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Matt PocockandClaude Opus 4.8 0d54032526 feat(wayfinder): run research inline as a subagent, not as a ticket
Research is fully AFK and yields a fact, not a decision, so it never
earns a ticket's session boundary. Drop `research` from the
`wayfinder:<type>` set and reframe it as inline fuel: any session
spins up a `/research` subagent the moment it hits a knowledge gap,
captures the findings on a throwaway `research/<name>` branch, and
leaves a context pointer on the ticket it informs (or the map's Notes).

Updates the SKILL, the GitHub/GitLab/local tracker type lists, and the
docs page, plus a changeset.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-13 10:15:50 +01:00
131 changed files with 1224 additions and 1194 deletions
@@ -1,41 +0,0 @@
# Ship the skill set as a native Claude Code plugin; defer a native Codex plugin
These skills have always been installable via [skills.sh](https://skills.sh/mattpocock/skills) (`npx skills add mattpocock/skills`), which copies editable skill files into a user's project across Claude Code, Codex, and other Agent-Skills-standard harnesses. A recurring request is a **plug-and-play** distribution: subscribe to the set as a read-only, always-current bundle you don't edit, rather than a fork you own. That is exactly what native plugin systems provide.
We ship a native **Claude Code plugin** and, for now, **defer** a native **Codex plugin**. The split is forced by how each ecosystem's plugin manifest selects skills, against this repo's bucketed layout.
## The constraint: bucketed skills vs. single-path selection
Skills live in bucket folders under `skills/``engineering/` and `productivity/` are **promoted** (shipped); `misc/`, `personal/`, `in-progress/`, and `deprecated/` are **not**. A plugin must expose only the promoted set, which spans two of those bucket folders.
- **Claude Code** — `.claude-plugin/plugin.json` accepts `skills` as an **array of explicit skill-directory paths**. We list the promoted skills one by one, exclude everything else with zero ambiguity, and add `.claude-plugin/marketplace.json` so the repo is its own single-plugin marketplace. Verified end to end: `claude plugin validate . --strict` passes, and `marketplace add``install` resolves all promoted skills.
- **Codex** — `.codex-plugin/plugin.json` accepts `skills` only as a **single path string** (arrays are rejected with `missing or invalid plugin.json`), and Codex discovers `SKILL.md` files recursively under it. There is no way to name two bucket folders, or to curate a subset, from one path. Two escape hatches were tested and rejected:
- Pointing at `./skills/` would also ship `deprecated/`, `in-progress/`, `personal/`, and `misc/` — retired, draft, and personal skills we deliberately don't promote.
- A curated flat directory of **symlinks** into the buckets does not survive install: Codex copies the plugin tree into its cache and **drops symlinks**, so the skills arrive empty.
The only robust ways to give Codex a single promoted-only path are (a) **restructure** so `skills/` contains only promoted skills (moving the non-promoted buckets out — a large blast radius across `CLAUDE.md`, `scripts/link-skills.sh`, the bucket READMEs, and the local dev workflow that relies on `in-progress/` and `personal/`), or (b) **commit duplicate copies** of promoted skills into a flat directory (a sync burden and a second source of truth). Both are structural decisions, not something to bundle into shipping the Claude plugin. This is very likely the original, half-remembered reason a plugin wasn't shipped earlier: the manifest formats didn't cleanly express a curated subset of a bucketed repo.
## Decision
- Ship the **Claude Code plugin** now (`.claude-plugin/plugin.json` + `.claude-plugin/marketplace.json`), curated to the promoted set, as the headline v1.2 deliverable.
- Keep **skills.sh** as the universal installer — it already serves Codex and other harnesses today, so no Codex user is left without an install path.
- **Defer** the native Codex plugin until we decide between restructuring `skills/` to promoted-only vs. committing a generated flat copy. Revisit when Codex either supports a `skills` array / include-list or preserves symlinks on install.
## Invariants this creates
- Every promoted skill has an entry in `.claude-plugin/plugin.json`'s `skills` array (this already stood as a `CLAUDE.md` rule; it now also gates the plugin's contents).
- `.claude-plugin/plugin.json`'s `version` tracks `package.json`'s version — bump both together on release. Claude uses the plugin `version` to decide when installed users see an update.
## Update, 2026-08-05
`mattpocock-skills` was accepted into **Claude Code's official marketplace** — configured name `claude-plugins-official`, source repo `anthropics/claude-plugins-official` — which every Claude Code install has by default. `claude plugins install mattpocock-skills` is now the documented route, and the `marketplace add``install` path above is superseded. The install wording lives in [.agents/install-block.md](../install-block.md).
The official listing points at this repo's git URL and reads `.claude-plugin/plugin.json` directly, so it does not depend on `.claude-plugin/marketplace.json`. That file is retained only as a fallback for installing the repo directly (an unreleased commit, or a fork).
Verified 2026-08-05, on Claude Code 2.1.222, against the live listing:
- `claude plugins install mattpocock-skills` resolves with no marketplace added first, and reports `mattpocock-skills@claude-plugins-official`.
- `claude plugin details mattpocock-skills` then reports version 1.2.0 and loads the promoted skills.
- The listing's `source` is `{"source": "url", "url": "https://github.com/mattpocock/skills.git", "sha": …}` — the **sha is pinned**, so a release reaches installed users when that pin moves, not the moment we tag. At the time of writing the pin sits two commits behind `main`, which is why it lists 22 skills rather than the 24 in `plugin.json`.
- The in-session `/plugin install mattpocock-skills` was **not** exercised — `/plugin` is unavailable in headless (`claude -p`) sessions. It runs the same resolver as the CLI, and the documented example form is `/plugin install <name>@claude-plugins-official`.
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# The canonical install block
One install story, one wording. `README.md`, `.changeset/*`, and every page under `docs/` must say **this** and nothing else. Change it here first, then propagate.
`mattpocock-skills` is listed in **Claude Code's official marketplace** — configured name `claude-plugins-official`, source repo `anthropics/claude-plugins-official` — which every Claude Code install has out of the box. There is no marketplace to add first. Official Anthropic marketplaces have auto-update enabled by default ([discover-plugins](https://code.claude.com/docs/en/discover-plugins)), so "updates arrive automatically" is a true claim, not a hope.
## Claude Code — the plugin
<canonical-block name="claude-code">
```bash
claude plugins install mattpocock-skills
```
Or, from inside a session:
```
/plugin install mattpocock-skills
```
It's in Claude Code's official marketplace, so there's nothing to add first, and updates arrive automatically.
</canonical-block>
## Codex, and other agents — skills.sh
The plugin is Claude Code only. Everywhere else, [skills.sh](https://skills.sh/mattpocock/skills) copies editable skill files into the project. Use the whole-set form on `README.md`:
<canonical-block name="skills-sh-whole-set">
```bash
npx skills@latest add mattpocock/skills
```
Pick the skills you want, and which coding agents to install them on. **The installer lets you choose which skills to take — make sure `setup-matt-pocock-skills` is one of them.**
</canonical-block>
…and the single-skill form wherever one skill is named on its own. Note that **`docs/` pages are not a consumer of this block**: ai-hero renders the install widget above the body, so a page that writes the commands out duplicates it. See [writing-docs.md](./writing-docs.md).
<canonical-block name="skills-sh-one-skill">
```bash
npx skills@latest add mattpocock/skills --skill=<name>
```
```bash
npx skills@latest update <name>
```
</canonical-block>
`skills@latest` is the pinned spelling in all three. The pages under `docs/` used to carry their own copy of these commands; those blocks are now deleted rather than corrected, because the site renders the install commands itself.
## The two routes are exclusive
The plugin is a managed, read-only bundle you subscribe to. skills.sh writes files you own and edit. Installing both leaves the user with every skill twice — always say "pick one".
## Not the install story
`.claude-plugin/marketplace.json` makes the repo its own single-plugin marketplace (`/plugin marketplace add mattpocock/skills`, then `/plugin install mattpocock-skills@mattpocock`). The official listing supersedes it. It is kept as a fallback for installing the repo directly — an unreleased commit, or a fork — and is **not** documented to users.
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Every `SKILL.md` in this repo is a skill. The one axis that splits them is **invocation** — who can reach it:
- **User-invoked** — reachable **only by the human typing its name**. Set `disable-model-invocation: true` in the frontmatter (Claude Code) and `policy.allow_implicit_invocation: false` in `agents/openai.yaml` (Codex). The `description` is **human-facing**: a one-line summary read by a person browsing slash-commands. Strip trigger lists ("Use when the user says…").
- **Model-invoked** — reachable by **model or user**. The default: omit `disable-model-invocation` and the `policy` block from `agents/openai.yaml`. The `description` is **model-facing** and keeps rich trigger phrasing ("Use when the user wants…, mentions…, asks for…") so auto-invocation fires. The test for whether a skill should stay model-invoked: _could the model usefully reach for this autonomously?_ (Reuse is the reason to extract a skill, not the test.)
- **User-invoked** — reachable **only by the human typing its name**. Set `disable-model-invocation: true` in the frontmatter. The `description` is **human-facing**: a one-line summary read by a person browsing slash-commands. Strip trigger lists ("Use when the user says…").
- **Model-invoked** — reachable by **model or user**. The default: omit `disable-model-invocation`. The `description` is **model-facing** and keeps rich trigger phrasing ("Use when the user wants…, mentions…, asks for…") so auto-invocation fires. The test for whether a skill should stay model-invoked: _could the model usefully reach for this autonomously?_ (Reuse is the reason to extract a skill, not the test.)
Each harness excludes a user-invoked skill from the model's reach in its own way, so nothing but the human can fire it — no other skill can. A user-invoked skill may invoke model-invoked skills, but it can never reach another user-invoked skill.
Every skill also carries an `agents/openai.yaml` beside its `SKILL.md`. It holds Codex UI metadata — `interface.display_name` and `interface.short_description` for the skill picker — and, for user-invoked skills, the `policy.allow_implicit_invocation: false` that pairs with `disable-model-invocation`. Keep the two in sync: a skill is user-invoked in both harnesses or neither.
Because a user-invoked skill has no description, nothing but the human can reach it — no other skill can fire it. So a user-invoked skill may invoke model-invoked skills, but it can never reach another user-invoked skill.
Bucket `README.md`s and the top-level `README.md` group entries into **User-invoked** and **Model-invoked**.
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# Writing docs pages
Every skill in `engineering/` and `productivity/` has a human-facing **docs page** at `docs/<bucket>/<skill-name>.md` — the docs tree mirrors those two bucket folders under `skills/`. It is published at `https://aihero.dev/skills-<skill-name>`; the URL is always `skills-<skill-name>` regardless of bucket, so the docs path is repo organisation only. The page is not the skill and not a copy of `SKILL.md`. Only these two buckets are promoted; the rest (`misc/`, `in-progress/`, `deprecated/`) ship no docs page.
Every skill in `engineering/` and `productivity/` has a human-facing **docs page** at `docs/<bucket>/<skill-name>.md` — the docs tree mirrors those two bucket folders under `skills/`. It is published at `https://aihero.dev/skills-<skill-name>`; the URL is always `skills-<skill-name>` regardless of bucket, so the docs path is repo organisation only. The page is not the skill and not a copy of `SKILL.md`. Only these two buckets are promoted; the rest (`misc/`, `personal/`, `in-progress/`, `deprecated/`) ship no docs page.
Most of these skills are **user-invoked**: the agent will never fire them for you, so *you* are the index that has to remember they exist and when to reach for them. That memory is **cognitive load**. The job of a docs page is to relieve it — to orient one reader around one skill so they can hold it in their head, know when to reach for it, and see where it sits in the system. The pages are collectively a distributed router; each is a node.
Act whenever a promoted skill is added, renamed, or has its behaviour changed: create or re-sync its docs page. A rename moves the file too (`docs/<bucket>/<old>.md``docs/<bucket>/<new>.md`), because the published URL tracks the name; a skill that moves between `engineering/` and `productivity/` moves its docs file to the matching folder. Skills in `misc/`, `in-progress/`, and `deprecated/` get no page — none of those buckets is promoted. A skill moving *out* of one of them into `engineering/` or `productivity/` gains a page; one moving the other way loses it.
Act whenever a promoted skill is added, renamed, or has its behaviour changed: create or re-sync its docs page. A rename moves the file too (`docs/<bucket>/<old>.md``docs/<bucket>/<new>.md`), because the published URL tracks the name; a skill that moves between `engineering/` and `productivity/` moves its docs file to the matching folder. Skills in `misc/`, `personal/`, `in-progress/`, and `deprecated/` get no page — none of those buckets is promoted. A skill moving *out* of one of them into `engineering/` or `productivity/` gains a page; one moving the other way loses it.
Because these pages are published on `aihero.dev`, **every link is absolute** — never a repo-relative path. A link to another skill points at `https://aihero.dev/skills-<name>`; a link into the repo points at its full `https://github.com/mattpocock/skills/...` URL. A relative link that works in the repo breaks once published.
@@ -12,12 +12,22 @@ There is no H1 — the published page takes its title from the slug.
## Page structure
Fill the template below. The **fixed frame** (`## What it does`, `## When to reach for it`, `## Where it fits`) appears on every page. The **adaptable middle**`## Prerequisites` and the free-form substance sections — carries only what this particular skill earns; delete the rest.
**A page carries no install commands.** The ai-hero page template renders the install widget itself — a copy button, the single-skill command, the whole-set command, and the update line — above the body. A page that also writes them out shows the reader the same command twice, and the two copies drift: the hand-written pair on every page went stale against the widget beside it. Install wording is a property of the site, not of the page. If it needs changing, change it in ai-hero; the canonical wording lives in [the install block](./install-block.md).
Fill the template below. The **fixed frame** (Quickstart block, source link, `## What it does`, `## When to reach for it`, `## Where it fits`) appears on every page. The **adaptable middle**`## Prerequisites` and the free-form substance sections — carries only what this particular skill earns; delete the rest.
<page-template>
Quickstart:
```bash
npx skills add mattpocock/skills --skill=<name>
```
```bash
npx skills update <name>
```
[Source](https://github.com/mattpocock/skills/tree/main/skills/<bucket>/<name>)
## What it does
One or two plain-language paragraphs. Lead with the skill's one-sentence job, then state the **defining constraint** — the single fact that makes this skill behave differently from the obvious default (for `to-spec`: it does not interview the user again, it synthesises what is already known). Write it as a plain declarative sentence — never a labelled aside like "The defining constraint:" or "The key thing:"; the formula reads as filler. This line is the most valuable on the page; never omit it.
@@ -62,7 +72,7 @@ Always present. Situate the skill in the system in a sentence or two:
## Done when
- The page exists at `docs/<bucket>/<name>.md`, and no stale page survives a rename or bucket move.
- The page carries no source link and writes no install command of its own.
- The Quickstart block and source link name the correct bucket and skill; the update line names the skill.
- `## What it does` states the defining constraint, as plain prose rather than a labelled aside.
- `## When to reach for it` states invocation mode and the trigger boundary.
- `## Where it fits` names the role and links to `ask-matt`.
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---
"mattpocock-skills": patch
---
Give `/ask-matt` the **phase boundary** decision tree, replacing the two-bullet `Crossing sessions` section.
A **phase** is a chunk of work inside a session — the grilling, the implementation, the QA — and the boundary between two of them is where you decide what to do with the context you've built. The router now carries all five options in order (**continue**, `/clear`, `/handoff`, **subagent**, `/compact`), with the ordered tree and its reasoning disclosed in a new `PHASE-BOUNDARIES.md`. Three fixes come with it:
- **`/handoff` was oversold.** It read as the general bridge between context windows. It's narrow: you need it only when something has to *travel* — a new harness, a new directory, a colleague, or a side task forked mid-phase. What it buys is portability.
- **`/compact` is the default, not the first reach.** It sits at the bottom of the tree, after the four cheaper or more precise questions above it. Starting there produces a session that's confidently wrong about whatever the summary flattened.
- **Two branches were missing entirely.** **Continue** is the one to rule out first — it's the only move that keeps the conversation as a primary source rather than a summary of one — and a **subagent** handles anything scoped tightly enough to run AFK.
Context hygiene's escape hatch now says `/compact` rather than `/handoff` (same harness, same directory, at a boundary — the handoff clause doesn't apply), and the smart zone figure is updated from ~120k to ~150k tokens.
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---
"mattpocock-skills": patch
---
Make `/ask-matt` clued-up about `/wayfinder` — the heaviest, most cognitively demanding flow.
The router now sharpens the two routing mistakes people most often make with wayfinder:
- **Over-reaching for it.** It's slower and denser than a single grill, so it's flagged as the heaviest flow and reserved for the idea that genuinely won't fit one session — a well-scoped feature belongs on `/grill-with-docs`, not here.
- **Losing the way at the handoff.** When the map clears, wayfinder hands off, it doesn't build: merge onto the main flow at `/to-spec` (which collapses the map's linked decisions into a buildable plan) rather than looping the map straight into `/implement`. Straight-to-`/implement` is only for efforts that turned out genuinely small.
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---
"mattpocock-skills": minor
---
Add Codex metadata alongside each skill's Claude Code frontmatter so the set works in both harnesses without generated copies.
- Add an `agents/openai.yaml` beside every `SKILL.md` with Codex UI metadata (`interface.display_name`, `interface.short_description`).
- Mark every user-invoked skill with `policy.allow_implicit_invocation: false`, the Codex analog of `disable-model-invocation: true`, so Codex excludes it from implicit invocation while explicit `$skill` invocation still works.
- Document the dual-harness invocation model in `.agents/invocation.md`, `CLAUDE.md`, and the promoted-bucket READMEs.
- Add `AGENTS.md` as a symlink to `CLAUDE.md` so Codex reads the same repo instructions.
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---
"mattpocock-skills": patch
---
Drop the hand-written Quickstart block from all 25 docs pages.
aihero.dev already renders an install widget above every skill page — a copy button, the single-skill command, the whole-set command, and the update line. Each page then wrote the same two commands out again immediately below it. The reader saw the install command twice.
The two copies had also drifted apart. The widget renders the current `npx skills@latest …` wording; the hand-written blocks still carried the older bare `npx skills …`, so most pages showed the correct command and a stale one, one after the other.
