gdd-settings

name	gdd-settings
description	Manage .design/config.json settings. Subcommands: profile, parallelism, cleanup, show.
argument-hint	<profile <name>|parallelism <key> <value>|cleanup|show>
tools	Read, Write, AskUserQuestion, Bash, mcp__gdd_state__get, mcp__gdd_state__frontmatter_update
disable-model-invocation	true

gdd-settings

Manages .design/config.json - the per-project config for model profile and parallelism. See reference/config-schema.md for the full schema. This skill also supports patching non-stage STATE.md frontmatter keys (cycle, wave, custom keys) via mcp__gdd_state__frontmatter_update. See STATE.md frontmatter below.

Subcommands

show

Print the current .design/config.json contents, nicely formatted. If the file is missing, print the defaults with a note that no config exists yet. Also call mcp__gdd_state__get to print the current STATE.md frontmatter keys (cycle, wave, model_profile) alongside config.json for a unified view.

profile <name>

Set model_profile to one of quality, balanced, budget. Validate the value; reject anything else with the list of allowed values. Read current config, merge the change, write back. Confirm with the new value.

parallelism <key> <value>

Set one field under parallelism. Supported keys and value types:

Key	Type
enabled	bool (true/false)
max_parallel_agents	int
min_tasks_to_parallelize	int
min_estimated_savings_seconds	int
require_disjoint_touches	bool
worktree_isolation	bool

Validate type; reject otherwise. Read current config, merge, write back. Confirm.

cleanup

Use AskUserQuestion to pick one or more cleanup actions, then confirm each before executing:

1. Delete .design/*.md artifacts (excludes config.json, STATE.md, backlog/).
2. Reset .design/STATE.md to the template at reference/STATE-TEMPLATE.md.
3. Clear .design/backlog/ directory contents.

Config Read/Write Pattern

Always:

1. Read current .design/config.json (use defaults below if missing).
2. Merge the single field being changed - never overwrite unrelated fields.
3. Write back as pretty JSON (2-space indent, trailing newline).

STATE.md frontmatter

For any STATE.md frontmatter patch (cycle, wave, or project-custom keys), call mcp__gdd_state__frontmatter_update({ patch: { <key>: <value> } }). Do not Edit or Write STATE.md directly.

Stage-patch guard: this skill cannot patch stage. If the user attempts to set stage here, reject with: "Use {{command_prefix}}brief, {{command_prefix}}explore, etc. for stage transitions. The settings skill is for non-stage frontmatter only." The MCP tool itself rejects stage patches with a VALIDATION error (surfaced by mcp__gdd_state__frontmatter_update), which this prose surfaces up-front so the user gets a clear message before the tool round-trip.

This surface is STATE.md-only. .design/config.json mutations continue to use Read + Write directly (out of scope for the 11-tool MCP catalog).

Default Config

If .design/config.json does not exist, create it with:

{
  "model_profile": "balanced",
  "parallelism": {
    "enabled": true,
    "max_parallel_agents": 5,
    "min_tasks_to_parallelize": 2,
    "min_estimated_savings_seconds": 30,
    "require_disjoint_touches": true,
    "worktree_isolation": false,
    "per_stage_override": {}
  }
}

Output

End every invocation with:

## SETTINGS COMPLETE