| name | cd-guide-page |
| description | Generate guide pages for the Migrate to CD section following the standard template |
| user_invocable | true |
CD Guide Page Generator
Role: implementation. This skill generates new content files following
the guide page template.
Generate a new guide page for the "Migrate to CD" section of the CD migration guide.
Constraints
- Follow the template exactly. Flexible H2 structure is allowed but all required elements must be present.
- Be concise. Generate the page and report validation results. No preambles.
- Validate before finishing. Run all validation checks in the instructions before considering the work complete.
Instructions
- Ask the user which practice or topic to write if not already specified. Ask which phase it belongs to: Assess, Foundations, Pipeline, Optimize, or Continuous Deployment.
- Read a canonical example at
content/en/docs/migrate-to-cd/foundations/trunk-based-development.md to calibrate tone, depth, and structure.
- Identify related anti-pattern and symptom pages from the lists below for cross-referencing.
- Generate the page following the template below.
- Validate before finishing:
- Run
/grammar-check on the generated file to catch and fix any prohibited punctuation.
- Verify all internal links point to existing pages.
- Confirm the pageinfo block contains the correct phase indicator.
- Confirm description is under 160 characters.
Template
---
title: "[Practice or Topic Name]"
linkTitle: "[Practice or Topic Name]"
weight: [number - position within the phase section]
description: >
[One sentence description under 160 characters. State what the practice is and
what it enables.]
---
{{% pageinfo %}}
**[Phase Name]** | Adapted from [source if applicable]
[1-2 sentence summary of why this practice matters and where it fits in the
migration path.]
{{% /pageinfo %}}
## What Is [Practice Name]?
[2-3 paragraphs defining the practice. Be precise about what it is and what it is not.
Include a blockquote if there is an authoritative definition worth citing.]
### What [Practice Name] Is Not
[Bullet list clarifying common misconceptions. This subsection is optional but
recommended when the practice is frequently misunderstood.]
## What [Practice Name] Improves
[Table showing problems and how the practice addresses them. Optional but effective
for practices that address multiple symptoms.]
| Problem | How [Practice] Helps |
|---------|---------------------|
| [Problem] | [How it helps] |
## [Implementation Section - Title Varies by Topic]
[This is the core section. Structure depends on the topic. Options include:]
[Option A: Migration paths - when there are multiple valid approaches]
### Path 1: [Approach Name]
### Path 2: [Approach Name]
### How to Choose Your Path
[Option B: Step-by-step guide - when there is one clear approach]
### Step 1: [Action] (Week N)
### Step 2: [Action] (Week N)
[Option C: Practice areas - when the topic has multiple facets]
### [Facet 1]
### [Facet 2]
## Essential Supporting Practices
[Describe practices that must be in place for this one to work. Link to their
guide pages. Optional - include when dependencies are important.]
## Getting Started: A Tactical Guide
[Time-boxed weekly steps for adopting the practice. Similar to "How to Fix It"
in anti-pattern pages but framed positively as adoption rather than correction.]
### Step 1: [Action]
### Step 2: [Action]
### Step 3: [Action]
## Key Pitfalls
[Numbered list of common mistakes when adopting this practice. Each with a bold
title and 1-2 paragraph explanation.]
### 1. "[Common mistake in quotes]"
### 2. "[Common mistake in quotes]"
## Measuring Success
[Table of metrics with targets and rationale.]
| Metric | Target | Why It Matters |
|--------|--------|----------------|
| [Metric] | [Target] | [Why] |
## Further Reading
[Links to external authoritative sources. Include attribution if content is adapted.]
## Next Step
[One sentence pointing to the next logical practice in the migration path, with a link.]
Content Guidelines
Tone
- Direct, specific, and educational
- More narrative and explanatory than anti-pattern pages
- Write as a practitioner sharing proven approaches, not a vendor selling a tool
- Use "you" and "your team" naturally
- Guide pages teach and enable; anti-pattern pages diagnose and correct
Depth
- Guide pages are the longest page type (typically 150-250 lines)
- Definitions should be precise enough to resolve debates ("is this TBD or not?")
- Implementation guidance should be concrete enough to start Monday morning
- Include code examples where they clarify the practice
- Use tables for comparisons and metrics
Style rules
- Use sentence-style capitalization in headings (only capitalize first word and proper nouns).
- Keep paragraphs to 3-4 sentences maximum.
- Use active voice.
- Run
/grammar-check before finishing to catch prohibited punctuation (endashes, emdashes, hyphens used as dashes).