Deleting the block removes those stale copies and leaves the site's own. `.agents/writing-docs.md` now states the rule directly — install wording is a property of the site, not of the page — and its template no longer carries a Quickstart to copy.
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---
"mattpocock-skills": patch
---
Rewrite the `grill-me` docs page around what people actually get wrong.
The old page explained the mechanism — rounds, the frontier, the decision tree — and stopped there. Every recurring question from the last few months went unanswered on it: which of the three grilling skills to reach for, how many questions is normal, what to do when a question can't be answered by talking, and whether to start a fresh session before writing the spec.
The rewrite keeps the mechanism short and spends the page on the judgement calls instead:
- **Sibling routing** is now a three-way list keyed on what you have in front of you — no codebase, a codebase, or too big for one session — rather than a paragraph.
- **"It's a conversation, not an interview"** names passivity as the main failure mode. A session where you answer "agreed" forty times produces a plan you didn't write and can't defend.
- **"Grillable and ungrillable"** gives readers the move for a question that talking cannot settle: stop, prototype, come back. This is where long sessions come from.
- **A "Common questions" section** answers the six highest-volume ones directly, including how to restore one-question-at-a-time and why you should not clear context before `to-spec`.
- **"It's working if"** added, led by the sharpest signal: if you never disagreed, you didn't need the session.
Also drops the "plan mode" ambiguity by saying plainly to leave it off.
@@ -1,15 +0,0 @@
---
"mattpocock-skills": patch
---
Rewrite the `writing-for-agents` docs page around what people actually get wrong.
The old page was a table of contents for the skill: the two loads, then a bullet per lever. It answered none of the questions the rename and the AMA threads have been generating for months — where `writing-great-skills` went, whether the agent or the human is doing the writing, why you shouldn't just ask Claude to write the skill for you, and how you know when a document is done.
The rewrite keeps the levers to one compact list and spends the page on the judgement calls instead:
- **The defining constraint is now stated up front** — the default move is deletion, not explanation, because the reader has already read everything. This is also the answer to "why not let the model write it", so it leads.
- **The scope is stated as a test**, not a list: does an agent read this document and act? Skills, `AGENTS.md`, specs, tickets and runtime prompts all pass it.
- **A "Common questions" section** answers the nine highest-volume ones directly, including the rename, the "streamline" failure where an agent trims for length and cuts behaviour, whether to rewrite documents per model, the skill that only works on the one task it was built from, and the leading-word question from non-native English speakers.
- **"It's working if"** added, led by the sharpest signal: the document gets shorter as it gets better, and duplication is the most reliable sign it was never tested.
- **`Where it fits`** says plainly that it has no chain neighbour: it sits underneath the set rather than beside one skill, and the documents the other skills leave behind are the text it governs.
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---
"mattpocock-skills": minor
---
Graduate **`to-questionnaire`** out of `in-progress/` into the **Productivity** bucket, so it ships in the plugin. It turns a decision you can't answer alone into a Markdown questionnaire for the one person who can — filled in async, or worked through together in a meeting.
Its defining move is that it grills you about the **send**, not the subject: a normal grilling session interrogates the topic, which is exactly what you can't answer here, so the interview asks only who the questionnaire is going to and what you need back, then aims every question at the gap between the two.
Now wired as a promoted skill — plugin entry, top-level + Productivity READMEs under **User-invoked**, a docs page at `docs/productivity/to-questionnaire.md`, and a Standalone route in `ask-matt` framing it as the inverse of `/grill-me` (mine someone else, not yourself).
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---
"mattpocock-skills": minor
---
Graduate **`wizard`** out of `in-progress/` into the **Engineering** bucket, so it ships in the plugin. It generates an interactive bash script that walks a human through a manual procedure — third-party setup, a one-off migration, an A→B state transition — opening each URL, saying what to click, capturing the values, and writing them into `.env` files and GitHub Actions secrets.
The delightful UX is pre-solved by the bundled `template.sh` (progress with time-remaining, confirmation gates, cross-platform URL opening including WSL, hidden secret entry, idempotent `.env` upserts, `gh secret`/`gh variable` writes with graceful degradation, closing skip summary). Everything above the `STAGES` marker is a fixed library that's never hand-edited — the skill's job is only to scope the procedure and author its **stages**.
Engineering rather than Productivity: it reads `.env*`, `docker-compose*`, framework config and every `secrets.*`/`vars.*` reference in `.github/workflows/` to scope itself, writes CI secrets, and verifies its output with `bash -n` and `shellcheck`.
Now wired as a promoted skill — plugin entry, top-level + Engineering READMEs under **User-invoked**, a docs page at `docs/engineering/wizard.md`, and a Standalone route in `ask-matt` for the steps only a human can take.
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---
"mattpocock-skills": patch
---
Reword **`grilling`** for general use. Its description and body no longer scope the interview to a software plan: "this plan" → "this", "enact the plan" → "act on it", and "exploring the codebase" → "exploring the environment". The technique is unchanged; it now reads as a stress-test of any plan, decision, or idea.
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---
"mattpocock-skills": patch
---
Pin the question format in **`grilling`**. Every question in a round is now emitted in one fixed shape — `❓ **Q1** - **<title>**`, then the body (prose or multiple choices), then the recommendation on its own `➡️` line. A round reads as a scannable numbered list with each recommendation visually separated from the question, so you can answer by number instead of quoting questions back.
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---
"mattpocock-skills": patch
---
Rework **`grilling`** from one-question-at-a-time to round-by-round. It now maps the decision tree and asks the whole **frontier** — every question whose prerequisites are already settled — in a single numbered round, then recomputes the frontier from the user's answers and asks the next round. Same 13 questions land in ~3 rounds instead of 13. Facts the environment can answer are dispatched to background sub-agents so research never blocks the round: only questions downstream of a running exploration wait for it. The session ends when the frontier is empty.
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---
"mattpocock-skills": patch
---
Sync the skills and docs that still described grilling as a **one-question-at-a-time** interview. Since the round-by-round rework, `grill-me`, `grill-with-docs` and `triage` all run the frontier a round at a time — their pages, `triage`'s grill step and `grilling`'s Codex `short_description` now say so. The opt-out for the old rhythm (a line in your global `CLAUDE.md`) is unchanged.
@@ -1,5 +0,0 @@
---
"mattpocock-skills": minor
---
Reshape the **`prototype`** skill's logic branch to produce a **single shareable HTML file** instead of a terminal app. The demo is one self-contained file (plain HTML/CSS/JS, no build, no server) a non-developer can open by double-click and drive in their own domain language: a labelled state panel, always-available free-play buttons, and a set of tabbed **guided walkthroughs** — each a scenario with the ordered buttons to press underneath it. The portable pure-logic module still lifts into the real code; the HTML shell is the throwaway primary source.
@@ -1,19 +0,0 @@
---
"mattpocock-skills": patch
---
Remove six skills from the repo. None of them was in the Claude Code plugin, but all six were installable through [skills.sh](https://skills.sh/mattpocock/skills), which serves every skill in the repo — so this is what leaves that listing, and where each one went.
Four retired skills, each already absorbed by a skill that does the job better:
- **`ubiquitous-language`** → **`/domain-modeling`**, which builds and maintains the whole domain model rather than dumping a glossary from one conversation.
- **`design-an-interface`** → **`/codebase-design`**. Nothing is lost: the "design it twice" technique — parallel sub-agents generating radically different designs, from Ousterhout — ships inside that skill as `DESIGN-IT-TWICE.md`.
- **`qa`** → **`/triage`** and **`/to-tickets`**.
- **`request-refactor-plan`** → **`/to-spec`** and **`/improve-codebase-architecture`**.
And two that were only ever mine — tied to my own machine and never meant for anyone else. The `personal/` bucket goes with them:
- **`edit-article`**
- **`obsidian-vault`**, which hardcoded a path to my own Obsidian vault.
`skills/deprecated/` stays as a bucket, now empty. `skills/in-progress/` is unchanged and is now described for what it actually is: a beta channel, published on purpose, installable one skill at a time through skills.sh.
-19
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@@ -1,19 +0,0 @@
---
"mattpocock-skills": minor
---
Ship the skill set as a native **Claude Code plugin**, listed in Claude Code's official marketplace. You can now subscribe to the promoted skills as a managed, read-only bundle instead of copying editable files:
```bash
claude plugins install mattpocock-skills
```
Or, from inside a session:
```
/plugin install mattpocock-skills
```
There is no marketplace to add first — the official marketplace is configured by default.
`.claude-plugin/plugin.json` carries the full plugin metadata (version, description, author, license, keywords) and the explicit list of promoted skills. `skills.sh` remains the universal installer (and the path for Codex and other harnesses today); a native Codex plugin is deferred — see `.agents/adr/0002-ship-as-a-claude-code-plugin.md` for why.
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@@ -1,12 +0,0 @@
---
"mattpocock-skills": patch
---
Finish the `to-prd``to-spec` rename: "spec" is now the only term in the shipped text.
- **`to-spec`** no longer opens with "you may know this document as a PRD" — the parenthetical is dropped from the skill and its docs page. The local-markdown tracker template drops the same hedge.
- **`code-review`** talks about the originating issue/spec rather than issue/PRD, in its frontmatter description, its two-axis summary, and the spec-source search order. Both READMEs re-synced.
- **The GitHub and GitLab tracker templates** now say "Issues and specs for this repo live as GitHub/GitLab issues" — they had been left on "PRDs" when the local template was updated, so the stale term propagated into every repo they were written into.
- **`docs/engineering/research.md`** pointed at `https://aihero.dev/skills-to-prd`, a dead slug for the renamed skill; it now links `to-spec` like the other nineteen docs pages do.
The CHANGELOG and existing changesets still name PRDs where they document the rename itself, which is correct.
-9
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@@ -1,9 +0,0 @@
---
"mattpocock-skills": minor
---
Add **`wait-what`** — a one-word corrective for model verbosity. Type it the moment a message doesn't land, and the agent re-pitches it: a little context, ASD-STE100 Simplified Technical English, and the ubiquitous language from your `CONTEXT.md`. User-invoked, three lines long.
The mechanism is the name. Concision skills fail by growing — a 400-line skill still leaves the model verbose — so this one is a single precise leading word and nothing else. Names that describe the *output* (`/tldr`, `/no-fluff`) make the model clip words and lose you further; naming the *listener's* state asks for both halves at once, fewer words **and** the context you were missing. It also reuses the leading words already in your global `CLAUDE.md`, so the skill, `CLAUDE.md` and every `CONTEXT.md` reach for the same tokens.
It repairs one message; it doesn't prevent the next one. The cure for jargon is a shared language built upfront with `/grill-with-docs`; this is what you reach for when you don't have one yet.
-7
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@@ -1,7 +0,0 @@
---
"mattpocock-skills": patch
---
Name the `/wayfinder` unit a **decision ticket**.
People kept reading a wayfinder ticket as an ordinary *implementation* ticket — a slice of a build to execute — when wayfinder uses them as **decision tickets**: questions whose resolution is a decision. The skill description and its opening line now introduce "decision ticket" (and say what makes it one), and the `ask-matt` / engineering README wayfinder blurbs and the docs page match — while "ticket" stays the everyday word once the term is established. `CONTEXT.md` records **Decision ticket** as a domain term so the "avoid: ticket" guidance no longer contradicts wayfinder's deliberate use of the word.
+5
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@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
---
"mattpocock-skills": minor
---
Reframe how **`wayfinder`** handles research: it's no longer a ticket type — it runs **inline as a subagent**. Research is fully AFK (no human gates it) and produces a *fact*, not a decision, so it never earns a ticket's session boundary. Instead, any session — charting or resolving — spins up a `/research` subagent the moment it hits a knowledge gap, keeps working while it reads, and folds the findings straight into the decision it's making. The findings are captured as a primary source on a throwaway `research/<name>` branch (mirroring how `/prototype` captures prototypes), with a context pointer left on the ticket the research informs, or in the map's Notes if it informs the whole effort. Drops `research` from the `wayfinder:<type>` label set (`prototype`/`grilling`/`task`) across the GitHub, GitLab, and local trackers, and re-syncs the docs page.
@@ -1,7 +0,0 @@
---
"mattpocock-skills": minor
---
Wayfinder now burns research tickets down with subagents instead of leaving them parked for a separately-launched session.
Research stays a real ticket type — it's a genuine shared blocker that downstream decisions hang on, and that dependency is exactly what the frontier's blocking edges exist to render. What changes is how it's resolved: because research is AFK, charting doesn't stop and read it. After creating the tickets, the charting session fires a `/research` subagent for each research ticket to burn it down in parallel, capturing the findings on a throwaway `research/<name>` branch with a context pointer. Research tickets are the one exception to *one ticket per session*.
@@ -1,5 +0,0 @@
---
"mattpocock-skills": minor
---
Extend **`writing-for-agents`**' pruning section with a new leading word: **cache**. Single source of truth now reaches past the document into the environment — `package.json` scripts, config files, directory layout, `--help` output are themselves authoritative, so a doc that restates them is a cache of a lookup, earning its load only when the lookup is expensive. The positive target: cache what the agent cannot find by looking (unwritten conventions, the reason behind a choice, gotchas no config confesses), and leave one-file, one-command lookups to the environment, where they cannot go stale.
-5
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@@ -1,5 +0,0 @@
---
"mattpocock-skills": minor
---
**Breaking:** rename **`writing-great-skills`** → **`writing-for-agents`** and restructure it. The reference now covers any document an agent consumes — skills, `AGENTS.md` / `CLAUDE.md`, docs reached by a pointer — not just skills. `GLOSSARY.md` is merged into `SKILL.md` (one authoritative treatment per term; the `_Avoid_` synonym lists and the standalone Predictability definition are gone); the skill-only mechanics (frontmatter, model- vs user-invoked, router skills, the invocation cut of splitting) are disclosed to a new `SKILL-MECHANICS.md`. The skill is now **model-invoked**: it fires when creating or editing skills or modifying `AGENTS.md`/`CLAUDE.md`. `ask-matt`'s pointer updated. Reinstall under the new name; the old name is gone (no alias).
@@ -1,5 +0,0 @@
---
"mattpocock-skills": minor
---
Add a YAGNI scoping filter to the **`improve-codebase-architecture`** skill's Explore step. Instead of scanning the whole repo evenly, it now scopes to where change is actually landing: if you name a direction it takes it, otherwise it reads the last ~20 commit messages to bias exploration toward actively-developed paths. A deepening opportunity in code nobody touches is a refactor you'll never cash in — the leverage only pays off where you keep editing — so the report stops tidying dormant corners of the repo.
-23
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@@ -1,23 +0,0 @@
{
"name": "mattpocock",
"owner": {
"name": "Matt Pocock",
"url": "https://www.aihero.dev"
},
"description": "Matt Pocock's skills for real engineering, as an installable Claude Code plugin.",
"plugins": [
{
"name": "mattpocock-skills",
"source": "./",
"description": "Matt Pocock's agent skills for real engineering — grilling, spec/ticket flows, TDD, code review, domain modelling and more.",
"category": "engineering",
"keywords": [
"engineering",
"skills",
"tdd",
"code-review",
"grilling"
]
}
]
}
+1 -23
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@@ -1,23 +1,5 @@
{
"name": "mattpocock-skills",
"version": "1.2.0",
"description": "Matt Pocock's agent skills for real engineering — grilling, spec/ticket flows, TDD, code review, domain modelling and more. Plug-and-play, not vibe coding.",
"author": {
"name": "Matt Pocock",
"url": "https://www.aihero.dev"
},
"homepage": "https://www.aihero.dev/s/skills-newsletter",
"repository": "https://github.com/mattpocock/skills",
"license": "MIT",
"keywords": [
"engineering",
"skills",
"tdd",
"code-review",
"grilling",
"domain-modeling",
"productivity"
],
"skills": [
"./skills/engineering/ask-matt",
"./skills/engineering/diagnosing-bugs",
@@ -35,14 +17,10 @@
"./skills/engineering/domain-modeling",
"./skills/engineering/codebase-design",
"./skills/engineering/code-review",
"./skills/engineering/resolving-merge-conflicts",
"./skills/engineering/wizard",
"./skills/productivity/grill-me",
"./skills/productivity/grilling",
"./skills/productivity/handoff",
"./skills/productivity/teach",
"./skills/productivity/to-questionnaire",
"./skills/productivity/wait-what",
"./skills/productivity/writing-for-agents"
"./skills/productivity/writing-great-skills"
]
}
-1
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@@ -1 +0,0 @@
CLAUDE.md
+6 -7
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@@ -3,20 +3,19 @@ Skills are organized into bucket folders under `skills/`:
- `engineering/` — daily code work
- `productivity/` — daily non-code workflow tools
- `misc/` — kept around but rarely used, not promoted
- `in-progress/` — beta: public on purpose, feedback wanted, not shipped in the plugin
- `personal/` — tied to my own setup, not promoted
- `in-progress/` — drafts not yet ready to ship
- `deprecated/` — no longer used
Every skill in `engineering/` or `productivity/` (the **promoted** buckets) must have a reference in the top-level `README.md` and an entry in `.claude-plugin/plugin.json`'s `skills` array (the Claude Code plugin ships exactly the promoted set). Skills in `misc/`, `in-progress/`, and `deprecated/` must not appear in either.
Install commands are copied verbatim from [.agents/install-block.md](./.agents/install-block.md). `.claude-plugin/marketplace.json` makes the repo its own single-plugin marketplace — a fallback the install block explains, not the documented route. When bumping the release version, keep `.claude-plugin/plugin.json`'s `version` in sync with `package.json`'s — Claude uses the plugin `version` to decide when installed users see an update. Run `claude plugin validate . --strict` after touching either manifest. Why a Claude plugin but not (yet) a Codex one lives in [.agents/adr/0002-ship-as-a-claude-code-plugin.md](./.agents/adr/0002-ship-as-a-claude-code-plugin.md).
Every skill in `engineering/` or `productivity/` (the **promoted** buckets) must have a reference in the top-level `README.md` and an entry in `.claude-plugin/plugin.json`. Skills in `misc/`, `personal/`, `in-progress/`, and `deprecated/` must not appear in either.
