| name | portaljs-architect |
| description | Recommend a data-portal architecture (storage, compute, catalog, access, hosting, metadata) from stated needs, then hand off to the build skills. The advisory entry point. Use when starting a new data-portal project and the underlying architecture has not yet been decided. |
| allowed-tools | Read, Write, Bash(du:*), Bash(wc:*), Bash(ls:*), Bash(head:*) |
| version | 1.0.0 |
| author | Datopian <hello@datopian.com> |
| license | MIT |
| compatibility | Claude Code with PortalJS portals (Next.js 14, React 18, Node 18+). Runs from any project via the plugin, a personal ~/.claude/commands install, or a portaljs clone. |
| tags | ["portaljs","data-portal","architecture","advisory","ckan","nextjs"] |
PortalJS — Architect
Overview
The advisory entry point for a PortalJS project. Before anything gets scaffolded, this
skill works out what to build: given the kind of portal, the shape of the data, and its
purpose, it fills six architecture slots (storage, catalog, compute, access, hosting,
metadata), resolves two build-time knobs (per-dataset data tier and the portal-wide
DATA_QUERY mode), and hands off to the concrete build skills. It decides; it does not
build. When the brief is thin it interviews in short rounds and never dead-ends — every
question has a sensible default, reachable by replying "use defaults."
Prerequisites
- A rough idea of the portal's purpose and data (exact numbers are not required — the
interview supplies defaults for anything missing).
- Optional: local files or a directory of sample data to inspect for size and shape.
- No PortalJS project needs to exist yet; this skill runs before scaffolding.
Instructions
The canonical, full step-by-step workflow lives in
.claude/commands/portaljs-architect.md —
that file is the single source of truth. Follow it when executing this skill:
- Parse
$ARGUMENTS for anything already specified, then interview for what's
missing, one round at a time: (1) what's being built, (2) what the data is,
(3) what it's for, (4) constraints. Accept "use defaults" at any point. Inspect
named files/directories with du -sh and line counts to ground size guesses.
- Derive the recommendation by matching the answers against the decision tables —
Storage/Catalog/Compute by data volume and query needs, Access/Hosting by public
vs. private, Metadata by standards-compliance needs — then resolve the two
build-time knobs: per-dataset data tier (
inline | LFS | external) and the
portal-wide DATA_QUERY mode (flat | duckdb).
- Echo the architecture brief (stack, reasoning per slot, deviations from default,
deferred items) and wait for confirmation ("go") or corrections.
- On confirmation, persist the brief to
./ARCHITECTURE.md in the working directory.
- Hand off to the build skills —
/portaljs-new-portal, /portaljs-add-dataset,
/portaljs-connect-ckan, /portaljs-define-schema, /portaljs-deploy — mapped
from the brief, and offer to run the first one.
Output
- Created: documenting the six slots, the two build-time
knobs, the reasoning, and anything deferred to a later build step.
