portaljs-architect

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 <[e-mail]>
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:

1. 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.
2. 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).
3. Echo the architecture brief (stack, reasoning per slot, deviations from default, deferred items) and wait for confirmation ("go") or corrections.
4. On confirmation, persist the brief to ./ARCHITECTURE.md in the working directory.
5. 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.