is the review rules. Load soul only if you want the persona.

Did every model get better with the skill?

No. On antirez/smallchat, gpt-oss-120b, Mistral, and Qwen3.8-27b gained critical findings; GLM 5.2 coverage dropped. Read report/comparison.md.

Is the email dump in git?

No. Releases ship data.tar.gz. The full pipeline fetches from gmane NNTP if you regenerate from source.

Alternatives

Requesting Code Review: Superpowers skill that dispatches a reviewer subagent.
Receiving Code Review: Superpowers skill for acting on review comments.
Claude Style Patch: a style/behavior pack, not a kernel-mail distillation.

Tips

Quote CC0, 31,397 emails, 38,293 moves, and 111 stars from pages checked 2026-09-11.
Do not claim the skill is Linus or that it certified your patch.
Keep the four SKILL files separate; README says that split is the point.

Conclusion

Linus Torvalds Skill is the CC0 review pack r/PromptEngineering was circulating: LKML mail in, four SKILL.md files out. Start at the GitHub repo. If you only needed Superpowers' review loop, open Requesting Code Review instead.