Each skill entry in the top-level `README.md` must link the skill name to its `SKILL.md`.
Each bucket folder has a `README.md` that lists every skill in the bucket with a one-line description, with the skill name linked to its `SKILL.md`. The promoted buckets' `README.md`s and the top-level `README.md` group entries into **User-invoked** and **Model-invoked**; non-promoted bucket `README.md`s (`misc/`, `in-progress/`) use a flat list.
Each bucket folder has a `README.md` that lists every skill in the bucket with a one-line description, with the skill name linked to its `SKILL.md`. The promoted buckets' `README.md`s and the top-level `README.md` group entries into **User-invoked** and **Model-invoked**; non-promoted bucket `README.md`s (`misc/`, `personal/`) use a flat list.
Skills in `engineering/` and `productivity/` also have a human-facing docs page at `docs/<bucket>/<skill-name>.md` (the docs tree mirrors those two bucket folders under `skills/`). The published URL is `https://aihero.dev/skills-<skill-name>` regardless of bucket — the docs path is repo organisation only. When you add, rename, or change the behaviour of a skill in `engineering/` or `productivity/`, create or re-sync its docs page following [.agents/writing-docs.md](./.agents/writing-docs.md). Skills in the non-promoted buckets (`misc/`, `in-progress/`, `deprecated/`) get **no** docs page.
Skills in `engineering/` and `productivity/` also have a human-facing docs page at `docs/<bucket>/<skill-name>.md` (the docs tree mirrors those two bucket folders under `skills/`). The published URL is `https://aihero.dev/skills-<skill-name>` regardless of bucket — the docs path is repo organisation only. When you add, rename, or change the behaviour of a skill in `engineering/` or `productivity/`, create or re-sync its docs page following [.agents/writing-docs.md](./.agents/writing-docs.md). Skills in the non-promoted buckets (`misc/`, `personal/`, `in-progress/`, `deprecated/`) get **no** docs page.
Every `SKILL.md` is either user-invoked (`disable-model-invocation: true` plus `policy.allow_implicit_invocation: false` in `agents/openai.yaml`, reachable only by the human) or model-invoked (model- or user-reachable). See [.agents/invocation.md](./.agents/invocation.md).
Every `SKILL.md` is either user-invoked (`disable-model-invocation: true`, reachable only by the human) or model-invoked (model- or user-reachable). See [.agents/invocation.md](./.agents/invocation.md).
[`ask-matt`](./skills/engineering/ask-matt/SKILL.md) is the router that maps every user-reachable skill and how they relate. The same trigger that re-syncs a docs page applies to it: whenever you add, rename, remove, or change how a user-reachable skill fits the flows, re-read `ask-matt`'s `SKILL.md` and update it so the map stays accurate — a new skill it never mentions, or a stale one it still routes to, is a router that lies.
+2 -6
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@@ -5,15 +5,12 @@ A collection of agent skills (slash commands and behaviors) loaded by Claude Cod
## Language
**Issue tracker**:
The tool that hosts a repo's issues — GitHub Issues, Linear, a local `.scratch/` markdown convention, or similar. Skills like `to-tickets`, `to-spec`, and `triage` read from and write to it.
The tool that hosts a repo's issues — GitHub Issues, Linear, a local `.scratch/` markdown convention, or similar. Skills like `to-tickets`, `to-spec`, `triage`, and `qa` read from and write to it.
_Avoid_: backlog manager, backlog backend, issue host
**Issue**:
A single tracked unit of work inside an **Issue tracker** — a bug, task, spec, or slice produced by `to-tickets`.
_Avoid_: ticket (use only when quoting external systems that call them tickets, or for a **Decision ticket** — see below)
**Decision ticket**:
A `wayfinder` unit — a child **Issue** of a `wayfinder:map` holding a *question* whose resolution is a decision, not a slice of a build to execute. The **decision** qualifier is what keeps it distinct from an implementation ticket; `wayfinder` introduces the term, then uses "ticket".
_Avoid_: ticket (use only when quoting external systems that call them tickets)
**Triage role**:
A canonical state-machine label applied to an **Issue** during triage (e.g. `needs-triage`, `ready-for-afk`). Each role maps to a real label string in the **Issue tracker** via `docs/agents/triage-labels.md`.
@@ -22,7 +19,6 @@ A canonical state-machine label applied to an **Issue** during triage (e.g. `nee
- An **Issue tracker** holds many **Issues**
- An **Issue** carries one **Triage role** at a time
- A **Decision ticket** is an **Issue** (a child of a `wayfinder:map`)
## Flagged ambiguities
+11 -57
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@@ -22,64 +22,22 @@ If you want to keep up with changes to these skills, and any new ones I create,
[Sign Up To The Newsletter](https://www.aihero.dev/s/skills-newsletter)
## Installation (30-second setup)
## Quickstart (30-second setup)
Two ways in, two philosophies. **The [Claude Code plugin](https://code.claude.com/docs/en/plugins)** installs the whole set as a managed, read-only bundle that updates when I ship — you subscribe rather than fork. **[skills.sh](https://skills.sh/mattpocock/skills)** copies editable skill files into your project, so you can hack on them and make them your own. Pick one — installing both leaves you with every skill twice.
### 1. Get the skills
<details>
<summary><strong>Claude Code</strong></summary>
```bash
claude plugins install mattpocock-skills
```
Or, from inside a session:
```
/plugin install mattpocock-skills
```
It's in Claude Code's official marketplace, so there's nothing to add first, and updates arrive automatically.
</details>
<details>
<summary><strong>Codex, and other agents</strong></summary>
1. Run the skills.sh installer:
```bash
npx skills@latest add mattpocock/skills
```
Pick the skills you want, and which coding agents to install them on. **The installer lets you choose which skills to take — make sure `setup-matt-pocock-skills` is one of them.**
2. Pick the skills you want, and which coding agents you want to install them on. **Make sure you select `/setup-matt-pocock-skills`**.
A native Codex plugin is on the roadmap — see [`.agents/adr/0002-ship-as-a-claude-code-plugin.md`](./.agents/adr/0002-ship-as-a-claude-code-plugin.md).
3. Run `/setup-matt-pocock-skills` in your agent. It will:
- Ask you which issue tracker you want to use (GitHub, Linear, or local files)
- Ask you what labels you apply to tickets when you triage them (`/triage` uses labels)
- Ask you where you want to save any docs we create
</details>
<details>
<summary><strong>For tinkerers</strong></summary>
Use the same installer, on any agent — including Claude Code:
```bash
npx skills@latest add mattpocock/skills
```
It writes the skills into your repo as ordinary files you own and can edit. Nothing updates behind your back; pull my latest changes when you want them with `npx skills update`.
</details>
### 2. Run `/setup-matt-pocock-skills`
In your agent, run it once per repo. It will:
- Ask you which issue tracker you want to use (GitHub, Linear, or local files)
- Ask you what labels you apply to tickets when you triage them (`/triage` uses labels)
- Ask you where you want to save any docs we create
### 3. Bam - you're ready to go.
4. Bam - you're ready to go.
## Why These Skills Exist
@@ -200,7 +158,6 @@ Skills I use daily for code work.
- **[to-tickets](./skills/engineering/to-tickets/SKILL.md)** — Break any plan, spec, or conversation into a set of tracer-bullet tickets, each declaring its blocking edges — written as text in a local file, or as native blocking links on a real tracker.
- **[implement](./skills/engineering/implement/SKILL.md)** — Build the work described by a spec or set of tickets, driving `/tdd` at pre-agreed seams and closing out with `/code-review` before committing.
- **[wayfinder](./skills/engineering/wayfinder/SKILL.md)** — Plan a huge chunk of work, more than one agent session can hold, as a shared map of investigation tickets on the issue tracker — resolve them one at a time until the way to the destination is clear.
- **[wizard](./skills/engineering/wizard/SKILL.md)** — Generate an interactive bash wizard that walks a human through a manual procedure — third-party setup, a one-off migration, an A→B state transition — opening each URL, capturing values, confirming every step, and writing `.env` files and GitHub Actions secrets.
**Model-invoked**
@@ -210,8 +167,7 @@ Skills I use daily for code work.
- **[tdd](./skills/engineering/tdd/SKILL.md)** — Test-driven development with a red-green-refactor loop. Builds features or fixes bugs one vertical slice at a time.
- **[domain-modeling](./skills/engineering/domain-modeling/SKILL.md)** — Actively build and sharpen a project's domain model — challenge terms against the glossary, stress-test with edge-case scenarios, and update `CONTEXT.md` and ADRs inline.
- **[codebase-design](./skills/engineering/codebase-design/SKILL.md)** — Shared discipline and vocabulary for designing deep modules: a lot of behaviour behind a small interface, placed at a clean seam, testable through that interface.
- **[code-review](./skills/engineering/code-review/SKILL.md)** — Two-axis review of the diff since a fixed point: **Standards** (does it follow the repo's coding standards, plus a Fowler smell baseline?) and **Spec** (does it faithfully implement the originating issue/spec?), run as parallel sub-agents so neither pollutes the other.
- **[resolving-merge-conflicts](./skills/engineering/resolving-merge-conflicts/SKILL.md)** — Work through an in-progress git merge or rebase conflict hunk by hunk, resolving by intent traced to each side's primary source, then finish the operation — never `--abort`.
- **[code-review](./skills/engineering/code-review/SKILL.md)** — Two-axis review of the diff since a fixed point: **Standards** (does it follow the repo's coding standards, plus a Fowler smell baseline?) and **Spec** (does it faithfully implement the originating issue/PRD?), run as parallel sub-agents so neither pollutes the other.
### Productivity
@@ -222,10 +178,8 @@ General workflow tools, not code-specific.
- **[grill-me](./skills/productivity/grill-me/SKILL.md)** — Get relentlessly interviewed about a plan or design until every branch of the decision tree is resolved.
- **[handoff](./skills/productivity/handoff/SKILL.md)** — Compact the current conversation into a handoff document so another agent can continue the work.
- **[teach](./skills/productivity/teach/SKILL.md)** — Teach the user a new skill or concept over multiple sessions, using the current directory as a stateful teaching workspace.
- **[to-questionnaire](./skills/productivity/to-questionnaire/SKILL.md)** — Turn a decision you can't answer alone into a Markdown questionnaire for the one person who can — filled in async, or together over a meeting. It grills you about the send (who it's for, what you need back), not the subject.
- **[wait-what](./skills/productivity/wait-what/SKILL.md)** — Fire this the moment a message doesn't land. The agent re-pitches it with the context you're missing, in plain English, using your `CONTEXT.md` vocabulary.
- **[writing-for-agents](./skills/productivity/writing-for-agents/SKILL.md)** — Writing documents for agents: skills, AGENTS.md/CLAUDE.md, and any doc an agent reaches by a pointer.
- **[writing-great-skills](./skills/productivity/writing-great-skills/SKILL.md)** — Reference for writing and editing skills well: the vocabulary and principles that make a skill predictable.
**Model-invoked**
- **[grilling](./skills/productivity/grilling/SKILL.md)** — Interview the user relentlessly about a plan, decision, or idea until every branch of the decision tree is resolved. The reusable loop behind `grill-me` and `grill-with-docs`.
- **[grilling](./skills/productivity/grilling/SKILL.md)** — Interview the user relentlessly about a plan or design until every branch of the decision tree is resolved. The reusable loop behind `grill-me` and `grill-with-docs`.
+13 -5
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@@ -1,3 +1,15 @@
Quickstart:
```bash
npx skills add mattpocock/skills --skill=ask-matt
```
```bash
npx skills update ask-matt
```
[Source](https://github.com/mattpocock/skills/tree/main/skills/engineering/ask-matt)
## What it does
`ask-matt` is the router over the skills in this repo. You describe the situation you're in; it tells you which skill or flow fits and in what order to run them.
@@ -14,10 +26,6 @@ Reach for it whenever you're unsure which skill or flow a situation calls for: y
The idea `ask-matt` gives you to think with is the **flow** — a path *through* the skills rather than a single one. Most work runs along one **main flow** (idea → ship: grill → spec → tickets → implement → review), two **on-ramps** merge onto it (a triage lane for incoming bugs and requests; a codebase-health lane that generates ideas), and everything else is a **standalone** you reach for on its own. Ask a question and you get placed on the right flow, at the right step — not just handed a tool.
## Phase boundaries
The other idea it hands you is the **phase boundary**. A **phase** is a chunk of work inside a session — the grilling, the implementation, the QA — and the boundary between two of them is where you decide what to do with the context you've built up. You have five options: **continue**, **`/clear`**, **`/handoff`**, a **subagent**, or **`/compact`**. `ask-matt` carries the decision tree that orders them, and the two corrections most people need: `/handoff` is narrow — it earns its keep only when something has to *travel* (a new harness, a new directory, a colleague, a side task forked mid-phase) — and `/compact` is the tree's default at the bottom, not its first reach. Reach for the tree at a boundary; mid-phase there's nothing to decide.
## Where it fits
`ask-matt` is the **router** — the standalone map that sits over the whole set. It is the node every other docs page links back to as [ask-matt](https://aihero.dev/skills-ask-matt), so it never sits *in* a chain; it points *into* every chain. From here you'll most often land on [grill-with-docs](https://aihero.dev/skills-grill-with-docs), the head of the main flow, or [triage](https://aihero.dev/skills-triage), the on-ramp for work you didn't create. When even the router's own picture is stale, the skill itself is the map of record.
`ask-matt` is the **router** — the standalone map that sits over the whole set. It is the node every other docs page links back to as [ask-matt](https://aihero.dev/skills-ask-matt), so it never sits *in* a chain; it points *into* every chain. From here you'll most often land on [grill-with-docs](https://aihero.dev/skills-grill-with-docs), the head of the main flow, or [triage](https://aihero.dev/skills-triage), the on-ramp for work you didn't create. When even the router's own picture is stale, its [Source](https://github.com/mattpocock/skills/tree/main/skills/engineering/ask-matt) is the map of record.
+12
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@@ -1,3 +1,15 @@
Quickstart:
```bash
npx skills add mattpocock/skills --skill=code-review
```
```bash
npx skills update code-review
```
[Source](https://github.com/mattpocock/skills/tree/main/skills/engineering/code-review)
## What it does
`code-review` reviews the diff between `HEAD` and a fixed point you supply — a commit, branch, tag, or merge-base — along two separate axes: **Standards** (does the code follow this repo's documented conventions?) and **Spec** (does it implement what the originating issue or spec asked for?). It runs each axis as its own parallel sub-agent and reports them side by side. It never merges or re-ranks the two sets of findings — keeping them separate is the whole point, because a change can pass one axis and fail the other, and a single blended verdict lets one mask the other.
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Quickstart:
```bash
npx skills add mattpocock/skills --skill=codebase-design
```
```bash
npx skills update codebase-design
```
[Source](https://github.com/mattpocock/skills/tree/main/skills/engineering/codebase-design)
## What it does
`codebase-design` gives you a shared, precise vocabulary for designing **deep modules** — a lot of behaviour hidden behind a small interface, placed at a clean seam, testable through that interface.
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Quickstart:
```bash
npx skills add mattpocock/skills --skill=diagnosing-bugs
```
```bash
npx skills update diagnosing-bugs
```
[Source](https://github.com/mattpocock/skills/tree/main/skills/engineering/diagnosing-bugs)
## What it does
`diagnosing-bugs` runs a disciplined diagnosis loop for hard bugs and performance regressions — building a repro, minimising it, ranking hypotheses, instrumenting, then fixing with a regression test.
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Quickstart:
```bash
npx skills add mattpocock/skills --skill=domain-modeling
```
```bash
npx skills update domain-modeling
```
[Source](https://github.com/mattpocock/skills/tree/main/skills/engineering/domain-modeling)
## What it does
`domain-modeling` builds and sharpens a project's **ubiquitous language** as you design — challenging fuzzy terms, stress-testing relationships with concrete scenarios, and writing the glossary and decisions down the moment they crystallise.
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Quickstart:
```bash
npx skills add mattpocock/skills --skill=grill-with-docs
```
```bash
npx skills update grill-with-docs
```
[Source](https://github.com/mattpocock/skills/tree/main/skills/engineering/grill-with-docs)
## What it does
`grill-with-docs` interviews you relentlessly about a plan or design, a round of questions at a time, until you and the agent reach a shared understanding — and it writes the vocabulary and decisions down as you go.
`grill-with-docs` interviews you relentlessly about a plan or design, one question at a time, until you and the agent reach a shared understanding — and it writes the vocabulary and decisions down as you go.
The grilling **leaves a paper trail**. A plain interview sharpens your thinking and then evaporates when the session ends; this one captures each term the moment it's resolved into a `CONTEXT.md` glossary, and records the hard, one-way decisions as ADRs. The alignment survives the conversation instead of living only in your head.
@@ -16,13 +28,13 @@ This skill is stateful — it writes into your repo as it grills. Resolved terms
## The grill
The engine is a **grill**: a relentless, round-by-round walk down the decision tree. Each round asks the whole **frontier** — every decision whose prerequisites are already settled — and waits, so dependencies between decisions are resolved before the questions that hang off them are asked, with a recommended answer offered for every question. Questions the codebase can answer are answered by reading the codebase, not by asking you.
The engine is a **grill**: a relentless, one-question-at-a-time walk down the design tree, resolving dependencies between decisions before moving on, with a recommended answer offered for every question. Questions the codebase can answer are answered by reading the codebase, not by asking you.
What makes this variant its own skill is where the answers go. As the grill runs, fuzzy language gets sharpened into canonical terms and written to the glossary inline — not batched at the end. The glossary stays a glossary: pure vocabulary, no implementation details, no spec. ADRs are offered sparingly, only when a decision is hard to reverse, surprising without context, and the result of a real trade-off. Most sessions produce a sharper glossary and few or no ADRs, and that's the intended shape.
## It's working if
- It asks a round of independent questions and waits, rather than dumping the whole questionnaire at you.
- It asks one question at a time and waits, rather than dumping a questionnaire.
- Terms get written to `CONTEXT.md` the moment they resolve, in your project's own words.
- It reaches into the codebase to answer its own questions where it can.
- ADRs stay rare — you're not asked to rubber-stamp reversible choices.
