the-startup

Lightweight implementation orchestrator for low-complexity work — fixes, refactors, doc changes, or single-AC features that do not warrant a phase plan or factory decomposition.

Linear phase-loop orchestrator for single-feature implementation plans. Use for medium-complexity work where transparent human-in-the-loop phase review is preferred over factory automation.

Implementation entry point. Use to execute a completed specification. Auto-detects the decomposition tier (Direct, Incremental, or Factory) from spec artifacts and dispatches to the matching execution sub-skill.

Decompose a single-feature specification into a linear, phase-by-phase implementation plan. Use this for medium-complexity work — single feature, one or two components — where transparent human-in-the-loop phase review is preferred over factory automation.

Scaffold, status-check, and manage specification directories. Use when creating a new spec, reading spec status, transitioning between phases, or logging decisions on a spec in .start/specs/.

Create a comprehensive specification from a brief description. Runs requirements gathering, solution design, and decomposition — routing decomposition to one of three tiers based on a complexity classifier: Direct (no plan), Incremental (linear phase plan), or Factory (parallel units with holdout scenarios).

Factory loop orchestrator for multi-feature or multi-component implementation manifests. Use for high-complexity work with parallel-eligible workstreams and holdout-scenario evaluation.

Decompose a multi-feature or multi-component specification into factory-consumable artifacts. Use this for high-complexity work — multiple features, three or more components, or parallel-eligible workstreams.

Use when completing implementation, fixing bugs, refactoring code, or any time you need to verify the test suite passes. Also use when tests fail and you hear "pre-existing" or "not my changes" — enforces strict code ownership. Ensures MECE coverage (no overlap, no gaps) and that ALL test categories including E2E are executed.

Systematically diagnose and resolve bugs through conversational investigation and root cause analysis

Create and validate product requirements documents (PRD). Use when writing requirements, defining user stories, specifying acceptance criteria, analyzing user needs, or working on requirements.md files in .start/specs/.

Create and validate solution design documents (SDD). Use when designing architecture, defining interfaces, documenting technical decisions, analyzing system components, or working on solution.md files in .start/specs/.

Validate in any of six modes — spec quality, single-file review, spec-to-implementation drift, constitution rule enforcement, comparison between two artifacts, or sanity-checking your understanding. Use when checking a spec by ID, validating a file by path, detecting drift, enforcing constitution rules, comparing two sources ("$X against $Y"), or asking a freeform validation question.

Deep-dive codebase analysis that explains how things actually work — business rules, architecture patterns, auth flows, data models, integrations, and performance hotspots. Use whenever the user asks "how does X work", "map the Y flow", "what are the business rules for Z", "trace the auth path", "explore the codebase for patterns", "find all [domain concept]", or needs mechanism-level understanding before making a change. Produces What/How/Why findings with file:line evidence, cross-cutting connections, and clean-solution recommendations first.

Create or update a project constitution with governance rules. Uses discovery-based approach to generate project-specific rules.

Generate and maintain documentation for code, APIs, and project components

Refactor, simplify, or clean up code for improved maintainability without changing business logic

Use when creating new skills, editing existing skills, auditing skill quality, converting skills to markdown conventions, or verifying skills before deployment. Triggers include skill authoring requests, skill review needs, or "the skill doesn't work" complaints.

You MUST use this before any creative work — creating features, building components, adding functionality, or modifying behavior. Explores user intent, requirements, and design before implementation.

Multi-agent code review with specialized perspectives (security, performance, patterns, simplification, tests)

Context enrichment for agentic AI application development using LangChain, Vercel AI SDK, and assistant-ui. Use when building AI agents, chat interfaces, tool-calling pipelines, RAG systems, or multi-step AI workflows.

Context enrichment for frontend UI development using shadcn/ui and Tailwind CSS. Use when building component libraries, implementing UI designs, theming, or working with accessible React components.

Unified platform operations guidance for CI/CD pipeline design, deployment strategies, observability, SLI/SLOs, and incident-ready rollouts. Use when building release workflows, production monitoring, or reliability controls.

Unified codebase discovery across structure navigation, tech-stack detection, and documentation extraction. Use when onboarding to a project, locating implementation paths, identifying frameworks/tooling, or validating docs against code reality.

User research and insight synthesis for interviews, usability testing, personas, journey mapping, and actionable product/design recommendations. Use when planning studies, collecting evidence, synthesizing patterns, or converting findings into prioritized decisions.

Unified domain and data modeling for business entities, invariants, schema design, aggregate boundaries, and evolution strategy. Use when designing business models, schema changes, bounded contexts, or consistency rules.

Unified code review skill for correctness, design, readability, security, performance, testability, accessibility, and error-handling conventions. Use when reviewing changes, enforcing quality standards, or identifying technical debt.

RICE, MoSCoW, Kano, and value-effort prioritization frameworks with scoring methodologies and decision documentation. Use when prioritizing features, evaluating competing initiatives, creating roadmaps, or making build vs defer decisions.

Identify existing codebase patterns (naming conventions, architectural patterns, testing patterns) to maintain consistency. Use when generating code, reviewing changes, or understanding established practices.

Requirement gathering techniques, stakeholder analysis, user story patterns, and specification validation. Use when clarifying vague requirements, resolving conflicting needs, documenting specifications, or validating requirements with stakeholders.

REST and GraphQL API design patterns, OpenAPI/Swagger specifications, versioning strategies, and authentication patterns. Use when designing APIs, reviewing API contracts, evaluating API technologies, or implementing API endpoints.

System architecture patterns including monolith, microservices, event-driven, and serverless, with C4 modeling, scalability strategies, and technology selection criteria. Use when designing system architectures, evaluating patterns, or planning scalability.

Create architectural decision records (ADRs), system documentation, API documentation, and operational runbooks. Use when capturing design decisions, documenting system architecture, creating API references, or writing operational procedures.

Writing effective tests and running them successfully. Covers layer-specific mocking rules, test design principles, debugging failures, and flaky test management. Use when writing tests, reviewing test quality, or debugging test failures.

Measurement approaches, profiling patterns, bottleneck identification, and optimization guidance. Use when diagnosing performance issues, establishing baselines, identifying bottlenecks, or planning for scale. Always measure before optimizing.

Vulnerability review, threat modeling, OWASP patterns, and secure coding assessment. Use when reviewing code security, designing secure systems, performing threat analysis, or validating security implementations.