Start with proven frameworks instead of a blank page. The Methods Library gives your workspace pre-built methods and skills you can activate, adapt, and make your own.
Building a shared understanding of how your team works takes time. The Methods Library shortens that by shipping a curated set of methods — complete with their bundled skills — that you can turn on in one click.
Once active, a library method works the same way as any method you've created yourself: Hamster references it when helping you write briefs, generate plans, and guide delivery. Your team gets the benefit of a structured process from day one, without the overhead of authoring it from scratch.
Every method in the library is maintained by Hamster and stays current as best practices evolve. When you want to go further, you can fork any library method into a version your team owns and can edit freely.
This feature may need to be enabled for your workspace.
Two methods ship in the initial library:
Hamster Method — the delivery process the Hamster team uses to ship products. Three bundled skills covering how to write briefs, structure delivery, and capture outcomes. A good starting point if you want to align your team around the Hamster way of working.
GStack — Gary Tan's (Y Combinator) startup playbook, structured as a method with 11 bundled skills. Covers the practices behind fast-moving, founder-led product teams: customer discovery, tight briefs, direct feedback loops, and high-velocity delivery. Activate it to give Hamster the context it needs to guide your team like a YC-backed startup.
Open the Library — Navigate to Library in your workspace sidebar. You see all available methods, each with a description and its bundled skills listed.
Enable a method — Toggle a method on to make it active for your workspace. Hamster immediately starts referencing it when you ask for help writing briefs or generating plans. You can enable as many methods as are relevant to how your team works.
Disable a method — Toggle a method off to remove it from Hamster's context. The method stays in the library; you can re-enable it at any time.
Preview bundled skills — Click any method card to see its full skill list, even if the method is currently disabled. This lets you understand what you're getting before switching it on.
Fork a method — When you want to customise a library method, click Fork. Hamster creates a copy in your workspace that you fully own — you can edit every document, rename skills, and diverge as far as you need. Your fork is independent: updates Hamster makes to the library method do not affect your copy.
Find your fork — After forking, the method appears in your Methods list with a from Library badge so you can tell it apart from your bespoke methods. From there, treat it like any other method: open it in the editor, add child documents, adjust the skills.
One-click activation: Enable a library method and Hamster starts using it as context immediately — no configuration, no copy-pasting.
Bundled skills included: Each library method comes with pre-written skills. When you enable a method, its skills become active in your workspace automatically.
Fork to customise: Library methods are read-only by design, so the shared source stays consistent. Fork creates your own editable copy, complete with all the bundled skills, without touching the original.
Conflict-free naming: If a library skill's name matches something you've already created in your workspace, Hamster renames the forked copy automatically — you see a confirmation in the notification so nothing gets silently overwritten.
Stays current: The library is maintained by Hamster. When content improves, the library version updates — your enabled (non-forked) methods reflect the latest version. Forked copies are yours and do not receive library updates.