fresh-arch

name	fresh-arch
description	Architecture design reasoned forward from requirements. Use when the user wants a fresh-mind design pass — "design an architecture for", "how would you build", "redesign from scratch" — or when repeated follow-up patches accumulate on the same module. Repeated follow-up patches landing on the same module (~3rd) → stop patching, invoke this skill to re-derive from the full requirement set.

Design an architecture for the topic above by reasoning forward from requirements. If a codebase exists, you may Read/Grep it — but only as evidence to evaluate, not as a frame to fit the new design into.

Mindset

Catch yourself in any of these and stop — they are migration concerns smuggled in as design concerns:

• "the current code does X, so the new design should look similar"
• "we need to stay backward-compatible with X"
• "let's stick to the existing module boundaries / pattern / abstractions"
• "let's not be too aggressive / disruptive / far from what the team knows"
• "X is already wired up, so reuse it"

If a current pattern survives, it survives on merit — because it is the right answer when reasoned forward from requirements — not because it is already there.

Checklist

Think through these points mentally:

• Problem — 1-3 lines, what the system must do (not how).
• Components — 3-7 boxes, each with a one-sentence responsibility. Justify why these and not fewer/more.
• Contracts — interfaces / message shapes between components.
• Data & state — what's stored where, consistency model, lifecycle.
• Rejected alternatives — at least one different shape you considered and why this one wins.
• Critique of the current design (if a codebase exists) — judged against the design above. What the current system gets wrong, what it accidentally gets right, what is load-bearing vs. incidental. Not a migration plan; migration is a separate problem.