| name | design-doc |
| description | SimSci Engineering team convention for drafting a Design Document on the IHME hub. Use whenever the user asks to e.g. "draft a design doc", "write a design document", "make a design doc", or "start a PRD". |
SimSci Engineering design documents
Design documents live in the SSE Confluence space under the Design documents parent page. There is one canonical template — _TEMPLATE — and every doc descends from it. Do not invent a structure; pull the template and follow it.
1. Read the template
At the start of each invocation, fetch the template body so the section order, header table, and placeholder language are current:
mcp__plugin_mcp-hub_mcp-hub__get_page(page_id="210206856")
The returned body_storage is Confluence storage XHTML — that is what you will reuse for the new page. The placeholder prompts inside it (italic guidance, <ac:placeholder> blocks) describe what each section is for.
2. Draft the copy with the user
Work iteratively. For each section the user has content for, propose Confluence storage XHTML (the same format the template uses). Keep all section headings even when a section is short — engineers scanning the doc rely on the rhythm. Use *na* when a section truly doesn't apply (e.g. Current state for a greenfield effort). You may also add new sections if it seems relevant.
A few notes based on existing docs:
- The User interaction and design section is the workhorse — add h3 subheadings freely (Discussion, Potential solutions, Decision, Use cases, Class diagram). Results Processing is a good example of the depth this section can take.
- In the Tasks table, story points use the
X.01 convention (1.01, 2.01, …). For guidance about the pointing convention, consult page id 176590586 (https://hub.ihme.washington.edu/spaces/SSE/pages/176590586/Point+Jira+Tickets) Do not fill in the Ticket column — that is for the user to update as they create tickets.
Show the user the draft. Do not call create_page until the user explicitly approves the copy.
3. Write to Confluence
Once the user approves, create the page directly:
mcp__plugin_mcp-hub_mcp-hub__create_page(
space="SSE",
parent_id="176589711",
title="<doc title>",
body=<full storage-format XHTML, headings + content>,
)
For subsequent edits, use mcp__plugin_mcp-hub_mcp-hub__update_page — prefer mode="replace_section" with the heading name when revising one section, and pass expected_version from a fresh get_page to avoid clobbering concurrent edits.
This skill does not transition the page status, review the doc, or notify reviewers. Leave it in DRAFT and let the user circulate it.