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Quickstart:
```bash
npx skills add mattpocock/skills --skill=implement
```
```bash
npx skills update implement
```
[Source](https://github.com/mattpocock/skills/tree/main/skills/engineering/implement)
## What it does
`implement` builds the work described in a spec or a set of tickets — driving it through test-driven development, typechecking, and the full test suite, then handing off to review and committing to the current branch.
@@ -1,11 +1,21 @@
Quickstart:
```bash
npx skills add mattpocock/skills --skill=improve-codebase-architecture
```
```bash
npx skills update improve-codebase-architecture
```
[Source](https://github.com/mattpocock/skills/tree/main/skills/engineering/improve-codebase-architecture)
## What it does
`improve-codebase-architecture` scans a codebase for **deepening opportunities** — places where a shallow module (an interface nearly as complex as the thing it hides) could become a deep one — presents them as a self-contained visual HTML report, then grills through whichever one you pick.
It does **not** hand you a flat list of refactors. Every candidate has to pass the **deletion test** — would removing this module *concentrate* complexity behind a smaller interface, or just move it around? Only the "concentrates" cases earn a card. That filter is what stops the report from becoming generic cleanup advice.
Unless you point it at a specific area, it also scopes itself to where development is actually landing — reading the recent commits to bias toward the code you're still changing. Deepening a module pays off by making future changes to it easier, so it puts extra weight on the parts of the repo that have recently changed.
## When to reach for it
You invoke this by typing `/improve-codebase-architecture` — the agent won't reach for it on its own.
@@ -26,4 +36,4 @@ Then it stops and asks which one you want to explore. Pick one and it runs the [
## Where it fits
`improve-codebase-architecture` is **periodic maintenance** — run it every few days, not as a step in a chain. Its neighbours are [codebase-design](https://aihero.dev/skills-codebase-design), which owns the depth-and-seam vocabulary every candidate is written in, [grilling](https://aihero.dev/skills-grilling), which walks the decision tree once you've chosen a candidate, and [domain-modeling](https://aihero.dev/skills-domain-modeling), which keeps `CONTEXT.md` and the ADRs current as the redesign settles. When you're unsure which skill or flow fits, [ask-matt](https://aihero.dev/skills-ask-matt) routes you.
`improve-codebase-architecture` is **periodic maintenance** — run it every few days, not as a step in a chain. Its neighbours are [codebase-design](https://aihero.dev/skills-codebase-design), which owns the depth-and-seam vocabulary every candidate is written in, [grilling](https://aihero.dev/skills-grilling), which walks the design tree once you've chosen a candidate, and [domain-modeling](https://aihero.dev/skills-domain-modeling), which keeps `CONTEXT.md` and the ADRs current as the redesign settles. When you're unsure which skill or flow fits, [ask-matt](https://aihero.dev/skills-ask-matt) routes you.
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Quickstart:
```bash
npx skills add mattpocock/skills --skill=prototype
```
```bash
npx skills update prototype
```
[Source](https://github.com/mattpocock/skills/tree/main/skills/engineering/prototype)
## What it does
`prototype` builds a small, disposable program whose only job is to answer one design question — does this state model feel right, or what should this UI look like.
@@ -14,10 +26,10 @@ Reach for it when you have a design question that's hard to settle on paper —
The question decides the shape, and there are two shapes:
- **"Does this logic / state model feel right?"** — a single shareable HTML file, free-play buttons plus tabbed guided walkthroughs, that pushes the state machine through the awkward cases and shows the full state after every click, so anyone — including a non-developer — can watch what changes.
- **"Does this logic / state model feel right?"** — a tiny interactive terminal app that pushes the state machine through the awkward cases, printing the full state after every action so you can watch what changes.
- **"What should this look like?"** — several radically different UI variations on one route, switchable from a floating bar, so you compare real renders instead of imagining them.
Picking the wrong branch wastes the whole prototype, so the question comes first. Both branches keep state in memory, are trivial to run, and surface the full state on every step.
Picking the wrong branch wastes the whole prototype, so the question comes first. Both branches keep state in memory, run from one command, and surface the full state on every step.
## Keep the prototype as a primary source
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Quickstart:
```bash
npx skills add mattpocock/skills --skill=research
```
```bash
npx skills update research
```
[Source](https://github.com/mattpocock/skills/tree/main/skills/engineering/research)
## What it does
`research` answers a question by reading the sources that own the answer and leaving a cited Markdown file behind. It works only from **primary sources** — official docs, source code, specs, first-party APIs — never a secondary write-up of them, so what it saves is traceable back to something authoritative rather than a summary of a summary.
@@ -14,4 +26,4 @@ The defining move is that the reading runs as a **background agent**. You keep w
## Where it fits
A reach-for-it-anytime standalone that feeds the thinking skills: the file it produces is something to grill, plan, or design against, so it sits upstream of work like [grilling](https://aihero.dev/skills-grilling) and [to-spec](https://aihero.dev/skills-to-spec) rather than in the build chain. For the whole map, see [ask-matt](https://aihero.dev/skills-ask-matt).
A reach-for-it-anytime standalone that feeds the thinking skills: the file it produces is something to grill, plan, or design against, so it sits upstream of work like [grilling](https://aihero.dev/skills-grilling) and [to-prd](https://aihero.dev/skills-to-prd) rather than in the build chain. For the whole map, see [ask-matt](https://aihero.dev/skills-ask-matt).
@@ -1,3 +1,15 @@
Quickstart:
```bash
npx skills add mattpocock/skills --skill=resolving-merge-conflicts
```
```bash
npx skills update resolving-merge-conflicts
```
[Source](https://github.com/mattpocock/skills/tree/main/skills/engineering/resolving-merge-conflicts)
## What it does
`resolving-merge-conflicts` works through an in-progress git merge or rebase conflict, hunk by hunk, and finishes the operation — resolved, checked, and committed.
@@ -1,3 +1,15 @@
Quickstart:
```bash
npx skills add mattpocock/skills --skill=setup-matt-pocock-skills
```
```bash
npx skills update setup-matt-pocock-skills
```
[Source](https://github.com/mattpocock/skills/tree/main/skills/engineering/setup-matt-pocock-skills)
## What it does
`setup-matt-pocock-skills` teaches one repo how the engineering skills should behave in it — where issues live, what the triage labels are called, and where the domain docs sit — and records those answers as **config** the other skills read.
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Quickstart:
```bash
npx skills add mattpocock/skills --skill=tdd
```
```bash
npx skills update tdd
```
[Source](https://github.com/mattpocock/skills/tree/main/skills/engineering/tdd)
## What it does
`tdd` builds a feature or fixes a bug test-first, one behaviour at a time, driving the code out through a red-green loop.
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Quickstart:
```bash
npx skills add mattpocock/skills --skill=to-spec
```
```bash
npx skills update to-spec
```
[Source](https://github.com/mattpocock/skills/tree/main/skills/engineering/to-spec)
## What it does
`to-spec` turns the current conversation and your codebase understanding into a spec, then publishes it to your issue tracker.
`to-spec` turns the current conversation and your codebase understanding into a spec (you may know this document as a PRD), then publishes it to your issue tracker.
It does **not** interview you again. By the time you reach for it, the alignment work is done — `to-spec` synthesises what is already known rather than asking a fresh round of questions.
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Quickstart:
```bash
npx skills add mattpocock/skills --skill=to-tickets
```
```bash
npx skills update to-tickets
```
[Source](https://github.com/mattpocock/skills/tree/main/skills/engineering/to-tickets)
## What it does
`to-tickets` breaks a plan, spec, or the current conversation into a set of **tickets** — each a tracer-bullet vertical slice — and publishes them to your configured tracker, with every ticket declaring the tickets that block it.
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Quickstart:
```bash
npx skills add mattpocock/skills --skill=triage
```
```bash
npx skills update triage
```
[Source](https://github.com/mattpocock/skills/tree/main/skills/engineering/triage)
## What it does
`triage` moves issues on your project's tracker through a small **state machine** of triage roles — categorise them, verify the claim, grill them into shape if needed, and leave a ready-for-agent brief.
@@ -31,4 +43,4 @@ The step that separates `triage` from ad-hoc labelling is verification. It repro
## Where it fits
`triage` is the **periodic maintenance** pass over your issue tracker — run it whenever reports pile up, to keep the queue sorted and the `ready-for-agent` column trustworthy. It sits at the front of the tracker, upstream of the build chain: the briefs it writes are what [tdd](https://aihero.dev/skills-tdd) later picks up to implement. When a request needs sharpening it leans on [grilling](https://aihero.dev/skills-grilling) and [domain-modeling](https://aihero.dev/skills-domain-modeling) to grill it into shape a round of questions at a time. Its close neighbour is [to-spec](https://aihero.dev/skills-to-spec), which populates the tracker from a fresh conversation where `triage` processes what's already there. When you're unsure which skill or flow fits, [ask-matt](https://aihero.dev/skills-ask-matt) routes you.
`triage` is the **periodic maintenance** pass over your issue tracker — run it whenever reports pile up, to keep the queue sorted and the `ready-for-agent` column trustworthy. It sits at the front of the tracker, upstream of the build chain: the briefs it writes are what [tdd](https://aihero.dev/skills-tdd) later picks up to implement. When a request needs sharpening it leans on [grilling](https://aihero.dev/skills-grilling) and [domain-modeling](https://aihero.dev/skills-domain-modeling) to grill it into shape one question at a time. Its close neighbour is [to-spec](https://aihero.dev/skills-to-spec), which populates the tracker from a fresh conversation where `triage` processes what's already there. When you're unsure which skill or flow fits, [ask-matt](https://aihero.dev/skills-ask-matt) routes you.
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Quickstart:
```bash
npx skills add mattpocock/skills --skill=wayfinder
```
```bash
npx skills update wayfinder
```
[Source](https://github.com/mattpocock/skills/tree/main/skills/engineering/wayfinder)
## What it does
`wayfinder` takes an effort too big for one agent session — wrapped in fog, where the way from here to the goal isn't visible yet — and charts it as a **shared map** of **decision tickets** on your issue tracker, then resolves them one at a time until the way is clear. It **plans, it doesn't do**: every ticket resolves a decision — a question to settle, not a slice of a build to execute — and the map is done when nothing is left to decide before someone goes and builds the thing — so it produces decisions, not deliverables.
`wayfinder` takes an effort too big for one agent session — wrapped in fog, where the way from here to the goal isn't visible yet — and charts it as a **shared map** of investigation tickets on your issue tracker, then resolves them one at a time until the way is clear. It **plans, it doesn't do**: every ticket resolves a decision, and the map is done when nothing is left to decide before someone goes and builds the thing — so it produces decisions, not deliverables.
## When to reach for it
@@ -18,15 +30,15 @@ The **map** is a single `wayfinder:map` issue whose tickets are its child issues
Beyond the live tickets lies the **fog of war** — decisions you can tell are coming but can't yet pin down. The test for whether something is a ticket or still fog is whether you can *state the question precisely now*, not whether you can answer it. Resolving a ticket clears the fog ahead of it, **graduating** whatever's now specifiable into fresh tickets. The **frontier** is the open, unblocked, unclaimed tickets — the edge of the known — and it's what the tracker's native blocking renders visually, so you see what's takeable without opening the map. Fog only gathers *toward* the **destination**; work past it is ruled **out of scope**, closed, never graduating.
Every ticket is **HITL** (human in the loop — grilling, prototype) or **AFK** (agent alone — research); a HITL ticket only resolves through a live exchange, so the agent never answers its own questions. Research stays a real ticket — a shared blocker downstream decisions hang on — but because it's AFK, a session doesn't stop and read: it fires a `/research` **subagent** to burn the ticket down in parallel, keeping the frontier fast, and captures the findings on a throwaway `research/<name>` branch.
Every ticket is **HITL** (human in the loop — grilling, prototype) or an agent-driven **task**; a HITL ticket only resolves through a live exchange, so the agent never answers its own questions. Research is deliberately **not** a ticket: it's fully AFK and yields a fact, not a decision, so any session spins up a `/research` subagent inline the moment it needs external knowledge — capturing the findings on a throwaway `research/<name>` branch and leaving a context pointer on the ticket it informs — rather than parking a separate ticket for a later session to open, read, and close.
## It's working if
- Naming the **destination** is the first act — before any ticket exists — because it fixes the scope every ticket is measured against.
- One map is one `wayfinder:map` issue; tickets are its child issues, referred to by **name**, never a bare `#42`.
- A session resolves **at most one ticket** (research tickets excepted), records the answer as a resolution comment, closes the ticket, and appends a one-line pointer to *Decisions so far*.
- A session resolves **at most one ticket**, records the answer as a resolution comment, closes the ticket, and appends a one-line pointer to *Decisions so far*.
- If the opening grill surfaces **no fog**, it stops and tells you the journey is small enough to skip the map.
## Where it fits
`wayfinder` is a big-idea **on-ramp**: an effort too large and foggy to spec in one sitting generates a cleared map of decisions, which then merges onto the main build flow. When the fog is pushed back and the way is clear, hand off to [to-spec](https://aihero.dev/skills-to-spec) to schedule the multi-session build (or, if the effort turned out small, implement directly). It leans on [grilling](https://aihero.dev/skills-grilling) and [domain-modeling](https://aihero.dev/skills-domain-modeling) to resolve individual tickets, and on [prototype](https://aihero.dev/skills-prototype) and [research](https://aihero.dev/skills-research) for the ticket types that need them. When you're unsure which skill or flow fits, [ask-matt](https://aihero.dev/skills-ask-matt) routes you.
`wayfinder` is a big-idea **on-ramp**: an effort too large and foggy to spec in one sitting generates a cleared map of decisions, which then merges onto the main build flow. When the fog is pushed back and the way is clear, hand off to [to-spec](https://aihero.dev/skills-to-spec) to schedule the multi-session build (or, if the effort turned out small, implement directly). It leans on [grilling](https://aihero.dev/skills-grilling) and [domain-modeling](https://aihero.dev/skills-domain-modeling) to resolve individual tickets, on [prototype](https://aihero.dev/skills-prototype) for the tickets that need a concrete artifact, and on [research](https://aihero.dev/skills-research) as an inline subagent whenever a decision needs external facts. When you're unsure which skill or flow fits, [ask-matt](https://aihero.dev/skills-ask-matt) routes you.
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## What it does
`wizard` generates an interactive bash script that walks a human, step by step, through a manual procedure that's tedious to do by hand and tedious to re-explain to an agent every time — wiring up third-party services, running a one-off migration, moving a project from state A to state B. It opens each URL, says what to click and copy, captures what comes back, and writes it where it belongs.
The UX is not yours to design. A [template](https://github.com/mattpocock/skills/blob/main/skills/engineering/wizard/template.sh) already solves it — progress with time-remaining, confirmation gates, cross-platform URL opening (WSL included), hidden entry for secrets, idempotent `.env` upserts, `gh secret` / `gh variable` writes, and a closing summary of anything it had to skip. Everything above the `STAGES` marker is a fixed library that is identical in every wizard and never hand-edited. Your job is only to scope the procedure and author its **stages**.
## When to reach for it
You invoke this by typing `/wizard` — the agent won't reach for it on its own.
Reach for this when the next thing blocking you is a human clicking through a dashboard: a new dev needs six services configured before the app boots, a migration needs someone to flip switches in the right order, or you're about to write those steps into a README that will rot. If the procedure is something the *agent* can just do, it should do it — a wizard is specifically for the steps only a human can take.
## Prerequisites
None to generate one. The wizard it writes runs on bash, and reaches for `gh` when a stage sets a GitHub secret or variable — if `gh` is missing or unauthenticated, that stage degrades to a warning and the closing summary tells the human what to set by hand, rather than failing the run.
## Stages
A **stage** is the unit of authoring and the unit of attention: one focused task, one screen. The script clears between stages, so anything that doesn't fit is anything the human loses. You author them in dependency order and set an honest `TOTAL_STAGES` and `TOTAL_MINUTES`, which is what drives the time-remaining display — the estimate is a promise to the person running it.
Getting there is three steps of scoping before a line is written. The skill reads the repo first rather than asking cold — `.env*`, `docker-compose*`, framework config, and every `secrets.*` / `vars.*` reference in `.github/workflows/`, each of which is a value the wizard must produce — then shows you the ordered stage list to confirm, then maps each stage to the precise path a human follows ("Dashboard → Developers → API keys → Reveal test key → copy"). Where it doesn't know the current UI, it asks or checks the docs; it does not invent clicks that may not exist.
## Ephemeral by default
A wizard is built for one run — saved to a scratch or `scripts/` path, deleted when the job is done. Commit it only when it's a repeatable setup path that should live in the repo, in which case link it from the README so the next person runs the script instead of re-asking an agent.
It's also never run end-to-end by the agent that wrote it: it opens browsers and blocks on human input. Verification is static instead — `bash -n`, `shellcheck` where available, and a trace that every value lands where scoping said it would, with every `set_secret` name matching a real `secrets.*` reference in CI.
## It's working if
- You're shown an ordered list of stages and the values each produces, and asked to confirm, before any script exists.
- The generated file's library section is byte-identical to `template.sh` — only the block below the `STAGES` marker is yours.
- Every URL is opened before the value it produces is asked for, secrets use hidden entry, and irreversible actions sit behind a confirmation.
## Where it fits
`wizard` is a reach-for-it-anytime standalone, sitting where automation stops and a human has to click. Its nearest neighbour is [setup-matt-pocock-skills](https://aihero.dev/skills-setup-matt-pocock-skills), because both are run-once setup — that one configures this skill set for a repo, while `wizard` generates setup paths for everything else. It also pairs with [implement](https://aihero.dev/skills-implement): when a build lands a feature that needs credentials or a manual cutover, a wizard is how the human half gets done. When you're unsure which skill fits the moment, [ask-matt](https://aihero.dev/skills-ask-matt) routes you.
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Quickstart:
```bash
npx skills add mattpocock/skills --skill=grill-me
```
```bash
npx skills update grill-me
```
[Source](https://github.com/mattpocock/skills/tree/main/skills/productivity/grill-me)
## What it does
`grill-me` takes a **loose idea** and interviews you until it has real decisions in it. You do not need a worked-out plan to start — producing one is what the session is for. It asks in **rounds**: each round is the whole **frontier** — every question whose prerequisites you have already settled — so you are never asked something that hinges on an answer it hasn't heard yet.
