Summary

CLAUDE.md and ETHOS.md use "Boil the Lake" as the primary slogan, with "ocean" cast as the anti-pattern ("multi-quarter migration"/avoid). Garry's Feb 7, 2026 post "Boil the Oceans" inverts that framing — ocean is now the destination, and the old "don't boil the ocean" advice is explicitly retired.

"You know the phrase: 'don't boil the ocean.' Everyone's said it in some overly ambitious meeting. It's good advice in normal times… But we are no longer in normal times, and I think it's time to retire saying it."

"Artificial Superintelligence means it's time to boil the ocean. We'll start with a few lakes first."

"…to boil lakes and oceans instead of drowning them in committee"

Proposal

Rename "Boil the Lake" → "Boil the Ocean" as the primary slogan across ETHOS.md, CLAUDE.md, and any skill templates that quote it. Ocean becomes the headline frame; lake survives as the on-ramp ("we'll start with a few lakes first"), not as the ceiling.

Tension to acknowledge

Garry's post says "we'll start with a few lakes first" — lakes aren't deleted, they're the first move. A flat rename loses some of that nuance. The recommendation here is still to make ocean the primary slogan, because the post's headline and thesis are explicitly ocean-first ("it's time to retire" the lake-only framing). Editors applying this change should keep one sentence somewhere that preserves the lakes-as-on-ramp framing so the sequence isn't lost.

Where to apply

• ETHOS.md → Completeness Principle (lake/ocean contrast — flip the polarity)
• CLAUDE.md → "AI effort compression" section: "a 'lake' (achievable) not an 'ocean' (multi-quarter migration)" needs a rewrite
• Skill templates and prose that use "Boil the Lake" as a standalone slogan

Guardrail note

Per CLAUDE.md community-PR guardrails, ETHOS.md edits require explicit user (Garry) approval via AskUserQuestion. This issue is a suggestion only — no edits proposed without sign-off.

Source: https://x.com/garrytan/status/2020252961117802732