Step away from the agents. Think it through on paper.

Switchback is a skill for your AI agent. Ask it for a page about what you're working on, print it, and work it with a pen, away from the screen. Then send back a photo, and your agent carries on from what you wrote.

Install SwitchbackSee how it works

Works with Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and other agents that use skills.

You ask

“Help me plan my talk, on paper.”

Printed Switchback page W1-P2, “What should stick”, with the prompt “What should they remember a week later?” and ruled lines, written on by hand.

The March outage, fixed in an hour

because someone asked for help at once

Pairing on the big release

The new dashboard

Q1How much fits in 20 minutes?

The live demo might fail

Ask for help earlier.

You send a photo

Your agent replies

Your blue question: About three ideas, each with one story. Open with your highlighted line.

Still open: the live demo. I won't plan around it yet.

Illustrative example: a real Switchback page, with sample handwriting and reply.

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Sani Pass, Drakensberg · contours every 40 m

One round trip, start to finish.

Here is the whole loop with an everyday example: planning a 20-minute talk for your team.

  1. Ask your agent, in plain words

    Say what you're working on and that you'd like to think it through on paper. You don't need to know any page names or commands.

    Your agent replies with the plan before it prints anything, so you can change the pages or the pens first.

    You

    I'm giving a 20-minute talk at our team day next week. Help me plan it on paper.

    Your agent

    Here's the plan: one sitting, five pages, about 30 minutes. Page 2 asks what they should remember a week later. Your blue pen, red pen and highlighter carry the meanings. Shall I make the PDF?

    You

    Yes, print it.

  2. Your agent makes the pages. You print them.

    Switchback builds a PDF from ready-made page templates, fitted to the job and to the pens on your desk. It prints in black and white, so any printer will do.

    The cover sets out what each colour means for this sitting. Page 2 asks one question and leaves the rest of the page to you.

    Cover page of the printed workbook The team-day talk, with a table of pen colours to fill in.Page W1-P2, What should stick, printed with the prompt What should they remember a week later? above ruled lines.
    Real output from the Switchback renderer: the cover and page 2 of five, on A4.

  3. Work it with a pen, away from the screen

    Put your phone in another room. Write freely in black. When you want your agent to do something with a line, mark it in colour:

    • Blue is a question for your agent. It's answered first.
    • Red is something you're unsure of. It stays open until you settle it.
    • Highlighter marks the one thing that matters most. The reply is built around it.

    Only have a black pen? Circle a letter instead: Q for a question, R for a doubt, and X for the one thing. See every mark

    Printed Switchback page W1-P2, “What should stick”, with the prompt “What should they remember a week later?” and ruled lines, written on by hand.

    The March outage, fixed in an hour

    because someone asked for help at once

    Pairing on the big release

    The new dashboard

    Q1How much fits in 20 minutes?

    The live demo might fail

    Ask for help earlier.

    Illustrative example: page 2 with sample handwriting. Q1 is the first blue question.

  4. Send a photo. Your agent carries on.

    Photograph the pages and send them in the same chat. Your agent reads what you wrote, answers your blue question first, keeps the red one open, and builds the reply around what you highlighted.

    Then it offers the next page, if one would help.

    You

    One photo of page W1-P2

    Your agent

    Your question first
    You asked how much fits in 20 minutes. About three ideas, each with one story. Open with the line you highlighted, ask for help earlier, and let the March outage carry it.
    Still open
    The live demo might fail, so I won't build the talk around it until you decide.
    Crossed out
    You crossed out the new dashboard, so it stays out.
    Next
    Pick the three stories. I can print one page to sort them.

    Read from 1 photo. Tell me if I misread a mark.

    The next page, W2-P1, Which stories make the talk: three empty piles headed In the talk, If there is time, and Cut, on a landscape page.
    The next page, if you say yes. Real renderer output.

For the thinking you'd rather do yourself.

Working with agents all day can turn your own thinking into a string of quick replies. A printed page slows that down on purpose. It holds one question at a time, and nothing on it asks for your attention.

Your agent picks the pages to fit the job, so one skill covers very different work.

Not for quick questions. When you only need an answer, your agent just answers.

Begin with a page.

Install the skill for the agent you use. Then ask for a page about whatever is in front of you.

Requirements: Node.js 20.12 or later, a printer, a pen, a phone camera.

Add the marketplace, then install the skill.

First, add the marketplace

/plugin marketplace add vandermerwed/switchback

Then install it

/plugin install switchback@switchback

Add the skill to an agent that uses skills.sh.

npx skills add vandermerwed/switchback

Optional. The skill fetches the CLI itself when it needs it.

npm install -g @vandermerwed/switchback

Then ask in plain words

“I can't decide whether to take the new job. Let's think it through on paper.”

You get a PDF in a switchback/ folder, ready to print.

It can also print a draft or spec as numbered pages to mark up in red.