`grill-me` runs a relentless interview about a plan or design, walking every branch of the decision tree until you and the agent reach a **shared understanding**.
It is **stateless**. It writes no files and leaves no workspace behind. The only thing it leaves is a sharper version of the idea, in your own head.
It asks **one question at a time** and waits. It never dumps a batch of questions at you — that is bewildering — and where a question can be answered by reading the codebase, it goes and reads rather than asking. Each question comes with the agent's own recommended answer, so you are reacting to a proposal, not staring at a blank prompt.
## When to reach for it
You invoke this by typing `/grill-me` — the agent won't reach for it on its own. Start it in a **fresh conversation**, not on top of a plan you already had an agent write.
You invoke this by typing `/grill-me` — the agent won't reach for it on its own.
Reach for it as soon as you have an idea worth taking seriously — a feature, a product direction, a business call, a piece of writing — and long before you have worked out what it involves. Vagueness is not a reason to wait; it is the thing the session eats. If you can already specify the thing precisely, you don't need to grill it.
Reach for it before you build, when a plan feels roughly right but you can sense unresolved decisions hiding in it — the moment you want the soft spots found and forced into the open. If you want that same interrogation to also leave a paper trail of ADRs and a glossary behind, use [grill-with-docs](https://aihero.dev/skills-grill-with-docs) instead. And if the effort is too big to hold in one session and the route to the goal is still foggy — a greenfield project, a huge feature build — start further upstream with [wayfinder](https://aihero.dev/skills-wayfinder), which charts it as a map of decisions first and then merges back into this flow.
Which of the three grilling skills you want depends on what is in front of you:
## The design tree
- **Anything, anywhere** — `grill-me`. It needs no repo and writes no files, and the subject doesn't have to be code.
- **A codebase to align against** — [grill-with-docs](https://aihero.dev/skills-grill-with-docs). The same interview, but stateful: it reads your code and keeps what it learns in `CONTEXT.md` and ADRs.
- **Too big for one session** — [wayfinder](https://aihero.dev/skills-wayfinder). It charts the effort as a map and runs grilling sessions inside it.
The session walks the plan as a tree of decisions, resolving dependencies between them one by one — a parent decision settled before the choices that hang off it. The point is not to reach agreement quickly; it is to make every implicit call explicit, so nothing important is left silently assumed. You come out the other side with a plan whose branches have all been visited.
Leave plan mode off. Plan mode primes the agent to rush toward producing a plan, which is the opposite of staying in inquiry.
## It's a conversation, not an interview
The skill asks the questions, but **you** own the scope. That is the part people miss, and it separates a session that turns an idea into decisions from one that produces confident nonsense.
The failure mode is **passivity** — answering "agreed, agreed, agreed" for forty questions and coming out with a plan the agent wrote and you nodded at. It feels productive because it was long. Nothing was actually decided, and the result carries a certainty it hasn't earned.
Being active means steering. Push back on a question pitched beneath the fidelity you need. Say when the scope is drifting. Answer "I don't know" and mean it. This skill is built to aid an engineer, not to replace one: what comes out tracks the quality of your answers, not the number of questions asked.
The opposite error is real but rarer — staying in the interview so long you never reach code.
## Grillable and ungrillable
Some questions can be answered by talking. Others can't, and no amount of grilling will get you there.
"One long form or three pages?" and "how should this interaction feel?" are **ungrillable** — they need something to react to. When you hit one, stop grilling. Build the throwaway version with [prototype](https://aihero.dev/skills-prototype), look at it, then come back and answer in one line.
Talking your way through an ungrillable question is where sessions balloon. The agent keeps rephrasing, you keep guessing, and the scope grows to fill the uncertainty.
## It's working if
- You disagree with something. A session with no pushback from you is a session you didn't need.
- Questions arrive in a few rounds rather than one long drip, and later rounds clearly build on what you said earlier.
- You end up somewhere you didn't expect, because a question surfaced a decision you had been making implicitly.
- At the end you could defend each choice to someone who wasn't there.
## Common questions
**How many questions should I expect, and how do I know when it ends?**
Count rounds, not questions. Forty-six questions across four rounds is an ordinary session. It ends when the frontier is empty — every branch visited, nothing left silently assumed.
**It asked me two hundred questions. What went wrong?**
Usually the scope was too large. Ask the agent to break the work into smaller pieces first, then grill each one. Very long sessions also drift into the **dumb zone**, where the context window is full enough that the questions get worse.
**Can I go back to one question at a time?**
Yes. Add this to your global `CLAUDE.md`:
```
When grilling, ask one question at a time.
```
**What if I genuinely don't know the answer?**
Say so. "I don't know" is a real answer, and a question you can't answer is usually a sign to prototype rather than to guess.
**Do I start a fresh session before writing the spec?**
No. The value of the session is the context you just built. Hand the same conversation straight to [to-spec](https://aihero.dev/skills-to-spec).
**Does the model matter?**
More than for most skills. Grilling leans on the model's own sense of how systems break, so give it your best one. Implementation mostly follows context and tolerates a cheaper model.
`grill-me` is **stateless**: it writes nothing and leaves no workspace behind. It runs anywhere, and the only artifact is the sharpened understanding in the conversation itself. That is the deliberate contrast with [grill-with-docs](https://aihero.dev/skills-grill-with-docs), which captures the same interview as durable ADRs and a glossary.
## Where it fits
`grill-me` is a **standalone you can run anywhere, on anything**. Being stateless is what makes it portable: no repo, no workspace, no setup, and no assumption that the idea is even about software. People point it at business decisions, at writing, at what to do next — anything that won't sit still in their head.
That portability is the whole difference from [grill-with-docs](https://aihero.dev/skills-grill-with-docs), which runs the same interview but reads a codebase to align against and records what it learns as `CONTEXT.md` and ADRs. Both sit on the [grilling](https://aihero.dev/skills-grilling) primitive; `grill-me` is the user-invoked front door that carries nothing with it.
If what you grilled does turn out to be software, you can hand the same conversation to [to-spec](https://aihero.dev/skills-to-spec) and carry on into the build flow — an option, not the point of the skill. When you're unsure which flow fits, [ask-matt](https://aihero.dev/skills-ask-matt) routes you.
`grill-me` is a reach-for-it-anytime standalone — the pre-build stress test you run whenever a plan needs hardening. It is the stateless, user-invoked front door to the [grilling](https://aihero.dev/skills-grilling) primitive; its closest neighbour is [grill-with-docs](https://aihero.dev/skills-grill-with-docs), the stateful sibling that runs the same interview but additionally records the decisions as ADRs and a glossary. If the outcome is a spec you want written down, hand off to [to-spec](https://aihero.dev/skills-to-spec), which synthesises the settled understanding into a spec without re-interviewing you. When you're unsure which flow fits, [ask-matt](https://aihero.dev/skills-ask-matt) routes you.
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Quickstart:
```bash
npx skills add mattpocock/skills --skill=grilling
```
```bash
npx skills update grilling
```
[Source](https://github.com/mattpocock/skills/tree/main/skills/productivity/grilling)
## What it does
`grilling` is the relentless interview that stress-tests a plan or design before you build it. It maps the plan as a **design tree** — every decision branches into the decisions that hang off it — and works that tree in **rounds** until you and the agent share the same understanding.
`grilling` is the relentless interview that stress-tests a plan or design before you build it. It walks down the design tree branch by branch, resolving the dependencies between decisions one at a time until you and the agent share the same understanding.
Each round asks the whole **frontier**: every decision whose prerequisites are already settled — the questions it can put to you *now* without guessing at answers it hasn't heard yet. Your answers reshape the tree, pushing the frontier outward, and the next round asks whatever that unblocks. Thirteen questions land in a handful of rounds instead of thirteen. Every question arrives in a fixed shape — numbered and titled behind a `❓` (`❓ **Q1** - **Storage backend**`), then the body, then the agent's recommendation on its own `➡️` line — so a round reads as a scannable list and you can answer it by number rather than by quoting it back; any *fact* the environment can settle it dispatches to a background sub-agent rather than asking you — and it doesn't block on that research, only the questions downstream of it wait. It won't act on the plan until you confirm the shared understanding has been reached.
### Prefer one question at a time?
If the old one-at-a-time rhythm suited you better, keep it. Add a line to your global `CLAUDE.md`:
```
When grilling, ask one question at a time.
```
It asks **one question at a time** and waits for your answer before the next — never a bulk list, which is bewildering. Each question comes with the agent's own recommended answer, and any question the codebase can settle it explores instead of asking you. It won't start enacting the plan until you confirm the shared understanding has been reached.
## When to reach for it
@@ -18,9 +22,9 @@ Type `/grilling`, or the agent reaches for it automatically when a task fits —
Reach for it when a plan or design still has soft spots and you want them surfaced before code is written. In practice you usually invoke it through one of its two wrappers rather than by name: for a plain grilling session use [grill-me](https://aihero.dev/skills-grill-me); to have the session also write ADRs and a glossary as it goes, use [grill-with-docs](https://aihero.dev/skills-grill-with-docs).
## The decision tree
## The design tree
The mental model is a **design tree**: every plan branches into decisions, and decisions depend on each other. The **frontier** is the set of decisions whose prerequisites are all settled — the only questions that can be asked without guessing. `grilling` asks the whole frontier at once, then recomputes it from your answers, so a round is exactly the batch of questions that *don't* depend on each other. A question whose answer hinges on another still open this round waits for a later round. Asking in frontier-sized rounds keeps the dependency structure intact while sparing you a question-at-a-time drip.
The mental model is a **design tree**: every plan branches into decisions, and decisions depend on each other. `grilling` descends that tree one node at a time, so an early answer can reshape which questions come next. That is why the questions arrive singly and in dependency order — a firehose of parallel questions loses the structure that makes the interview converge on a shared understanding.
## Pulled out on purpose
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Quickstart:
```bash
npx skills add mattpocock/skills --skill=handoff
```
```bash
npx skills update handoff
```
[Source](https://github.com/mattpocock/skills/tree/main/skills/productivity/handoff)
## What it does
`handoff` compacts the current conversation into a **handoff document** — a single write-up a fresh agent can read to pick up the work where you left off.
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Quickstart:
```bash
npx skills add mattpocock/skills --skill=teach
```
```bash
npx skills update teach
```
[Source](https://github.com/mattpocock/skills/tree/main/skills/productivity/teach)
## What it does
`teach` turns the current directory into a standing teaching workspace and teaches you one topic across many sessions — devising short, beautiful, interactive lessons tied to *why* you want to learn.
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## What it does
`to-questionnaire` turns a decision you can't settle on your own into a **questionnaire** — a Markdown document you hand to the one person who holds what you're missing, to fill in async or work through together in a meeting.
It grills you about the **send**, never the subject. A normal grilling session interrogates the topic, which is exactly what you can't answer here — that's why you're writing to someone else. So the interview asks only the two things you can always answer: who this is going to, and what you need back from them. The questions in the document are then aimed at the **gap** between the two.
## When to reach for it
You invoke this by typing `/to-questionnaire` — the agent won't reach for it on its own.
Reach for this when a decision is blocked on knowledge that lives in someone else's head — a client, a domain expert, a colleague on another team — and you want a document that pulls it out of them in one pass. When the knowledge is in *your* head and just needs sharpening, use [grill-me](https://aihero.dev/skills-grill-me) instead; when it's in the codebase, use [grill-with-docs](https://aihero.dev/skills-grill-with-docs).
## The send, not the subject
The interview is two exchanges, and it stops there:
- **Who is it going to?** Their role, expertise, and relationship to you. This fixes the tone and how much context the document has to carry — an outside client needs orienting; a teammate does not.
- **What do you need back?** The concrete decisions or facts you can't resolve alone. This becomes the checklist the finished questionnaire is measured against: every item you named has a question aimed at it.
Everything after that is drafting. The output is written to `to-questionnaire-<slug>.md` in the current directory.
## The document
It's a **discovery questionnaire**: you lack the context, the recipient holds it. That framing drives its shape — a purpose line and the decision riding on it, a short context section for a recipient who wasn't in your head, and questions ordered **most-important-first**, because async means you may only get one pass. Each question is one idea, never compound, with an answer stub beneath it and a *why this matters* line only where the question could be misread. It closes with a catch-all: anything we didn't ask that we should know?
## It's working if
- It asks you about the recipient and the deliverable, then stops asking — no interrogation of the topic itself.
- Every item you named as "what I need back" is traceable to a question in the file.
- The questions read as aimed at what the *recipient* knows, not as your own open questions copied down.
## Where it fits
`to-questionnaire` is a reach-for-it-anytime standalone — it sits at the boundary of your own knowledge, where the next step is another person rather than another skill. Its neighbour is [grill-me](https://aihero.dev/skills-grill-me), because the two split on where the answers live: grilling mines you, a questionnaire mines someone else. What comes back typically feeds the main flow at [grill-with-docs](https://aihero.dev/skills-grill-with-docs) or [to-spec](https://aihero.dev/skills-to-spec). When you're unsure which skill fits the moment, [ask-matt](https://aihero.dev/skills-ask-matt) routes you.
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## What it does
`wait-what` is what you type when a message didn't land. The agent then re-pitches what it just said. It adds the context you were missing, writes in plain English, and uses the vocabulary from your project's `CONTEXT.md`.
The skill is three lines long. That is the design, not an unfinished draft. Skills that fight verbosity fail by growing: a four-hundred-line concision skill still leaves the model verbose, because the model reads the volume, not the plea. This one carries a single precise leading word and nothing else.
## When to reach for it
You invoke it by typing `/wait-what`. The agent will not reach for it on its own, and it shouldn't. Only you know when you stopped following.
Use it the second you notice you're skimming. The agent has drifted into jargon it invented, stacked five acronyms, or explained a decision whose premise you never saw. It fixes the conversation you're already in. To stop the jargon arriving at all, use [grill-with-docs](https://aihero.dev/skills-grill-with-docs), which builds the shared language upfront.
## The name is the mechanism
The leading word is **wait**. "Be concise" is an instruction about the agent's output, and the model obeys it by clipping words and losing you further. **Wait** is about *your* state. It says comprehension failed here. An agent that hears "be brief" writes telegrams. An agent that hears "wait, you lost me" backs up and explains.
That difference is the whole skill. Every popular fix for verbosity names the *output*: `/tldr`, `/no-fluff`, `/talk-normal`. The model over-corrects into a caveman register that is shorter and no clearer. Naming the *listener* asks for both halves at once: fewer words **and** the context you were missing.
The skill says re-pitch **that**, not "that last message". What lost you is usually bigger than one paragraph, so the agent decides how far back to go.
## It plugs into the language you already have
The body reuses the leading words already in your global `CLAUDE.md` and your project's `CONTEXT.md`. ASD-STE100 Simplified Technical English sets the register. The ubiquitous language supplies the nouns. The skill, `CLAUDE.md` and `CONTEXT.md` reach for the same tokens, so invoking it is not a new instruction. It is a reminder of one the agent already agreed to.
If you have no `CONTEXT.md`, the skill still works. You lose only the domain-vocabulary half.
## It's working if
- The re-pitch is **shorter and clearer**, not shorter and blunter.
- It adds the premise you were missing, instead of only deleting words.
- Project nouns replace invented ones. The terms in your `CONTEXT.md` come back.
- You can use it twice in a row, and it does not degrade into terseness.
## Where it fits
You can use `wait-what` at any point, in any conversation, inside any other skill. It repairs one message after the fact. The real cure is a shared language agreed upfront, and that is [grill-with-docs](https://aihero.dev/skills-grill-with-docs): a grilling session that runs [domain-modeling](https://aihero.dev/skills-domain-modeling) as it goes, so the words you both use land in your `CONTEXT.md`. If you're unsure which skill fits the moment, [ask-matt](https://aihero.dev/skills-ask-matt) routes you.
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## What it does
`writing-for-agents` is the reference you write agent-facing documents against — a skill, an `AGENTS.md` / `CLAUDE.md`, a spec, a runtime prompt, a README, any doc an agent reads. The packaging differs; the writing does not: the same levers make each one predictable, so the agent takes the same *process* every run rather than producing the same output.
Its default move is deletion, not explanation. Ask an agent to write instructions for another agent and it spends most of its words explaining what the model already knows — every one of those lines is a **no-op**, paying context and changing no behaviour. This reference is the lens that finds them, which is why it earns its keep at least as often on a document you already have as on a blank file.
It was called `writing-great-skills` until v1.1. The rename tracks what it always was underneath: almost none of it is skill-specific. The skill-only mechanics — frontmatter, the model- versus user-invoked choice, router skills — are disclosed to a linked `SKILL-MECHANICS.md` you read only when the document in front of you is a skill.
## When to reach for it
Type `/writing-for-agents`, or the agent reaches for it on its own when you're creating or editing a skill, or modifying `AGENTS.md` or `CLAUDE.md`.
Reach for it by hand for everything else an agent reads: your docs, specs and tickets, system and AFK prompts. The test is one question — does an agent read this? — and it does not matter how the document gets in front of it, whether a pointer names it, a human pastes it, or it simply sits in the repo. For working out what a codebase actually contains in the first place, use [grill-with-docs](https://aihero.dev/skills-grill-with-docs) — this reference governs how a document reads, not what it knows.
## The two loads
The idea the whole reference turns on is a pair of budgets every document and pointer spends:
- **Context load** — the cost of always-loaded material on the agent's window: an `AGENTS.md` line, a skill description, anything sitting in context every turn whether or not it fires.
- **Cognitive load** — the cost on you: which documents exist, and when to reach for each. You are the index. Not a cost to minimise — it is the price of human agency.
Once you think in these two loads, most authoring decisions — split or don't, inline or disclose, point or push — become the same trade made in different places.
## The levers
- **Context pointers** — the reference held in context that names out-of-context material and encodes when to reach it. A skill description and an `AGENTS.md` line naming a doc are the same object; the pointer's *wording*, not its target, decides how reliably the agent reaches through it.
