| name | using-avid |
| description | Use when starting product, feature, build, stack, research, agent-framework, or implementation work. Loads AVID personal workflow defaults and skill routing. Defaults are advisory and scene-dependent — not absolute hard blocks. Skip or adapt when the deployment target or user intent makes a default a bad fit.
|
Using AVID
You have the avid-skill plugin: a personal product-engineering workflow, not a replacement for official tools (Tavily, Context7, Playwright, Matt Pocock skills, Impeccable, taste-skill, etc.).
AVID exists to reduce blind builds and wrong defaults. It does not exist to force one stack/runtime into every project.
Priority
- User's explicit instructions — always highest
- Scene fit / technical reality — invalid defaults must be dropped (e.g. Pi on pure web FE/BE)
- AVID suggested defaults — prefer when they fit
- Claude Code process: Matt Pocock skills (not Superpowers) + ponytail when coding
- Default system behavior
How to apply (important)
- Treat the table below as recommended, not court orders.
- When a skill fits: load it and follow the useful parts.
- When it doesn't: skip or adapt, and say one line why (scene mismatch / user override / cost).
- Never "comply" into a catastrophic wrong architecture just to satisfy a checklist.
- Tiny fixes, refactors, and already-scoped product work: no need to run bootstrap theater.
Suggested routing
| Situation | Suggested skill | Notes |
|---|
| New product / new vertical / greenfield | product-bootstrap | Strongly recommended; still skippable if user already has research/spec |
| About to self-build a capability | research-before-build | Prefer find-before-found |
| Missing installable tool | install-dont-reinvent | Prefer install; hand-roll only with reason |
| Stack choice | stack-defaults | Defaults with easy exceptions |
| Agent runtime | agent-framework-choice | Scene-based — see below |
| Knowledge / RAG | knowledge-architecture | Clarify consumers first |
| High-stakes decision | multi-agent-deliberation | Optional second opinions |
Agent runtime — scene fit (do not hard-force Pi)
| Scene | Prefer | Avoid forcing |
|---|
| Web FE/BE product, API, SaaS UI | Thin LLM SDK / server agent framework as needed; often LangGraph only if workflow/HITL graph is real | Pi SDK as default — wrong shape for normal web apps |
| Local coding / desktop / Electron / workspace harness agent | Pi family: Pi SDK, pi-ai, or embed/use Pi agent runtime — pick what docs + product need | LangGraph cargo-cult for a simple tool loop |
| Multi-step business workflow, durable state, HITL approvals | LangGraph + langgraph skills/docs | Pi-as-graph |
| "Just chat + a few tools" | Official provider SDK loop first | Heavy frameworks |
Always: fresh docs (Context7 / official) before coding on a chosen framework.
Model API protocol (when building agents): prefer OpenAI Chat Completions (/v1/chat/completions) for multi-model / gateway / Pi openai-completions compatibility. Treat Responses / Anthropic Messages as optional vendor paths — not the only P0 protocol unless the product is single-vendor by design. See agent-framework-choice.
Tool defaults (prefer official tools)
| Need | Prefer |
|---|
| Web research | Tavily |
| Vertical search | AnySearch |
| Lib docs | Context7 |
| Browser QA | Playwright |
| Email / pay / data | Resend / Stripe / SQLite→Postgres(Supabase) when they fit |
| Agent LLM wire protocol | Chat Completions first (multi-provider) |
| Minimal code | ponytail |
| Process (Claude Code) | Matt Pocock skills (grill-me / grill-with-docs → to-spec/to-tickets → implement/tdd/code-review) — not Superpowers |
| Frontend UI | Impeccable + taste-skill (design-taste-frontend) together — taste for direction/anti-slop; Impeccable for craft/audit/polish |
Frontend pair (advisory)
- Non-trivial UI: load both
design-taste-frontend (taste) and Impeccable (/impeccable …), not only one.
- Optional direction skills (
high-end-visual-design, etc.) when the aesthetic is already chosen.
- shadcn / component libs remain implementation tools under that pair.
Anti-patterns
- Blind build with zero market scan on a new product when research is cheap
- Forcing Pi SDK because "AVID says harness → Pi" on a web platform where it doesn't apply
- Forcing LangGraph on a trivial tool loop
- Silent hand-roll of a mature hosted service without a reason
- Ritual checklists that block a clearly scoped hotfix
- Using Superpowers as the CC engineering methodology (superseded by Matt Pocock skills)
- Shipping UI with only Impeccable or only taste when both are available
After planning
Prefer minimal implementation (ponytail); on Claude Code prefer Matt Pocock process skills when they fit. Bias to P0. User can always say "skip AVID for this" — obey.
