six-degrees

An AI skill for finding the shortest public relationship path between two public figures.

Given two people with publicly available records, this skill searches for a short, explainable connection chain and summarizes the public evidence behind each link.

What it does

• Identifies and disambiguates two public figures
• Searches for direct or indirect public connections
• Builds a relationship chain through shared people, organizations, events, collaborations, or public appearances
• Explains each link with relationship type and evidence
• Marks weak or uncertain links instead of overclaiming

Example prompts

Sun Yingsha and Sun Yang
Find the connection between Yao Ming and Taylor Swift
How are Elon Musk and Zong Qinghou connected?
Show me the six-degrees path between Jackie Chan and Serena Williams

Example output

Sun Yingsha ↔ Sun Yang: 2-degree connection

Sun Yingsha —— Ma Long —— Sun Yang

1. Sun Yingsha & Ma Long
   Relationship: Same national table tennis team / same sports organization
   Evidence: Both are prominent Chinese table tennis players and have appeared in public team events or national team contexts.

2. Ma Long & Sun Yang
   Relationship: Shared sports award/event context
   Evidence: Ma Long and Sun Yang were both associated with major Chinese sports award events, such as the 2016 CCTV Sports Personality of the Year selection or ceremony.

Total length: 2 degrees | Intermediaries: 1 | Relationship types: sports organization, public event

Actual results should depend on the public sources found during the search.

How it works

The skill follows four phases:

1. Confirm the people

   • Parse the two names
   • Disambiguate if a name refers to multiple public figures
   • Verify that both people have enough public information

2. Search connections

   • First check whether the two people have a direct public relationship
   • Then search collaborations, shared organizations, public events, media appearances, social relationships, and professional networks

3. Find the shortest path

   • Prefer direct connections
   • Then look for shared first-degree contacts
   • Expand to second- or third-degree paths only when needed

4. Present the chain

   • Show the full path
   • Explain every link
   • Label relationship types
   • Note uncertainty when evidence is weak

Installation / usage with AI assistants

This repository contains a plain Markdown skill definition. It does not require a specific runtime.

Use it with any AI assistant that supports custom instructions, skills, agents, or project-level context:

1. Add SKILL.md to the assistant's custom skill, agent, or instruction directory.
2. If the assistant does not support skill files, paste the content of SKILL.md into the assistant's project instructions or system prompt area.
3. Ask relationship-chain questions using the example prompts above.

For WorkBuddy users, place the folder at:

~/.workbuddy/skills/six-degrees/

Files

six-degrees/
├── SKILL.md    # Skill definition and workflow
└── README.md   # Public project overview

Limitations

• Only use this for public figures.
• Do not infer private relationships.
• Do not rely on rumors, gossip, or unverifiable claims.
• If a link is uncertain, mark it clearly.
• If no reliable path is found, explain the search boundary instead of forcing a connection.