- **Information hierarchy** — the ladder from in-file step, to in-file reference, to disclosed reference behind a pointer. **Progressive disclosure** is the move down that ladder so the top stays legible.
- **Completion criteria** — the clarity and demand of each step's done-condition, and the **legwork** that demand drives; the defence against **premature completion**.
- **Leading words** — a compact concept already in the model's pretraining (*tight*, *red*, *tracer bullet*) that the agent thinks with while running the document. It anchors twice: execution in the body, invocation in the pointer.
- **Pruning** — single source of truth, relevance, and the no-op test applied sentence by sentence, against **duplication**, **sediment** and **sprawl**.
## Common questions
**Where did `/writing-great-skills` go?**
It is this skill, renamed in v1.1. Practitioners were already pointing it at `AGENTS.md`, docs, specs, tickets and runtime prompts long before the name caught up; structure, leading words and pruning turn out to be the craft of any text an agent reads. There is no alias — reinstall under the new name.
**"Writing for agents" — so the agent does the writing?**
The other way round. You are the author; the agent is the reader. That is the whole difficulty of the genre: you are writing for a reader who has already read everything, so explanation is waste and precision is the entire job.
**Can't I just ask the agent to write it for me?**
You can, and it will produce something verbose. Left alone the model explains what it already knows, and it will not apply the no-op test or reach for a leading word on its own. Use the reference on the draft — a review pass is where most of its value lands.
**I asked an agent to trim a document and it cut the functionality.**
Agents told to "streamline" optimise for length, because length is the thing they can see. The no-op test is behavioural, not aesthetic: delete the line and ask whether the agent's behaviour changed. When a sentence fails, delete the whole sentence rather than trim words from it — and settle a disagreement about it by running the document, not by arguing.
**How do I know when it's done?**
When it works, and you can no longer find duplication, sediment or no-ops. There is no automated eval here; the check is a manual run plus the failure-mode vocabulary as a diagnostic. When a document misbehaves, that vocabulary is also the repair kit — name the failure mode first, then fix that.
**Should this live in `CLAUDE.md` or somewhere else?**
Ask which load you want to pay. `CLAUDE.md` loads into every session unconditionally; material behind a pointer costs only the pointer's own line until it fires. Anything that applies in one context out of ten is paying context load the nine other times.
**Do I need to rewrite my documents for each new model?**
Mostly no, and over-fitting to one model is its own trap. Updating for a new model is usually another no-op pass rather than a rewrite.
**My skill only works on the exact task I built it from.**
The common route — do the work once, then have the agent write it up as a skill — over-indexes on that one run, and the exemplars come out too specific. Keep the run as evidence, then abstract deliberately: strip what belonged to that repo and those files, and write for the class of task.
**English isn't my first language. Do I lose the leading-word advantage?**
No — finding the word that packs the most behaviour into the fewest tokens is work the reference does for you. It is one of the things it is for.
## It's working if
- The document gets shorter as it gets better, and you are surprised how little is left.
- You can point at a leading word and watch it doing work in more than one place.
- Nothing is stated twice, in any form. Duplication is the most reliable sign a document was never tested.
- Reference that only one branch needs sits behind a pointer rather than in the main file.
## Where it fits
This is a reach-for-it-anytime standalone reference. It has no neighbour in the chain because it sits underneath the whole set rather than beside any one skill: every skill here was written against it, and the documents the other skills leave behind — a `CONTEXT.md` and its ADRs, a spec, a ticket — are exactly the text it governs once an agent has to read them. When you're unsure which skill or flow fits a task, [ask-matt](https://aihero.dev/skills-ask-matt) routes you over the whole set.
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Quickstart:
```bash
npx skills add mattpocock/skills --skill=writing-great-skills
```
```bash
npx skills update writing-great-skills
```
[Source](https://github.com/mattpocock/skills/tree/main/skills/productivity/writing-great-skills)
## What it does
`writing-great-skills` is the reference you write and edit skills against — the shared vocabulary and principles that make a skill predictable.
A skill's job is to wrangle determinism out of a stochastic system, so the goal is not the same *output* every run but the same *process*. **Predictability** is the root virtue, and every design choice is judged against it — not against how clever, complete, or exhaustive the skill reads.
## When to reach for it
You invoke this by typing `/writing-great-skills` — the agent won't reach for it on its own.
Reach for it whenever you're authoring a new skill or editing an existing one and want it to behave the same way every time: deciding invocation mode, writing a description, choosing what lives in `SKILL.md` versus a linked file, or diagnosing why a skill misfires.
## Cognitive load
The concept the whole reference turns on is **cognitive load** — and its counterpart, **context load**. Every skill spends one or the other:
- A **model-invoked** skill keeps a description in the window every turn, so it costs **context load** but fires on its own.
- A **user-invoked** skill strips that description; it costs zero context load, but now *you* are the index that has to remember it exists — that's **cognitive load**.
Most of these skills are user-invoked, which is why cognitive load is the pressure the whole system is built to manage: when user-invoked skills multiply past what you can hold in your head, the cure is a **router skill** that names the others and when to reach for each. Once you're thinking in these two loads, most authoring decisions — split or don't, inline or disclose, model- or user-invoked — become the same trade made in different places.
## The other levers
The rest of the reference is the toolkit for spending those loads well:
- **Leading words** — a compact concept already in the model's pretraining (_tight_, _red_, _tracer bullet_) that the agent thinks with while running the skill. It anchors execution *and* invocation in the fewest tokens; hunt restatements that a single word can retire.
- **Information hierarchy** — the ladder from in-skill step, to in-skill reference, to external reference behind a **context pointer**. **Progressive disclosure** is the move down that ladder so the top stays legible.
- **Pruning** — single source of truth, relevance, and the no-op test applied sentence by sentence, against **sediment** and **sprawl**.
- **Failure modes** — **premature completion**, **duplication**, **sediment**, **sprawl**, **no-op** — to diagnose a skill that isn't behaving.
## Where it fits
This is a reach-for-it-anytime standalone reference — the meta-skill you consult while building the rest of the set, not a step in a chain. Its natural neighbour is any router you maintain, because a router is the direct cure for the cognitive load that user-invoked skills pile up; when you're unsure which skill or flow fits a task, [ask-matt](https://aihero.dev/skills-ask-matt) routes you over the whole set.
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# Links all skills in the repository into the local skill directories used by
# each agent harness:
# - ~/.claude/skills — Claude Code
# - ~/.agents/skills — Codex and other Agent Skills-compatible harnesses
# - ~/.agents/skills — pi and other Agent-Skills-standard harnesses
# Each entry is a symlink into this repo, so a `git pull` is all that's needed
# to keep installed skills up to date.
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# Deprecated
Skills I no longer use. This bucket is currently empty — a retired skill is deleted, and the changeset that removes it names whatever replaced it.
Skills I no longer use.
- **[design-an-interface](./design-an-interface/SKILL.md)** — Generate multiple radically different interface designs for a module using parallel sub-agents.
- **[qa](./qa/SKILL.md)** — Interactive QA session where user reports bugs conversationally and the agent files GitHub issues.
- **[request-refactor-plan](./request-refactor-plan/SKILL.md)** — Create a detailed refactor plan with tiny commits via user interview, then file it as a GitHub issue.
- **[ubiquitous-language](./ubiquitous-language/SKILL.md)** — Extract a DDD-style ubiquitous language glossary from the current conversation.
@@ -0,0 +1,94 @@
---
name: design-an-interface
description: Generate multiple radically different interface designs for a module using parallel sub-agents. Use when user wants to design an API, explore interface options, compare module shapes, or mentions "design it twice".
---
# Design an Interface
Based on "Design It Twice" from "A Philosophy of Software Design": your first idea is unlikely to be the best. Generate multiple radically different designs, then compare.
## Workflow
### 1. Gather Requirements
Before designing, understand:
- [ ] What problem does this module solve?
- [ ] Who are the callers? (other modules, external users, tests)
- [ ] What are the key operations?
- [ ] Any constraints? (performance, compatibility, existing patterns)
- [ ] What should be hidden inside vs exposed?
Ask: "What does this module need to do? Who will use it?"
### 2. Generate Designs (Parallel Sub-Agents)
Spawn 3+ sub-agents simultaneously using Task tool. Each must produce a **radically different** approach.
```
Prompt template for each sub-agent:
Design an interface for: [module description]
Requirements: [gathered requirements]
Constraints for this design: [assign a different constraint to each agent]
- Agent 1: "Minimize method count - aim for 1-3 methods max"
- Agent 2: "Maximize flexibility - support many use cases"
- Agent 3: "Optimize for the most common case"
- Agent 4: "Take inspiration from [specific paradigm/library]"
Output format:
1. Interface signature (types/methods)
2. Usage example (how caller uses it)
3. What this design hides internally
4. Trade-offs of this approach
```
### 3. Present Designs
Show each design with:
1. **Interface signature** - types, methods, params
2. **Usage examples** - how callers actually use it in practice
3. **What it hides** - complexity kept internal
Present designs sequentially so user can absorb each approach before comparison.
### 4. Compare Designs
After showing all designs, compare them on:
- **Interface simplicity**: fewer methods, simpler params
- **General-purpose vs specialized**: flexibility vs focus
- **Implementation efficiency**: does shape allow efficient internals?
- **Depth**: small interface hiding significant complexity (good) vs large interface with thin implementation (bad)
- **Ease of correct use** vs **ease of misuse**
Discuss trade-offs in prose, not tables. Highlight where designs diverge most.
### 5. Synthesize
Often the best design combines insights from multiple options. Ask:
- "Which design best fits your primary use case?"
- "Any elements from other designs worth incorporating?"
## Evaluation Criteria
From "A Philosophy of Software Design":
**Interface simplicity**: Fewer methods, simpler params = easier to learn and use correctly.
**General-purpose**: Can handle future use cases without changes. But beware over-generalization.
**Implementation efficiency**: Does interface shape allow efficient implementation? Or force awkward internals?
**Depth**: Small interface hiding significant complexity = deep module (good). Large interface with thin implementation = shallow module (avoid).
## Anti-Patterns
- Don't let sub-agents produce similar designs - enforce radical difference
- Don't skip comparison - the value is in contrast
- Don't implement - this is purely about interface shape
- Don't evaluate based on implementation effort
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---
name: qa
description: Interactive QA session where user reports bugs or issues conversationally, and the agent files GitHub issues. Explores the codebase in the background for context and domain language. Use when user wants to report bugs, do QA, file issues conversationally, or mentions "QA session".
---
# QA Session
Run an interactive QA session. The user describes problems they're encountering. You clarify, explore the codebase for context, and file GitHub issues that are durable, user-focused, and use the project's domain language.
## For each issue the user raises
### 1. Listen and lightly clarify
Let the user describe the problem in their own words. Ask **at most 2-3 short clarifying questions** focused on:
- What they expected vs what actually happened
- Steps to reproduce (if not obvious)
- Whether it's consistent or intermittent
Do NOT over-interview. If the description is clear enough to file, move on.
### 2. Explore the codebase in the background
While talking to the user, kick off an Agent (subagent_type=Explore) in the background to understand the relevant area. The goal is NOT to find a fix — it's to:
- Learn the domain language used in that area (check UBIQUITOUS_LANGUAGE.md)
- Understand what the feature is supposed to do
- Identify the user-facing behavior boundary
This context helps you write a better issue — but the issue itself should NOT reference specific files, line numbers, or internal implementation details.
### 3. Assess scope: single issue or breakdown?
Before filing, decide whether this is a **single issue** or needs to be **broken down** into multiple issues.
Break down when:
- The fix spans multiple independent areas (e.g. "the form validation is wrong AND the success message is missing AND the redirect is broken")
- There are clearly separable concerns that different people could work on in parallel
- The user describes something that has multiple distinct failure modes or symptoms
Keep as a single issue when:
- It's one behavior that's wrong in one place
- The symptoms are all caused by the same root behavior
### 4. File the GitHub issue(s)
Create issues with `gh issue create`. Do NOT ask the user to review first — just file and share URLs.
Issues must be **durable** — they should still make sense after major refactors. Write from the user's perspective.
#### For a single issue
Use this template:
```
## What happened
[Describe the actual behavior the user experienced, in plain language]
## What I expected
[Describe the expected behavior]
## Steps to reproduce
1. [Concrete, numbered steps a developer can follow]
2. [Use domain terms from the codebase, not internal module names]
3. [Include relevant inputs, flags, or configuration]
## Additional context
[Any extra observations from the user or from codebase exploration that help frame the issue — e.g. "this only happens when using the Docker layer, not the filesystem layer" — use domain language but don't cite files]
```
#### For a breakdown (multiple issues)
Create issues in dependency order (blockers first) so you can reference real issue numbers.
Use this template for each sub-issue:
```
## Parent issue
#<parent-issue-number> (if you created a tracking issue) or "Reported during QA session"
## What's wrong
[Describe this specific behavior problem — just this slice, not the whole report]
## What I expected
[Expected behavior for this specific slice]
## Steps to reproduce
1. [Steps specific to THIS issue]
## Blocked by
- #<issue-number> (if this issue can't be fixed until another is resolved)
Or "None — can start immediately" if no blockers.
## Additional context
[Any extra observations relevant to this slice]
```
When creating a breakdown:
- **Prefer many thin issues over few thick ones** — each should be independently fixable and verifiable
- **Mark blocking relationships honestly** — if issue B genuinely can't be tested until issue A is fixed, say so. If they're independent, mark both as "None — can start immediately"
- **Create issues in dependency order** so you can reference real issue numbers in "Blocked by"
- **Maximize parallelism** — the goal is that multiple people (or agents) can grab different issues simultaneously
#### Rules for all issue bodies
- **No file paths or line numbers** — these go stale
- **Use the project's domain language** (check UBIQUITOUS_LANGUAGE.md if it exists)
- **Describe behaviors, not code** — "the sync service fails to apply the patch" not "applyPatch() throws on line 42"
- **Reproduction steps are mandatory** — if you can't determine them, ask the user
- **Keep it concise** — a developer should be able to read the issue in 30 seconds
After filing, print all issue URLs (with blocking relationships summarized) and ask: "Next issue, or are we done?"
### 5. Continue the session
Keep going until the user says they're done. Each issue is independent — don't batch them.
@@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
---
name: request-refactor-plan
description: Create a detailed refactor plan with tiny commits via user interview, then file it as a GitHub issue. Use when user wants to plan a refactor, create a refactoring RFC, or break a refactor into safe incremental steps.
---
This skill will be invoked when the user wants to create a refactor request. You should go through the steps below. You may skip steps if you don't consider them necessary.
1. Ask the user for a long, detailed description of the problem they want to solve and any potential ideas for solutions.
2. Explore the repo to verify their assertions and understand the current state of the codebase.
3. Ask whether they have considered other options, and present other options to them.
4. Interview the user about the implementation. Be extremely detailed and thorough.
5. Hammer out the exact scope of the implementation. Work out what you plan to change and what you plan not to change.
6. Look in the codebase to check for test coverage of this area of the codebase. If there is insufficient test coverage, ask the user what their plans for testing are.
7. Break the implementation into a plan of tiny commits. Remember Martin Fowler's advice to "make each refactoring step as small as possible, so that you can always see the program working."
8. Create a GitHub issue with the refactor plan. Use the following template for the issue description:
<refactor-plan-template>
## Problem Statement
The problem that the developer is facing, from the developer's perspective.
## Solution
The solution to the problem, from the developer's perspective.
## Commits
A LONG, detailed implementation plan. Write the plan in plain English, breaking down the implementation into the tiniest commits possible. Each commit should leave the codebase in a working state.
## Decision Document
A list of implementation decisions that were made. This can include:
- The modules that will be built/modified
- The interfaces of those modules that will be modified
- Technical clarifications from the developer
- Architectural decisions
- Schema changes
- API contracts
- Specific interactions
Do NOT include specific file paths or code snippets. They may end up being outdated very quickly.
## Testing Decisions
A list of testing decisions that were made. Include:
- A description of what makes a good test (only test external behavior, not implementation details)
- Which modules will be tested
- Prior art for the tests (i.e. similar types of tests in the codebase)
## Out of Scope
A description of the things that are out of scope for this refactor.
## Further Notes (optional)
Any further notes about the refactor.
</refactor-plan-template>
@@ -0,0 +1,93 @@
---
name: ubiquitous-language
description: Extract a DDD-style ubiquitous language glossary from the current conversation, flagging ambiguities and proposing canonical terms. Saves to UBIQUITOUS_LANGUAGE.md. Use when user wants to define domain terms, build a glossary, harden terminology, create a ubiquitous language, or mentions "domain model" or "DDD".
disable-model-invocation: true
---
# Ubiquitous Language
Extract and formalize domain terminology from the current conversation into a consistent glossary, saved to a local file.
## Process
1. **Scan the conversation** for domain-relevant nouns, verbs, and concepts
2. **Identify problems**:
- Same word used for different concepts (ambiguity)
- Different words used for the same concept (synonyms)
- Vague or overloaded terms
3. **Propose a canonical glossary** with opinionated term choices
4. **Write to `UBIQUITOUS_LANGUAGE.md`** in the working directory using the format below
5. **Output a summary** inline in the conversation
## Output Format
Write a `UBIQUITOUS_LANGUAGE.md` file with this structure:
```md
# Ubiquitous Language
## Order lifecycle
| Term | Definition | Aliases to avoid |
| ----------- | ------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------- |
| **Order** | A customer's request to purchase one or more items | Purchase, transaction |
| **Invoice** | A request for payment sent to a customer after delivery | Bill, payment request |
## People
| Term | Definition | Aliases to avoid |
| ------------ | ------------------------------------------- | ---------------------- |
| **Customer** | A person or organization that places orders | Client, buyer, account |
| **User** | An authentication identity in the system | Login, account |
## Relationships
- An **Invoice** belongs to exactly one **Customer**
- An **Order** produces one or more **Invoices**
## Example dialogue
> **Dev:** "When a **Customer** places an **Order**, do we create the **Invoice** immediately?"
> **Domain expert:** "No — an **Invoice** is only generated once a **Fulfillment** is confirmed. A single **Order** can produce multiple **Invoices** if items ship in separate **Shipments**."
