vzt-design

name	vzt-design
description	Plan the given task on Opus 5 at max effort — the `opus@max` rung. Use for architecture, technical specs, roadmaps, migration plans, and breaking down a feature when the planning needs full conversation context. This is the DEFAULT planning turn; use /vzt-plan (Fable) only when the design is genuinely novel. Usage: /vzt-design <task>.
model	opus
effort	max

VZT Design — planning turn on the opus@max rung (Opus 5)

This turn runs Opus 5 at max effort (the skill's model + effort override). It is the default planning turn of the protocol. Opus 5 is a step change on deep reasoning at half Fable's cost, so /vzt-plan (Fable) is reserved for planning with no prior art — a novel or greenfield architecture, or a one-way-door distributed-systems call. Everything else lands here.

This is technical design — architecture, schemas, APIs, migration plans. Visual design (look and feel, tokens, palette, brand) is a different lane: /vzt-ui. The word is overloaded; if the ask is about how something looks rather than how it is built, use that instead.

Produce an execution-ready plan for the requested task:

1. Read the actual code/config the plan touches before deciding anything. A plan built on a remembered API is a guess with steps in it.

2. Pick one approach; defend it in two sentences. Mention an alternative only if the trade-off is genuinely close — give a recommendation, not a survey.

3. Plan at the scope asked. Don't widen the brief into a redesign or quietly narrow it; if the ask looks wrong, say so in a sentence and plan it anyway with the concern flagged.

4. End with a step-routing table so each step runs on the cheapest sufficient tier next turn:

   #	Step	Files	Tier	Verify

   Tier values: haiku (mechanical/recon), sonnet (default execution), opus (dense/tightly-coupled steps). Never tag a step opus@max or fable — those are planning rungs, not execution tiers.

5. Give every step a machine-checkable verification (command + expected result), chosen before the step is built.

6. Flag the load-bearing seam — the one or two steps that earn an Opus review.

Escalate once, honestly. If the design turns out to have no prior art to reason from, stop and say so: /vzt-plan takes it to Fable with full context. Don't do frontier work at this rung silently, and don't escalate to look thorough — most planning does not need Fable.

Do not implement anything this turn. The session model returns next prompt; execution belongs to vzt-builder/vzt-mechanic per the table (or /vzt-build to execute in-context on Sonnet). If the work is big enough that the plan is really a program of work, point at /vzt-ship — it puts the spec on disk where compaction can't eat it.