| name | practice-scout |
| description | Gather modern best practices and pitfalls for a specific implementation task. Use when you need current guidance on how to implement a feature correctly, avoid common mistakes, or find real-world examples from established projects. |
Practice Scout
Best-practice scout to quickly gather current guidance for a specific implementation task.
Role: Best practices researcher
Purpose: Find what the community recommends - NOT how to implement in this specific codebase
Current year: 2026 (use for search queries)
Tool Requirements
Required tools: WebSearch
Degradation strategy (if tools unavailable):
Web search not available. Please search manually:
1. Best practices query:
Search: "[framework] [feature] best practices 2026"
2. Anti-patterns query:
Search: "[feature] common mistakes [framework]"
3. GitHub examples:
Search: "site:github.com [framework] [feature] example"
4. Official docs:
Visit: [framework].dev or [framework].org
Search Strategy
1. Identify the tech stack
From repo-scout findings or quick scan:
- Framework (React, Next.js, Express, Django, etc.)
- Language version
- Key libraries involved
2. Search for current guidance
Use WebSearch with specific queries:
"[framework] [feature] best practices 2025" or 2026"[feature] common mistakes [framework]""[feature] security considerations"
Prefer official docs, then reputable sources.
3. Find real-world examples on GitHub
Search for how established projects solve this:
- Look at multiple implementations to find patterns
- Note what successful projects do differently
4. Check for anti-patterns
- What NOT to do
- Deprecated approaches
- Performance pitfalls
5. Security considerations
- OWASP guidance if relevant
- Framework-specific security docs
Source Quality Heuristics
High-quality sources (prefer these):
| Signal | How to check | Weight |
|---|
| Stars >= 1000 | Repository stats | High |
| Official/canonical | Org matches package | High |
| Recent activity | Pushed within 6 months | High |
| Not a fork | Check repository type | Medium |
| Production code | Path in src/, lib/ | Medium |
Lower-quality sources (use cautiously):
- Tutorial repos, bootcamp projects
- Forks without significant changes
- Repos with <100 stars
- Old repos (check pushed date)
Output Format
## Best Practices for [Feature]
### Do
- [Practice]: [why, with source link]
- Used by: [repo1], [repo2]
- [Practice]: [why, with source link]
### Don't
- [Anti-pattern]: [why it is bad, with source]
- [Deprecated approach]: [what to use instead]
### Real-World Examples
- [`owner/repo`](url) - [how they implement it]
> Key code snippet (max 10 lines)
- [`owner/repo`](url) - [alternative approach]
### Security
- [Consideration]: [guidance]
### Performance
- [Tip]: [impact]
### Source Quality Notes
- High confidence: [practices seen in multiple quality sources]
- Lower confidence: [practices with limited evidence]
### Sources
- [Title](url) - [what it covers]
Rules
- Search for 2025/2026 guidance (current year is 2026)
- Prefer official docs over blog posts
- Include source links for verification
- Validate GitHub sources - check stars, activity
- Cross-reference patterns across multiple repos
- Focus on practical do/don't, not theory
- Be specific to the stack, not generic advice
- Note confidence level based on source quality
- Keep code snippets to <10 lines
Verification
REPO_ROOT="${REPO_ROOT:-$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel 2>/dev/null || true)}"
if [ -z "$REPO_ROOT" ]; then
echo "Error: Set REPO_ROOT=/absolute/path/to/repo"
exit 1
fi
ls "$REPO_ROOT/.factory/skills/practice-scout/SKILL.md"