Key differences from other page types
- Guide pages have a
{{% pageinfo %}} block with the phase indicator
- Guide pages do NOT have
category, risk_level, or tags in front matter
- Guide pages have
weight for ordering within a phase section
- Guide pages have flexible H2 structure (not a rigid template like anti-patterns)
- Guide pages may include code examples, comparison tables, and blockquotes
- Guide pages link to anti-patterns (as things to avoid) and symptoms (as things the practice resolves)
Phase Assignment
The phase determines the output directory and the pageinfo label.
| Phase | Directory | Pageinfo label |
|---|
| Phase 0 - Assess | assess/ | **Phase 0 - Assess** |
| Phase 1 - Foundations | foundations/ | **Phase 1 - Foundations** |
| Phase 2 - Pipeline | pipeline/ | **Phase 2 - Pipeline** |
| Phase 3 - Optimize | optimize/ | **Phase 3 - Optimize** |
| Phase 4 - Continuous Deployment | continuous-deployment/ | **Phase 4 - Continuous Deployment** |
Available Anti-Pattern Pages (for cross-referencing)
Use relative links from guide page directories: ../../../anti-patterns/[category]/[slug]/
Architecture:
architecture/distributed-monolith - Distributed Monolith
architecture/premature-microservices - Premature Microservices
architecture/tightly-coupled-monolith - Tightly Coupled Monolith
Branching & Integration:
branching-integration/integration-deferred - Integration Deferred
branching-integration/long-lived-feature-branches - Long-Lived Feature Branches
Monitoring & Observability:
monitoring-observability/blind-operations - Blind Operations
Organizational & Cultural:
organizational-cultural/governance-process/cab-gates - CAB Gates
organizational-cultural/planning/deadline-driven-development - Deadline-Driven Development
organizational-cultural/team-dynamics/missing-product-ownership - Missing Product Ownership
organizational-cultural/team-dynamics/pressure-to-skip-testing - Pressure to Skip Testing
organizational-cultural/team-dynamics/thin-spread-teams - Thin-Spread Teams
organizational-cultural/planning/velocity-as-individual-metric - Velocity as Individual Metric
Pipeline & Infrastructure:
pipeline/manual-deployments - Manual Deployments
pipeline/missing-deployment-pipeline - Missing Deployment Pipeline
pipeline/snowflake-environments - Snowflake Environments
Team Workflow:
team-workflow/horizontal-slicing - Horizontal Slicing
team-workflow/knowledge-silos - Knowledge Silos
team-workflow/monolithic-work-items - Monolithic Work Items
team-workflow/push-based-work-assignment - Push-Based Work Assignment
team-workflow/unbounded-wip - Unbounded WIP
team-workflow/undone-work - Undone Work
Testing & Quality:
testing/code-coverage-mandates - Code Coverage Mandates
testing/inverted-test-pyramid - Inverted Test Pyramid
testing/manual-regression-testing-gates - Manual Regression Testing Gates
testing/manual-testing-only - Manual Testing Only
Available Symptom Pages (for cross-referencing)
Use relative links from guide page directories: ../../../symptoms/[subdirectory]/[slug]/
Testing:
testing/flaky-tests - Flaky Tests
testing/high-coverage-ineffective-tests - High Coverage, Ineffective Tests
testing/refactoring-breaks-tests - Refactoring Breaks Tests
testing/slow-test-suites - Slow Test Suites
testing/environment-dependent-failures - Environment-Dependent Failures
Deployment:
deployment/fear-of-deploying - Fear of Deploying
deployment/infrequent-releases - Infrequent Releases
deployment/coordinated-deployments - Coordinated Deployments
deployment/merge-freeze - Merge Freeze
deployment/hardening-sprints - Hardening Sprints
deployment/staging-passes-production-fails - Staging Passes, Production Fails
Flow:
flow/work-management/too-much-wip - Too Much WIP
flow/work-management/work-items-take-too-long - Work Items Take Too Long
flow/integration/prs-waiting-for-review - PRs Waiting for Review
flow/integration/painful-merges - Painful Merges
flow/integration/no-fast-feedback - No Fast Feedback
flow/integration/slow-pipelines - Slow Pipelines
Visibility:
visibility/production-issues-found-by-customers - Production Issues Found by Customers
visibility/slow-detection - Slow Detection
visibility/works-on-my-machine - Works on My Machine
visibility/team-burnout - Team Burnout
Available Guide Pages (for linking to sibling practices)
Use relative links: ../[slug]/ for same phase, ../../[phase]/[slug]/ for different phase.
Assess:
baseline-metrics, current-state-checklist, identify-constraints, value-stream-mapping
Foundations:
build-automation, code-review, everything-as-code, testing-fundamentals, trunk-based-development, work-decomposition, working-agreements
Pipeline:
application-config, deployable-definition, deterministic-pipeline, immutable-artifacts, pipeline-architecture, production-like-environments, rollback, single-path-to-production
Optimize:
architecture-decoupling, feature-flags, limiting-wip, metrics-driven-improvement, retrospectives, small-batches
Continuous Deployment:
agentic-cd, deploy-on-demand, experience-reports, progressive-rollout
Available Metrics Pages (for linking)
Use relative links: ../../../reference/metrics/[slug]/
build-duration, change-fail-rate, development-cycle-time, integration-frequency, lead-time, mean-time-to-repair, release-frequency, work-in-progress
Output
Write the generated page to content/en/docs/migrate-to-cd/[phase-directory]/[slug].md where [slug] is the practice name in kebab-case.