> **Dev:** "So if a **Shipment** is cancelled before dispatch, no **Invoice** exists for it?"
> **Domain expert:** "Exactly. The **Invoice** lifecycle is tied to the **Fulfillment**, not the **Order**."
## Flagged ambiguities
- "account" was used to mean both **Customer** and **User** — these are distinct concepts: a **Customer** places orders, while a **User** is an authentication identity that may or may not represent a **Customer**.
```
## Rules
- **Be opinionated.** When multiple words exist for the same concept, pick the best one and list the others as aliases to avoid.
- **Flag conflicts explicitly.** If a term is used ambiguously in the conversation, call it out in the "Flagged ambiguities" section with a clear recommendation.
- **Only include terms relevant for domain experts.** Skip the names of modules or classes unless they have meaning in the domain language.
- **Keep definitions tight.** One sentence max. Define what it IS, not what it does.
- **Show relationships.** Use bold term names and express cardinality where obvious.
- **Only include domain terms.** Skip generic programming concepts (array, function, endpoint) unless they have domain-specific meaning.
- **Group terms into multiple tables** when natural clusters emerge (e.g. by subdomain, lifecycle, or actor). Each group gets its own heading and table. If all terms belong to a single cohesive domain, one table is fine — don't force groupings.
- **Write an example dialogue.** A short conversation (3-5 exchanges) between a dev and a domain expert that demonstrates how the terms interact naturally. The dialogue should clarify boundaries between related concepts and show terms being used precisely.
<example>
## Example dialogue
> **Dev:** "How do I test the **sync service** without Docker?"
> **Domain expert:** "Provide the **filesystem layer** instead of the **Docker layer**. It implements the same **Sandbox service** interface but uses a local directory as the **sandbox**."
> **Dev:** "So **sync-in** still creates a **bundle** and unpacks it?"
> **Domain expert:** "Exactly. The **sync service** doesn't know which layer it's talking to. It calls `exec` and `copyIn` — the **filesystem layer** just runs those as local shell commands."
</example>
## Re-running
When invoked again in the same conversation:
1. Read the existing `UBIQUITOUS_LANGUAGE.md`
2. Incorporate any new terms from subsequent discussion
3. Update definitions if understanding has evolved
4. Re-flag any new ambiguities
5. Rewrite the example dialogue to incorporate new terms
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@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ Skills I use daily for code work.
## User-invoked
Reachable only when you type them (Claude Code: `disable-model-invocation: true`; Codex: `policy.allow_implicit_invocation: false` in `agents/openai.yaml`).
Reachable only when you type them (`disable-model-invocation: true`).
- **[ask-matt](./ask-matt/SKILL.md)** — Ask which skill or flow fits your situation. A router over the user-invoked skills in this repo.
- **[grill-with-docs](./grill-with-docs/SKILL.md)** — Grilling session that also builds your project's domain model, sharpening terminology and updating `CONTEXT.md` and ADRs inline.
@@ -13,9 +13,7 @@ Reachable only when you type them (Claude Code: `disable-model-invocation: true`
- **[setup-matt-pocock-skills](./setup-matt-pocock-skills/SKILL.md)** — Configure this repo for the engineering skills (issue tracker, triage labels, domain doc layout). Run once per repo.
- **[to-spec](./to-spec/SKILL.md)** — Turn the current conversation into a spec and publish it to the issue tracker.
- **[to-tickets](./to-tickets/SKILL.md)** — Break any plan, spec, or conversation into a set of tracer-bullet tickets, each declaring its blocking edges — text in a local file, or native blocking links on a real tracker.
- **[implement](./implement/SKILL.md)** — Build the work described by a spec or set of tickets, driving `/tdd` at pre-agreed seams and closing out with `/code-review` before committing.
- **[wayfinder](./wayfinder/SKILL.md)** — Plan a huge chunk of work — more than one agent session can hold — as a shared map of decision tickets on the issue tracker, resolved one at a time until the way to the destination is clear.
- **[wizard](./wizard/SKILL.md)** — Generate an interactive bash wizard that walks a human through a manual procedure — third-party setup, a one-off migration, an A→B state transition — opening URLs, capturing values, and writing `.env` files and GitHub Actions secrets.
- **[wayfinder](./wayfinder/SKILL.md)** — Plan a huge chunk of work — more than one agent session can hold — as a shared map of investigation tickets on the issue tracker, resolved one at a time until the way to the destination is clear.
## Model-invoked
@@ -28,5 +26,4 @@ Model- or user-reachable (rich trigger phrasing so the model can reach for them)
- **[tdd](./tdd/SKILL.md)** — Test-driven development with a red-green-refactor loop. Builds features or fixes bugs one vertical slice at a time.
- **[domain-modeling](./domain-modeling/SKILL.md)** — Actively build and sharpen a project's domain model — challenge terms, stress-test with scenarios, update `CONTEXT.md` and ADRs inline.
- **[codebase-design](./codebase-design/SKILL.md)** — Shared discipline and vocabulary for designing deep modules: small interfaces, clean seams, testable through the interface.
- **[code-review](./code-review/SKILL.md)** — Two-axis review of the diff since a fixed point: **Standards** (does it follow the repo's coding standards, plus a Fowler smell baseline?) and **Spec** (does it faithfully implement the originating issue/spec?), run as parallel sub-agents.
- **[resolving-merge-conflicts](./resolving-merge-conflicts/SKILL.md)** — Work through an in-progress git merge or rebase conflict hunk by hunk, resolving by intent traced to each side's primary source, then finish the operation — never `--abort`.
- **[code-review](./code-review/SKILL.md)** — Two-axis review of the diff since a fixed point: **Standards** (does it follow the repo's coding standards, plus a Fowler smell baseline?) and **Spec** (does it faithfully implement the originating issue/PRD?), run as parallel sub-agents.
@@ -1,55 +0,0 @@
# Phase boundaries
A **phase** is a chunk of work inside a session — the grilling, the implementation, the QA. The definition is fuzzy on purpose: a phase ends when you think *"ok, we're done with that"*.
The **phase boundary** is the gap between two phases, and it is the only place this decision belongs. Mid-phase there is no decision to make — continue, or split the work that's left into subagents. Compacting mid-phase makes the agent lose the thread.
## The five options
| Option | What it does |
| ------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Continue** | Stay in the session. No context switch at all. |
| **`/clear`** | Empty the context window and start from nothing. |
| **`/handoff`** | Write a portable markdown file and seed a session anywhere with it. |
| **Subagent** | Send the task to its own context window and get a report back. |
| **`/compact`** | Compress this context and seed a fresh session with the summary. |
## The tree
Work top to bottom at the boundary. The first **yes** wins.
**1. Can you continue in this session?** Two things make the answer yes: the next phase needs this phase as a **primary source**, or you have enough [smart zone](https://www.aihero.dev/ai-coding-dictionary/smart-zone) left (~150k tokens) for the next phase to fit. Grilling → implementation is the standard yes: the implementation wants the reasoning verbatim, not a summary of it. Continue costs nothing and loses nothing, so rule it out before anything else.
**2. Is the context irrelevant to what comes next?** Is everything in this session — the exploration, the decisions, the dead ends — disposable? If so, **`/clear`**. It is the cheapest move on the board: it takes no time and hands back the whole window. `/clear` also isn't terminal — the old session stays resumable.
The cost of getting this wrong is one-way. Clear a *relevant* context and you lose the **why** behind what you built, and no amount of reading the diff back gets it returned.
**3. Do you need to hand off?** `/handoff` is narrow. You need it only when you are:
- swapping to a **new harness** (Claude → Codex),
- moving to a **new directory** or repo,
- sending the work to a **colleague**,
- or forking a side task you found **mid-phase** without derailing what you're doing.
That list is the whole clause. What `/handoff` buys is **portability** — a file that travels. If nothing is travelling, you don't need it.
**4. Can the task be done AFK?** Is it scoped tightly enough to run with you away from the keyboard, no steering? Then send it to a **subagent** and leave this session untouched. Automated review is the standard case: the agent reads the diff and reports, and you aren't needed while it does.
**5. Otherwise, `/compact`.** Relevant context, same harness, same directory, and you need to stay in the loop — this is where the tree lands, and it lands here often. Pass it an instruction (`/compact we're going to QA this area`) so the summary keeps what the next phase needs.
`/compact` is the **default, not the first reach**. It sits at the bottom because the four questions above it are all cheaper or more precise. The failure mode when people start here is a fresh session that is confidently wrong about a decision the summary flattened.
## Primary and secondary sources
Every move except **Continue** turns a **primary source** into a **secondary source** — the session as it happened, replaced by a summary of it. The trade is always the same shape:
| Source | Information | Noise | Room to move |
| --------------------------------- | ----------- | ----- | ------------ |
| Primary (Continue) | Full | Lots | Little |
| Secondary (`/compact`, `/handoff`) | Lossy | Less | Lots |
This is why question 1 comes first. You only pay the lossiness when staying costs more than it saves.
## These are judgement calls
The questions are not objective — each has taste in it, and the same boundary can go two ways on two days. The value is in asking them **in order**, at the boundary rather than in the middle of the work.
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@@ -15,12 +15,12 @@ A **flow** is a path through the skills. Most paths run along one **main flow**,
The route most work travels. You have an idea and want it built.
1. **`/grill-with-docs`** — sharpen the idea by interview. Start here when you **have a codebase**: it's stateful, retaining what it learns in `CONTEXT.md` and ADRs. (No codebase? Use `/grill-me` — see Standalone. Both run the same `/grilling` primitive; `grill-with-docs` is the one that leaves a paper trail.)
2. **Branch — can you settle every question in conversation?** If a question needs a runnable answer (state, business logic, a UI you have to see), detour through a prototype, bridged by **`/handoff`** in both directions (a prototype lives in its own directory, which is exactly what `/handoff` is for — see Phase boundaries):
2. **Branch — can you settle every question in conversation?** If a question needs a runnable answer (state, business logic, a UI you have to see), detour through a prototype, bridged by **`/handoff`** in both directions (see Crossing sessions):
- **`/handoff`** out, then open a fresh session against that file,
- **`/prototype`** to answer the question with throwaway code,
- **`/handoff`** back what you learned, and reference it from the original idea thread.
3. **Branch — is this a multi-session build?**
- **Yes** → **`/to-spec`** (turn the thread into a spec), then **`/to-tickets`** to split it into tracer-bullet tickets, each declaring its **blocking edges**. On a local tracker that's one file per ticket under `.scratch/<feature>/issues/`, worked blockers-first by hand; on a real tracker the edges become native blocking links, so any ticket whose blockers are done can be grabbed — kick off **`/implement`** per ticket, **`/clear`ing context between each one**. Each ticket is self-contained, so the last one's context is disposable.
- **Yes** → **`/to-spec`** (turn the thread into a spec), then **`/to-tickets`** to split it into tracer-bullet tickets, each declaring its **blocking edges**. On a local tracker that's one file per ticket under `.scratch/<feature>/issues/`, worked blockers-first by hand; on a real tracker the edges become native blocking links, so any ticket whose blockers are done can be grabbed — kick off **`/implement`** per ticket, **clearing context between each one**.
- **No** → **`/implement`** right here, in the same context window.
Either way, **`/implement`** builds each issue by driving **`/tdd`** internally — one red-green slice at a time — then closes out by running **`/code-review`**, a two-axis review (Standards + Spec) of the diff, before committing. Reach for **`/tdd`** on its own when you just want to build a concrete behaviour test-first without a full spec, and **`/code-review`** on its own whenever you want to review a branch or PR against a fixed point.
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ The route most work travels. You have an idea and want it built.
Keep steps 13 in **one unbroken context window** — don't compact or clear until after `/to-tickets` — so the grilling, spec, and tickets all build on the same thinking. Each `/implement` then starts fresh, working from the ticket.
The limit on this is the **[smart zone](https://www.aihero.dev/ai-coding-dictionary/smart-zone)**: the window (~150k tokens on state-of-the-art models) within which the model still reasons sharply. If a session approaches it before `/to-tickets`, don't push on degraded — `/compact` at the nearest phase boundary and carry on (see Phase boundaries).
The limit on this is the **[smart zone](https://www.aihero.dev/ai-coding-dictionary/smart-zone)**: the window (~120k tokens on state-of-the-art models) within which the model still reasons sharply. If a session approaches it before `/to-tickets`, don't push on degraded — `/handoff` and continue in a fresh thread.
## On-ramps
@@ -41,9 +41,7 @@ A starting situation that generates work, then merges onto the main flow.
- **Something's broken** → **`/diagnosing-bugs`**. For the hard ones: the bug that resists a first glance, the intermittent flake, the regression that crept in between two known-good states. It refuses to theorise until it has a **tight feedback loop** — one command that already goes red on *this* bug — then fixes with a regression test. Its post-mortem hands off to **`/improve-codebase-architecture`** when the real finding is that there's no good seam to lock the bug down.
- **A huge, foggy effort — a greenfield project or a huge feature build, too big for one session** → **`/wayfinder`**, the most cognitively demanding flow here. When the way from here to the destination isn't visible yet, it charts a **shared map** of **decision tickets** on the issue tracker and resolves them one at a time — producing **decisions, not deliverables** — until the fog is pushed back and the way is clear. Where **`/grill-with-docs`** sharpens an idea you can hold in one session, wayfinder is for the idea you can't — and it's slower and denser, so save it for exactly that, never a well-scoped feature.
When the map clears, **it hands off, it doesn't build**: merge onto the main flow at **`/to-spec`**, which collapses the map's linked decisions into a buildable plan, then `/to-tickets` and `/implement` as usual. Looping the map straight into `/implement` skips that collapse and throws the linked detail away — go straight to `/implement` only when the effort turned out genuinely small.
- **A huge, foggy effort — a greenfield project or a huge feature build, too big for one session** → **`/wayfinder`**. When the way from here to the destination isn't visible yet, it charts a **shared map** of investigation tickets on the issue tracker and resolves them one at a time — producing **decisions, not deliverables** — until the fog is pushed back and the way is clear. Then it merges onto the main flow at **`/to-spec`** (or, if the effort turned out small enough, straight to **`/implement`**). Where **`/grill-with-docs`** sharpens an idea you can hold in one session, wayfinder is for the idea you can't.
## Codebase health
@@ -58,17 +56,10 @@ Two model-invoked references that run *beneath* the other skills — each the si
- **`/domain-modeling`** — sharpen the project's *domain* language: challenge a fuzzy term, resolve an overloaded word ("account" doing three jobs), record a hard-to-reverse decision as an ADR. It's the active discipline `/grill-with-docs` drives to keep `CONTEXT.md` a clean glossary.
- **`/codebase-design`** — the deep-module vocabulary (module, interface, depth, seam, adapter, leverage, locality) for designing a module's *shape*: a lot of behaviour behind a small interface at a clean seam. `/tdd` and `/improve-codebase-architecture` both speak it.
## Phase boundaries
## Crossing sessions
A **phase** is a chunk of work inside a session — the grilling, the implementation, the QA. At the **boundary** between two of them you have five options, and picking between them is the fuzziest decision in this whole map:
- **Continue** — stay put. Costs nothing, loses nothing.
- **`/clear`** — empty the window, when nothing here matters to what's next.
- **`/handoff`** — write a portable markdown file. Narrow: only for a **new harness**, a **new directory**, a **colleague**, or forking a side task **mid-phase**. What it buys is portability.
- **Subagent** — send a tightly-scoped task to its own window and get a report back.
- **`/compact`** — compress this context and seed a fresh session with it. The **default**, at the bottom of the tree rather than the first reach.
Read [PHASE-BOUNDARIES.md](PHASE-BOUNDARIES.md) for the ordered tree — the five questions, the reasoning behind each branch, and why the primary-source cost makes **Continue** the one to rule out first. Make the decision **at** a boundary; mid-phase, continue or split the rest into subagents.
- **`/handoff`** — when a thread is full or you need to branch off (e.g. into a `/prototype` session), this compacts the conversation into a markdown file. You don't continue in place — you **open a new session and reference that file** to carry the context across. It's the bridge between context windows, in either direction. Use it when you want a **fresh session** but need the **current conversation preserved**.
- **`/compact`** (built-in) — stay in the **same conversation**, letting the earlier turns be summarized. Use it at **intentional breaks between phases**, when you don't mind losing the verbatim history. Don't compact mid-phase — the agent can lose its way. `/handoff` forks; `/compact` continues.
## Standalone
@@ -77,11 +68,8 @@ Off the main flow entirely.
- **`/grill-me`** — the same relentless interview as `/grill-with-docs`, but for when you have **no codebase**. Stateless: it saves nothing locally, builds no `CONTEXT.md`. Reach for it to sharpen any plan or design that doesn't live in a repo.
- **`/prototype`** — a small, throwaway program that answers one design question: does this state model feel right, or what should this UI look like. Throwaway from day one — keep the answer, delete the code. It's the detour in step 2 of the main flow, but reach for it any time a design question is hard to settle on paper.
- **`/research`** — delegate reading legwork to a **background agent**: it investigates a question against **primary sources**, then leaves a cited Markdown file in the repo. Keep working while it reads. The file it produces is something to take *into* the main flow at `/grill-with-docs` — research feeds the thinking, it doesn't replace it.
- **`/to-questionnaire`** — when the thing blocking you isn't in your head or the codebase but in **someone else's**, this writes them a questionnaire to fill in. It's the inverse of `/grill-me`: instead of interviewing you about the subject, it interviews you about the **send** — who it's going to, what you need back — and aims the questions at the gap. What comes back is material for `/grill-with-docs` or `/to-spec`.
- **`/wizard`** — for the steps only a **human** can take: clicking through a third-party dashboard, running a one-off migration, moving the project from state A to state B. It generates an interactive bash script that opens each URL, captures each value, and writes it into `.env` and GitHub secrets — so the procedure stops being something you re-explain to an agent every time. If the agent could just do it itself, it should; reach for this only where a human is genuinely in the loop.
- **`/wait-what`** — the corrective for a message that didn't land. Use it mid-conversation, inside any other skill, and the agent re-pitches what it just said with the context you were missing, in plain English, using the `CONTEXT.md` vocabulary. It works after the fact; `/grill-with-docs` is the upfront cure, because a shared language agreed early is what stops the jargon arriving at all.
