using-skills

name	using-skills
description	Check and invoke available skills before starting work. Invoke at the start of any task to ensure relevant skills are loaded.

Using Skills

Before starting any task, check your available skills. Skills encode proven practices — ignoring them means reinventing wheels or missing important patterns.

Process

1. List available skills — Check what's available in your current context
2. Match to task — Which skills might apply, even partially?
3. Invoke relevant skills — Load them before starting work
4. Apply their guidance — Follow the patterns they establish

When in Doubt, Invoke

If there's even a small chance a skill applies, invoke it. The cost of loading an irrelevant skill is low. The cost of missing relevant guidance is high.

Skills compose. One skill may tell you to invoke another.

Skill Groups

Core Skills (Always Available)

Skill	Use When
using-skills	Start of any task
writing-documents	Writing any documentation, READMEs, designs, plans
code-review	Reviewing PRs, commits, staged changes, auditing code
review-responder	Processing and responding to code review feedback
mermaid-diagrams	Creating diagrams in markdown documents
skill-builder	Creating or improving Claude Code skills
domain-expert	Brainstorming, checking availability, choosing registrars
config-packager	Updating agentic-config repo, auditing for PII, packaging skills
research	Gathering evidence for decisions, investigating unknowns, comparing approaches
red-team	Testing code, services, or infrastructure for vulnerabilities
qa-engineer	Building features, reviewing work, validating output, anything that feels "done"

Game Dev → game-dev

Parent router for 14 sub-skills covering the full game dev lifecycle. Invoke game-dev to find the right sub-skill.

Sub-skills: session-planner, sprint-manager, scope-guardian, decision-journal, learning-planner, boot-dev-companion, gdd-writer, prototype-coach, game-research, art-pipeline, sound-designer, steam-publisher, playtest-coordinator, plane

Wellbeing → wellbeing

Personal support for ADHD, emotional regulation, and self-doubt. Invoke wellbeing to route to the right help.

Sub-skills: adhd-coach, inner-ally

Infrastructure → infrastructure

Homelab cluster operations, deployments, and automation. Invoke infrastructure to route to the right tool.

Sub-skills: home-ops-deployer, k8s-operator, n8n-workflow-builder

Skill Composition Patterns

task → using-skills → identify relevant skills → invoke them → work

game dev work → game-dev → (routes to sub-skill)
struggling / stuck → wellbeing → adhd-coach or inner-ally
cluster / deploy → infrastructure → (routes to sub-skill)

writing task → writing-documents → [document type guidance]
code review → code-review → writing-documents (for findings)
review feedback → review-responder → apply/skip each item
new skill → skill-builder → writing-documents (skills are agent docs)
research task → research → writing-documents (for synthesis report)
security testing → red-team → review-responder (for remediation)
building features → qa-engineer (wear the QA hat throughout)
validating work → qa-engineer → verification checklist

Quick "What Do I Invoke?"

Situation	Invoke
Starting game dev work	game-dev
Can't start / stuck / ADHD	wellbeing
Emotionally overwhelmed	wellbeing
Cluster / deploy / automation	infrastructure
Writing docs	writing-documents
Code review	code-review
Making a big decision	game-dev → decision-journal
Investigating / comparing / deciding	research
Security testing	red-team
Building / verifying work	qa-engineer
Packaging config	config-packager
Domain names	domain-expert
New skill	skill-builder

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Check skills first. Missing relevant guidance costs more than loading unused skills.