Use when a non-designer needs to audit a UI, generate a design spec (spacing, type scale, color tokens, grids), or build brand foundations (logo systems, palette and type pairing, brand guidelines). Covers the visual layer, UX/perceptual critique, and brand identity. For implementing the design in code (React/HTML/CSS), use frontend-design.
Use when a B2B SaaS founder needs to choose, prioritize, or rebalance customer acquisition channels — deciding outbound vs inbound, paid vs PLG, where to put marketing budget, or sanity-checking CAC, LTV:CAC, and payback. Also for channel-specific playbooks (cold email, LinkedIn, paid social, community, partnerships) and channel-mix audits. Not for closing tactics (use sales-skill) or copy (use copywriter-skill).
Use when the user needs to write, rewrite, review, or critique commercial copy meant to drive a reader toward action — landing pages, hero sections, headlines, email (cold outreach, nurture, promo, launch), CTAs, microcopy, product descriptions, value propositions, ads, or taglines. Also for copy audits, clarity checks, conversion reviews, or choosing a framework (AIDA, PAS, BAB, FAB, 4U's). Applies even when the user just says "write me an email" or "review this page." Not for channel/budget strategy (use channel-expert) or pricing structure (use pricing).
Use when the user needs to design, run, or audit product or GTM analytics — metric hierarchies and north stars, funnels, cohort retention, churn, pipeline velocity, forecasting, lead scoring, NRR, A/B tests, or analytical SQL — or uploads a dataset to analyze. Triggers on questions like "why did activation drop", "is this metric meaningful", "review my dashboard", or "what should I measure". For writing the spec that defines a feature's success metrics, use product-spec.
Use when the user needs to deploy, operate, secure, or scale running infrastructure — cloud architecture (multi-region, VPC, FinOps), CI/CD and deployment strategies, secrets/IAM/supply-chain security, observability and SLO alerting, SRE and incident response, Kubernetes vs ECS and autoscaling, Terraform/Pulumi/CDK, or platform engineering and DORA metrics. Also for generating runbooks, pipeline configs, Terraform modules, or Kubernetes manifests. For choosing the system's architecture or stack before it runs (monolith vs microservices, which database), use software-architect.
Use when planning, auditing, or speccing a video's motion and visual craft: shot lists, storyboards, color scripts, transitions, easing, kinetic typography, pacing, retention, or animation principles. Triggers: 'video plan', 'shot list', 'storyboard', 'color script', 'motion spec', 'fix the pacing', 'explainer/demo/brand video'. For the spoken words themselves, use script-writer-skill; for in-code UI motion, use frontend-design.
Use when a SaaS founder is deciding on or building a product-led growth motion — assessing PLG readiness, choosing freemium vs free trial vs reverse trial, defining activation and PQLs, designing self-serve onboarding and conversion triggers, building viral loops, or setting up PLG metrics (NRG, activation rate, TTV, NDR, CAC payback) and cohort analysis. Also for hybrid product-led-sales design and PLG-vs-sales-led GTM decisions. Not for paid acquisition channel mix (use channel-expert) or the mechanics of price points and tiers (use pricing).
Use when a SaaS founder needs to set, audit, or redesign pricing — choosing a value metric, structuring tiers and packaging, setting price points, designing discounts, planning a price increase, or optimizing a pricing page. Also for monetization questions like free-to-paid conversion, expansion revenue, willingness-to-pay research, or per-seat vs usage-based. Not for which acquisition channels to use (use channel-expert) or the wording of the pricing page (use copywriter-skill).