| name | ue-design |
| description | AI-guided design for Unreal Engine features and major changes in Deadline Cloud integration. Use when designing new features, planning major refactors, creating design docs, or making architectural decisions for deadline-cloud-for-unreal-engine. Triggers on requests like "design a feature", "write a design doc", "plan a major change", or "architect a solution". |
| tags | ["skill","deadline-cloud","deadline-cloud-for-unreal-engine","deadline-cloud-for-ue","design","architecture","feature-design"] |
UE Design
Overview
AI-guided interactive design process for Unreal Engine features in Deadline Cloud. The agent drives the conversation — researching, proposing options, and prompting the user for decisions at each step. Progress is saved to disk after each section.
Usage
Use this skill when:
- Designing a new major feature for the UE integration
- Planning a major refactor or architectural change
- Creating or refining a design document in
docs/designs/
Do not use this skill for small bug fixes, minor enhancements, or changes that can be adequately described in a PR description.
Core Concepts
Agent Role
You are the design driver. The user provides goals and makes decisions. You do everything else:
- Research the codebase,
references/references.md, and AGENTS.md
- Draft each section with concrete proposals
- Present options with pros/cons for every design decision
- Prompt the user to choose, confirm, or redirect
- Challenge your own proposals — surface weaknesses and edge cases before the user asks
- Iterate based on user feedback before moving to the next section
You MUST NOT dump an entire design doc at once. Work through it section by section, getting user sign-off on each before proceeding.
Saving Progress
You MUST write the design doc to docs/designs/<feature-name>.md incrementally — after each section is approved, write it to disk. This ensures:
- Work survives context window limits
- A new session can resume by reading the file
- The user can review progress at any time
On session start, always check docs/designs/ for an existing draft to resume.
Design Flow
The template (references/design-doc-template.md) has 4 parts. Work through Parts 1-3 with the human, then generate the summary and implementation plan.
Step 1: Kickoff
Prompt the user:
What would you like to do?
1. Start a new design
2. Refine an existing design (from docs/designs/)
If new design: Ask the user to describe the feature and any known constraints/specs.
If refining: Read the existing doc, ask what needs to change.
Step 2: Research
Before drafting anything, you MUST:
- Read
AGENTS.md for architecture and component boundaries
- Search the codebase for existing patterns related to the feature
- Read any linked docs, tickets, or prior art the user mentions
Summarize findings to the user. Ask if anything is missing.
Step 3: Part 1 — Understand the Problem
Work through: Problem Description, Background, Requirements, Out of Scope, Assumptions, Open Questions. Draft each, present to user, iterate, write to disk.
Step 4: Part 2 — Design the Solution
Work through: Glossary, Solution (architecture, components, dependencies, sequence diagrams, data models, backwards compatibility), Solutions Discarded, Security. For each design decision:
- Research options — read code, check APIs, look at existing patterns
- Present 2-3 options with pros/cons, self-challenge weaknesses
- Wait for user decision
Write each approved section to disk.
Step 5: Generate Executive Summary
After the design is complete, generate the Executive Summary at the top of the document. This summarizes: the problem, proposed solution, testing plan, and work estimate. Present to user for final approval.
Step 6: Part 4 — Implementation Plan
Generate the agent-executable implementation plan: testing plan, correctness properties, error handling, and numbered tasks. Tasks MUST be structured so independent tasks can be worked on concurrently by separate agents. Mark parallel tasks with ⚡.
Prompting Patterns
At every decision point, you MUST end with a clear question.
You MUST NOT:
- Proceed to the next section without user confirmation
- Make design decisions without presenting options
- Skip research — always check the codebase first
Quick Reference
| Resource | Location |
|---|
| Design doc template | references/design-doc-template.md |
| Output directory | docs/designs/ |
| Architecture context | AGENTS.md |
