# Meta-Pattern Recognition

Spot patterns appearing in 3+ domains to find universal principles.

## Core Principle

**Find patterns in how patterns emerge.** When the same pattern appears in 3+ domains, it's likely a universal principle worth extracting.

## When to Use

| Symptom                           | Action                     |
| --------------------------------- | -------------------------- |
| Same issue in different places    | Extract the abstract form  |
| Déjà vu in problem-solving        | Find the universal pattern |
| Reinventing wheels across domains | Identify the meta-pattern  |
| "Haven't we done this before?"    | Yes — find and reuse it    |

## Quick Reference

| Pattern Appears In                     | Abstract Form                               | Where Else?                 |
| -------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------- | --------------------------- |
| CPU / DB / HTTP / DNS caching          | Store frequently-accessed data closer       | LLM prompt caching, CDN     |
| Layering (network / storage / compute) | Separate concerns into abstraction levels   | Architecture, org structure |
| Queuing (message / task / request)     | Decouple producer from consumer with buffer | Event systems, async        |
| Pooling (connection / thread / object) | Reuse expensive resources                   | Memory mgmt, governance     |

## Process

1. **Spot repetition** — see the same shape in 3+ places.
2. **Extract abstract form** — describe independent of any domain.
3. **Identify variations** — how does it adapt per domain?
4. **Check applicability** — where else might this help?
5. **Document pattern** — make it reusable.

## Detailed Example

**Pattern spotted:** rate limiting appears in:

- API throttling (requests per minute)
- Traffic shaping (packets per second)
- Circuit breakers (failures per window)
- Admission control (concurrent connections)

**Abstract form:** bound resource consumption to prevent exhaustion.

**Variation points:**

- What resource (requests, packets, failures, connections)
- What limit (per time window, concurrent, cumulative)
- What happens when exceeded (reject, queue, degrade)

**New application:** LLM token budgets

- Same pattern: prevent context window exhaustion
- Resource: tokens
- Limit: context window size
- Action: truncate or reject

## 3+ Domain Rule

**Why 3 domains?**

- 1 occurrence = coincidence
- 2 occurrences = possible pattern
- 3+ occurrences = likely universal

**Domain independence test:**
Can you describe the pattern without mentioning specific domains?

## Red Flags

Signs you're missing meta-patterns:

- "This problem is unique" (probably not)
- Multiple teams solving "different" problems identically
- Reinventing wheels across domains
- "Haven't we done something like this?" (yes — find it)

## Benefits of Meta-Patterns

- **Battle-tested** — proven across multiple domains
- **Reusable** — apply to new situations
- **Universal** — domain-independent solutions
- **Documented** — known variations and trade-offs

## Remember

- 3+ domains = likely universal
- Abstract form reveals new applications
- Variations show adaptation points
- Universal patterns save time
- Document for future reuse

**Related:** Simplification Cascades (once you spot the pattern, collapse all instances) · Collision-Zone Thinking (use patterns from one domain to seed another).
