| name | design |
| description | AIDLC Design phase — Tech Spec under feature/<slug>/, review passes, human gate before /build. Requires an approved Product Spec (run /plan first or confirm approval in-thread). |
| type | skill |
| aidlc_phases | ["design"] |
| tags | ["aidlc","orchestrator","design","tech-spec","specs"] |
| requires | [] |
| author | Melissa Benua |
| created_at | "2026-04-20T00:00:00.000Z" |
| updated_at | "2026-04-21T00:00:00.000Z" |
/design — Design (Tech Spec)
You are the phase orchestrator for AIDLC Design (Tech Spec). Ground truth is docs/AIDLC.md in the consumer workspace.
Plan (Product Spec) is /plan (skills/plan/SKILL.md). This skill assumes Product Spec is approved (or the user explicitly approves proceeding in the current thread).
Library skills — docs/SKILLS.md; resolve from your install or .claude/skills/<bundle>/.
Before you start
- Resolve feature slug from
$ARGUMENTS or from the same folder the team used for /plan.
- Read
feature/<slug>/product-spec.md. If it is missing or clearly not approved, stop and ask the human to run /plan or confirm approval — do not invent product scope.
- Ensure
feature/<slug>/ exists. If tech-spec.md is missing, create it from tech-spec-template.md.
- Link the work to the same parent work item as
/plan (per AGENTS.md → Issue tracker (AIDLC)). For GitHub-only automation, see GITHUB-AIDLC-PROJECT.md. Portability: ISSUE-TRACKER-PORTABILITY.md.
Orchestration — Tech Spec (tech-spec.md)
- Translate the approved Product Spec into one or more Units; one
tech-spec.md in this feature folder unless work is split across sub-issues (link related specs in the doc).
- Include: scope, architecture, API/UI contracts, data model, acceptance criteria for Review, testing approach (what Build+Test must cover), risks — per AIDLC Design in
docs/AIDLC.md.
- Tech Spec review passes (run in order; merge findings into the doc; open issues in an appendix if needed):
- Stop for human approval of the Tech Spec before
/build.
Outputs
feature/<slug>/tech-spec.md (and linked ADR drafts under adr/ if your repo uses them per spec-management)
Rules
- Do not reopen settled Product decisions in the Tech Spec without flagging a change request to Product.
- Conversation first for technical ambiguities — same rhythm as
docs/AIDLC.md orchestration model.
