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Discover how a codebase already handles a concern before extending it. Use when asked how the repository does something, where a pattern lives, whether implementations are consistent, or what convention new work should follow.
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Based on SOC occupation classification
Pressure-test an assumption, architecture decision, estimate, or inherited constraint. Use when the user asks to challenge a belief, play devil's advocate, test reasoning, or find a simpler alternative.
Explain a code location, component, command, or user-facing system flow. Use when the user asks what code does, why it exists, how a feature works, or wants a trace of entry points, branches, dependencies, and side effects.
Prepare difficult technical or delivery news for a client, stakeholder, or team. Use for delays, incidents, security findings, cost changes, failed approaches, or other conversations where clarity and trust matter.
Plan and work through project, client, vendor, or team offboarding. Use for handovers, access removal, ownership transfer, documentation, credential rotation, data cleanup, and knowledge-transfer checklists.
Help the user think through a confusing problem or decision by asking focused questions and reflecting their reasoning. Use when they want to think out loud, untangle a problem, or find the question beneath the question.
Project-aware router for Ruby and Rails development. Use for gems, Rails, RSpec, Minitest, Cucumber, SimpleCov, RuboCop, RubyCritic, PostgreSQL, Active Record, debugging, reviews, performance, security, i18n, Sorbet, RBS, Ruby LSP, or Ruby runtime and tooling work.
| name | prior-art |
| description | Discover how a codebase already handles a concern before extending it. Use when asked how the repository does something, where a pattern lives, whether implementations are consistent, or what convention new work should follow. |
Research the concern broadly enough to distinguish the dominant pattern from a single example. This is codebase archaeology, not an automatic endorsement of everything already present.
Use several relevant strategies:
Do not stop at the first match. Bound the search once additional results stop changing the pattern, exception list, or recommendation. Do not fetch remotes unless the task explicitly requires current remote history.
Explain:
Include precise file references. Follow a healthy established convention when it fits, but do not reproduce a known inconsistency, security weakness, or legacy workaround without stating the trade-off.
Adapted from Thoughtbot's rails-consultant prior-art skill at
revision f2cb97d. Distributed under the accompanying MIT license.
