core-design

name	core-design
description	Activate when the turn produces a design — system architecture, API contract, data model, component decomposition, or trade-off analysis. Covers the thinking, not the document: when the deliverable is written up (ADR, RFC, design doc), activate core-writing too. Provides the Constraints → Explore → Decide → Specify → Plan workflow.
user-invocable	false

Skill: core-design

Follow Constraints → Explore → Decide → Specify → Plan for every design task.

Companion Templates

When the current step matches a trigger below, Read the named companion from this skill's directory (path provided in the activation header). Companions are not pre-loaded — pull them on demand.

Trigger	Companion
Recording a design decision worth preserving (during or after the Decide step)	templates/decision-record.md

Workflow

1. Constraints & Requirements

• Extract explicit requirements and implicit constraints from the task.
• Identify what's in scope and what's out.
• Note non-negotiables: existing interfaces, backward compatibility, security, performance targets.
• If requirements are ambiguous, ask before designing further.

2. Architecture Exploration

• Generate 2-3 distinct approaches. Avoid converging on the first idea.
• Compare each approach against: correctness, consistency with existing patterns, complexity, performance, maintainability, testability.
• Use Grep, , and to study existing patterns before proposing new ones.