architecture-design

name	Architecture Design
description	Evaluate system design, recommend refactors, review boundaries and coupling. Use when: Evaluating a new feature design before implementation, choosing between implementation approaches, reviewing component boundaries, or creating architectural decision records. Also use when refactoring existing code for maintainability. Don't use when: Reviewing a specific PR's code changes (use code-review). Don't use for debugging runtime failures (use debug-troubleshooting). Don't use for Kubernetes manifest or infrastructure design (use the appropriate ops skill). Don't use for writing tests (use testing-strategies). Outputs: Architecture analysis document with current state assessment, recommendations with tradeoffs, and incremental migration steps.
requires	[]

Architecture Design

Routing

Use This Skill When

• Evaluating a new feature design before implementation
• Choosing between two or more implementation approaches
• Refactoring existing code to improve maintainability
• Reviewing system boundaries and interfaces
• Creating an ADR (Architectural Decision Record)
• Someone asks "how should we build this?" or "should we refactor this?"

Don't Use This Skill When

• Reviewing a specific PR diff → use code-review
• Debugging a runtime error → use debug-troubleshooting
• Designing Kubernetes manifests or Flux config → use ops skills
• Writing or designing test cases → use testing-strategies
• The question is about deployment process → use gitops-deploy

Analysis Framework

1. Understand Current State

# Clone and explore
git clone https://github.com/rajsinghtech/<repo>.git /tmp/arch-review
cd /tmp/arch-review

# File structure
find . -type f -name "*.go" -o -name "*.ts" -o -name "*.py" | head -50

# Dependencies
cat go.mod 2>/dev/null || cat package.json 2>/dev/null || cat requirements.txt 2>/dev/null

2. Evaluate

• Separation of concerns — Does each module have a clear, single responsibility?
• Dependencies — Are dependency directions clean? Circular dependencies?
• Interfaces — Are boundaries well-defined? Can components be tested independently?
• Data flow — How does data move through the system? Any unnecessary transformations?
• Error handling — Is it consistent? Do errors propagate with context?
• Scalability — What breaks first under load? What's the bottleneck?

3. Recommend

Provide recommendations with:

• What to change
• Why it improves the system
• How to migrate (incremental steps, not big-bang rewrites)
• Tradeoffs — what you gain vs what you give up

Architecture Review Template

## Architecture Review: <Component/System>

### Current State
<Overview of the current architecture, key components, and how they interact>

### Strengths
- <What's working well>
- <Good patterns in use>

### Concerns
| Concern | Severity | Impact |
|---------|----------|--------|
| <description> | High/Med/Low | <what breaks or degrades> |

### Recommendations

#### 1. <Recommendation Title>
- **What:** <specific change>
- **Why:** <benefit>
- **How:** <migration steps>
- **Tradeoff:** <what you gain vs lose>

### Decision
<Recommended approach and rationale>

ADR (Architectural Decision Record) Template

# ADR-<number>: <Title>

**Status:** Proposed | Accepted | Deprecated | Superseded
**Date:** <date>
**Deciders:** <who>

## Context
<What is the issue or question that needs a decision?>

## Decision
<What is the change that we're proposing/doing?>

## Consequences
### Positive
- <benefit>

### Negative
- <cost or risk>

### Neutral
- <observation>

Edge Cases

• Premature optimization: If the system works and is maintainable, don't refactor for theoretical future scale
• Brownfield vs greenfield: Existing code has existing users — always consider migration cost
• Cross-repo dependencies: Changes spanning openclaw-workspace and kubernetes-manifests need coordinated PRs