- **`/teach`** — learn a concept over multiple sessions, using the current directory as a stateful workspace.
- **`/writing-for-agents`** — reference for writing documents agents consume: skills, AGENTS.md, pointed-at docs.
- **`/writing-great-skills`** — reference for writing and editing skills well.
## Precondition
@@ -1,5 +0,0 @@
interface:
display_name: "Ask Matt"
short_description: "Find the right skill or workflow"
policy:
allow_implicit_invocation: false
+3 -3
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@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
---
name: code-review
description: Review the changes since a fixed point (commit, branch, tag, or merge-base) along two axes — Standards (does the code follow this repo's documented coding standards?) and Spec (does the code match what the originating issue/spec asked for?). Runs both reviews in parallel sub-agents and reports them side by side. Use when the user wants to review a branch, a PR, work-in-progress changes, or asks to "review since X".
description: Review the changes since a fixed point (commit, branch, tag, or merge-base) along two axes — Standards (does the code follow this repo's documented coding standards?) and Spec (does the code match what the originating issue/PRD asked for?). Runs both reviews in parallel sub-agents and reports them side by side. Use when the user wants to review a branch, a PR, work-in-progress changes, or asks to "review since X".
---
Two-axis review of the diff between `HEAD` and a fixed point the user supplies:
- **Standards** — does the code conform to this repo's documented coding standards?
- **Spec** — does the code faithfully implement the originating issue / spec?
- **Spec** — does the code faithfully implement the originating issue / PRD / spec?
Both axes run as **parallel sub-agents** so they don't pollute each other's context, then this skill aggregates their findings.
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ Look for the originating spec, in this order:
1. Issue references in the commit messages (`#123`, `Closes #45`, GitLab `!67`, etc.) — fetch via the workflow in `docs/agents/issue-tracker.md`.
2. A path the user passed as an argument.
3. A spec file under `docs/`, `specs/`, or `.scratch/` matching the branch name or feature.
3. A PRD/spec file under `docs/`, `specs/`, or `.scratch/` matching the branch name or feature.
4. If nothing is found, ask the user where the spec is. If they say there isn't one, the **Spec** sub-agent will skip and report "no spec available".
### 3. Identify the standards sources
@@ -1,3 +0,0 @@
interface:
display_name: "Code Review"
short_description: "Review a diff on standards and spec"
@@ -1,3 +0,0 @@
interface:
display_name: "Codebase Design"
short_description: "Vocabulary for deep-module design"
@@ -1,3 +0,0 @@
interface:
display_name: "Diagnosing Bugs"
short_description: "Diagnose hard bugs and regressions"
@@ -1,3 +0,0 @@
interface:
display_name: "Domain Modeling"
short_description: "Build and sharpen a domain model"
@@ -1,5 +0,0 @@
interface:
display_name: "Grill with Docs"
short_description: "Grill a design and write its docs"
policy:
allow_implicit_invocation: false
@@ -1,5 +0,0 @@
interface:
display_name: "Implement"
short_description: "Build work from a spec or tickets"
policy:
allow_implicit_invocation: false
@@ -17,11 +17,6 @@ This command is _informed_ by the project's domain model and built on a shared d
### 1. Explore
**Scope before you scan — YAGNI.** Deepening a module pays off by making future changes to it easier, so put extra weight on the parts of the codebase that have recently changed. Decide *where* to look before you look:
- If the user named a direction — a module, a subsystem, a pain point — take it, and skip the inference below.
- Otherwise, walk back a good stretch of the commit history (`git log --oneline`) to find the codebase's hot spots — the files and areas that keep coming up — and let those paths pull your attention first. If the changes are scattered with no clear hot spot, widen the net.
Read the project's domain glossary (`CONTEXT.md`) and any ADRs in the area you're touching first.
Then use the Agent tool with `subagent_type=Explore` to walk the codebase. Don't follow rigid heuristics — explore organically and note where you experience friction:
@@ -61,7 +56,7 @@ Do NOT propose interfaces yet. After the file is written, ask the user: "Which o
### 3. Grilling loop
Once the user picks a candidate, run the `/grilling` skill to walk the decision tree with them — constraints, dependencies, the shape of the deepened module, what sits behind the seam, what tests survive.
Once the user picks a candidate, run the `/grilling` skill to walk the design tree with them — constraints, dependencies, the shape of the deepened module, what sits behind the seam, what tests survive.
Side effects happen inline as decisions crystallize — run the `/domain-modeling` skill to keep the domain model current as you go:
@@ -1,5 +0,0 @@
interface:
display_name: "Improve Codebase Architecture"
short_description: "Find and grill architecture improvements"
policy:
allow_implicit_invocation: false
+38 -26
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@@ -1,15 +1,13 @@
# Logic Prototype
A single, self-contained HTML file — a **shareable demo** that lets anyone drive a state model by clicking buttons. Use this when the question is about **business logic, state transitions, or data shape** — the kind of thing that looks reasonable on paper but only feels wrong once you push it through real cases.
Because it's one file with nothing to install, you can hand it to a non-developer — a designer, a PM, a domain expert — and let them feel the model for themselves. So it speaks their language, not the code's.
A tiny interactive terminal app that lets the user drive a state model by hand. Use this when the question is about **business logic, state transitions, or data shape** — the kind of thing that looks reasonable on paper but only feels wrong once you push it through real cases.
## When this is the right shape
- "I'm not sure if this state machine handles the edge case where X then Y."
- "Does this data model actually let me represent the case where..."
- "I want to feel out what the API should look like before writing it."
- Anything where someone wants to **press buttons and watch state change**.
- Anything where the user wants to **press buttons and watch state change**.
If the question is "what should this look like" — wrong branch. Use [UI.md](UI.md).
@@ -17,11 +15,17 @@ If the question is "what should this look like" — wrong branch. Use [UI.md](UI
### 1. State the question
Before writing code, write down what state model and what question you're prototyping. One paragraph, at the top of the demo (in a visible intro, not just a comment). A logic prototype that answers the wrong question is pure waste — make the question explicit so it can be checked later, whether the user is watching now or returning to it AFK.
Before writing code, write down what state model and what question you're prototyping. One paragraph, in the prototype's README or a comment at the top of the file. A logic prototype that answers the wrong question is pure waste — make the question explicit so it can be checked later, whether the user is watching now or returning to it AFK.
### 2. Isolate the logic in a portable module
### 2. Pick the language
Put the actual logic — the bit that's answering the question — in a single `<script>` block written as a small, pure module that could be lifted out and dropped into the real codebase later. The page around it is throwaway; this module isn't.
Use whatever the host project uses. If the project has no obvious runtime (e.g. a docs repo), ask.
Match the project's existing conventions for tooling — don't add a new package manager or runtime just for the prototype.
### 3. Isolate the logic in a portable module
Put the actual logic — the bit that's answering the question — behind a small, pure interface that could be lifted out and dropped into the real codebase later. The TUI around it is throwaway; the logic module shouldn't be.
The right shape depends on the question:
@@ -30,38 +34,46 @@ The right shape depends on the question:
- **A small set of pure functions** over a plain data type. Good when there's no implicit current state — just transformations.
- **A class or module with a clear method surface** when the logic genuinely owns ongoing internal state.
Pick whichever shape best fits the question being asked, *not* whichever is easiest to wire to a page. Keep it pure: no DOM, no `document`, no button handlers reaching inside it. The page calls into it; nothing flows the other direction. This is what makes the prototype useful past its own lifetime: once the question's answered, the validated reducer / machine / function set lifts into the real module on its own.
Pick whichever shape best fits the question being asked, *not* whichever is easiest to wire to a TUI. Keep it pure: no I/O, no terminal code, no `console.log` for control flow. The TUI imports it and calls into it; nothing flows the other direction.
### 3. Build the shareable HTML file
This is what makes the prototype useful past its own lifetime: when the question's been answered, the validated reducer / machine / function set can be lifted into the real module on its own.
One file, plain HTML/CSS/JS — no framework, no bundler, no server, everything inline so it opens by double-click and survives being emailed around. Anyone should be able to run it by opening it.
### 4. Build the smallest TUI that exposes the state
Write it for a non-developer. Every label is in **domain language**, not code — buttons and state read like the business, not the reducer. Explain in plain words what's happening.
Build it as a **lightweight TUI** — on every tick, clear the screen (`console.clear()` / `print("\033[2J\033[H")` / equivalent) and re-render the whole frame. The user should always see one stable view, not an ever-growing scrollback.
Lay it out with a clean hierarchy, top to bottom:
Each frame has two parts, in this order:
1. **Title and one-line explanation** of what this demo lets you explore (the question from step 1).
2. **Current state** — the full relevant state, rendered as a readable panel (labelled fields, not a raw JSON dump), re-rendered after every click so the change is visible. Where it helps a non-developer follow, call out what just changed.
3. **Free-play buttons** — one button per action, always available, so anyone can poke at the model in any order. Each click dispatches its action and re-renders the state.
4. **Guided walkthroughs** — a set of **scenarios**, one per tab. Each tab holds a short plain-language description of the scenario — the situation it sets up and what to watch for — and underneath it, the ordered **buttons to press** for that scenario. Each step is a real button: clicking it performs that action and moves to the next step. Starting a walkthrough resets to a known initial state so the scenario runs the same way every time.
1. **Current state**, pretty-printed and diff-friendly (one field per line, or formatted JSON). Use **bold** for field names or section headers and **dim** for less important context (timestamps, IDs, derived values). Native ANSI escape codes are fine — `\x1b[1m` bold, `\x1b[2m` dim, `\x1b[0m` reset. No need to pull in a styling library unless one is already in the project.
2. **Keyboard shortcuts**, listed at the bottom: `[a] add user [d] delete user [t] tick clock [q] quit`. Bold the key, dim the description, or vice-versa — whatever reads cleanly.
Choose scenarios that demonstrate the awkward cases — the happy path, a tricky edge case, an attempt at something that should be illegal — the ones hard to reason about on paper.
Behaviour:
Keep it beautiful but restrained: clean typography, generous spacing, one accent colour. No animations, no gimmicks — nothing that competes with the state and the buttons.
1. **Initialise state** — a single in-memory object/struct. Render the first frame on start.
2. **Read one keystroke (or one line)** at a time, dispatch to a handler that mutates state.
3. **Re-render** the full frame after every action — don't append, replace.
4. **Loop until quit.**
### 4. Hand it over
The whole frame should fit on one screen.
Send them the file, or open it for them. They'll click through the walkthroughs and free-play whenever they get to it; the interesting moments are when they say "wait, that shouldn't be possible" or "huh, I assumed X would be different" — those are the bugs in the _idea_, which is the whole point. If they want new actions or a new scenario, add them. Prototypes evolve.
### 5. Make it runnable in one command
### 5. Capture the answer and the prototype
Add a script to the project's existing task runner (`package.json` scripts, `Makefile`, `justfile`, `pyproject.toml`). The user should run `pnpm run <prototype-name>` or equivalent — never need to remember a path.
Once the prototype has answered its question, capture the answer, then capture the prototype the way the [SKILL](SKILL.md) describes. The logic-specific mapping: the validated reducer / machine / function set lifts into the real module (the decision, absorbed); the HTML shell rides along to the throwaway branch that keeps the prototype as a primary source — and being one self-contained file, it stays trivially re-runnable there.
If the host project has no task runner, just put the command at the top of the prototype's README.
### 6. Hand it over
Give the user the run command. They'll drive it themselves; the interesting moments are when they say "wait, that shouldn't be possible" or "huh, I assumed X would be different" — those are the bugs in the _idea_, which is the whole point. If they want new actions added, add them. Prototypes evolve.
### 7. Capture the answer and the prototype
Once the prototype has answered its question, capture the answer, then capture the prototype the way the [SKILL](SKILL.md) describes. The logic-specific mapping: the validated reducer / machine / function set lifts into the real module (the decision, absorbed); the TUI shell rides along to the throwaway branch that keeps the prototype as a primary source.
## Anti-patterns
- **Don't add tests.** A prototype that needs tests is no longer a prototype.
- **Don't wire it to the real database.** Use in-memory state unless the question is specifically about persistence.
- **Don't wire it to the real database.** Use an in-memory store unless the question is specifically about persistence.
- **Don't generalise.** No "what if we wanted to support X later." The prototype answers one question.
- **Don't blur the logic and the page together.** If the pure module references the DOM, `document`, or button handlers, it's no longer liftable. Keep the page as a thin shell over a pure module.
- **Don't reach for a framework, bundler, or server.** One file the recipient double-clicks; a React app or a dev server defeats "shareable".
- **Don't ship the HTML shell into production.** The page is optimised for being clicked through by hand. The logic module behind it is the bit worth keeping.
- **Don't blur the logic and the TUI together.** If the reducer / state machine references `console.log`, prompts, or terminal escape codes, it's no longer portable. Keep the TUI as a thin shell over a pure module.
- **Don't ship the TUI shell into production.** The shell is optimised for being driven by hand from a terminal. The logic module behind it is the bit worth keeping.
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@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ A prototype is **throwaway code that answers a question**. The question decides
Identify which question is being answered — from the user's prompt, the surrounding code, or by asking if the user is around:
- **"Does this logic / state model feel right?"** → [LOGIC.md](LOGIC.md). Build a single shareable HTML file — free-play buttons plus tabbed guided walkthroughs — that pushes the state machine through cases that are hard to reason about on paper, and that a non-developer can drive.
- **"Does this logic / state model feel right?"** → [LOGIC.md](LOGIC.md). Build a tiny interactive terminal app that pushes the state machine through cases that are hard to reason about on paper.
- **"What should this look like?"** → [UI.md](UI.md). Generate several radically different UI variations on a single route, switchable via a URL search param and a floating bottom bar.
The two branches produce very different artifacts — getting this wrong wastes the whole prototype. If the question is genuinely ambiguous and the user isn't reachable, default to whichever branch better matches the surrounding code (a backend module → logic; a page or component → UI) and state the assumption at the top of the prototype.
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ The two branches produce very different artifacts — getting this wrong wastes
## Rules that apply to both
1. **Throwaway from day one, and clearly marked as such.** Locate the prototype code close to where it will actually be used (next to the module or page it's prototyping for) so context is obvious — but name it so a casual reader can see it's a prototype, not production. For throwaway UI routes, obey whatever routing convention the project already uses; don't invent a new top-level structure.
2. **Trivial to run.** A UI prototype starts from one command in the project's task runner — `pnpm <name>`, `python <path>`, `bun <path>`, etc. A logic demo is a single HTML file the user double-clicks. Either way, no thinking required to start it.
2. **One command to run.** Whatever the project's existing task runner supports `pnpm <name>`, `python <path>`, `bun <path>`, etc. The user must be able to start it without thinking.
3. **No persistence by default.** State lives in memory. Persistence is the thing the prototype is _checking_, not something it should depend on. If the question explicitly involves a database, hit a scratch DB or a local file with a clear "PROTOTYPE — wipe me" name.
4. **Skip the polish.** No tests, no error handling beyond what makes the prototype _runnable_, no abstractions. The point is to learn something fast.
5. **Surface the state.** After every action (logic) or on every variant switch (UI), print or render the full relevant state so the user can see what changed.
@@ -1,3 +0,0 @@
interface:
display_name: "Prototype"
short_description: "Prototype to answer a design question"
@@ -1,3 +0,0 @@
interface:
display_name: "Research"
short_description: "Research from high-trust sources"
@@ -1,3 +0,0 @@
interface:
display_name: "Resolving Merge Conflicts"
short_description: "Resolve merge and rebase conflicts"
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ Lead each section with the recommended answer so the user can accept it in a wor
**Section A — Issue tracker.**
> Explainer: The "issue tracker" is where issues live for this repo. Skills like `to-tickets`, `triage`, and `to-spec` read from and write to it — they need to know whether to call `gh issue create`, write a markdown file under `.scratch/`, or follow some other workflow you describe. Pick the place you actually track work for this repo.
> Explainer: The "issue tracker" is where issues live for this repo. Skills like `to-tickets`, `triage`, `to-spec`, and `qa` read from and write to it — they need to know whether to call `gh issue create`, write a markdown file under `.scratch/`, or follow some other workflow you describe. Pick the place you actually track work for this repo.
Default posture: these skills were designed for GitHub. If a `git remote` points at GitHub, propose that. If a `git remote` points at GitLab (`gitlab.com` or a self-hosted host), propose GitLab. Otherwise (or if the user prefers), offer:
@@ -1,5 +0,0 @@
interface:
display_name: "Setup Matt Pocock Skills"
short_description: "Configure a repo for the skills"
policy:
allow_implicit_invocation: false
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
# Issue tracker: GitHub
Issues and specs for this repo live as GitHub issues. Use the `gh` CLI for all operations.
Issues and PRDs for this repo live as GitHub issues. Use the `gh` CLI for all operations.
## Conventions
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ Run `gh issue view <number> --comments`.
Used by `/wayfinder`. The **map** is a single issue with **child** issues as tickets.
- **Map**: a single issue labelled `wayfinder:map`, holding the Notes / Decisions-so-far / Fog body. `gh issue create --label wayfinder:map`.
- **Child ticket**: an issue linked to the map as a GitHub sub-issue (`gh api` on the sub-issues endpoint). Where sub-issues aren't enabled, add the child to a task list in the map body and put `Part of #<map>` at the top of the child body. Labels: `wayfinder:<type>` (`research`/`prototype`/`grilling`/`task`). Once claimed, the ticket is assigned to the driving dev.
- **Child ticket**: an issue linked to the map as a GitHub sub-issue (`gh api` on the sub-issues endpoint). Where sub-issues aren't enabled, add the child to a task list in the map body and put `Part of #<map>` at the top of the child body. Labels: `wayfinder:<type>` (`prototype`/`grilling`/`task`). Once claimed, the ticket is assigned to the driving dev.
- **Blocking**: GitHub's **native issue dependencies** — the canonical, UI-visible representation. Add an edge with `gh api --method POST repos/<owner>/<repo>/issues/<child>/dependencies/blocked_by -F issue_id=<blocker-db-id>`, where `<blocker-db-id>` is the blocker's numeric **database id** (`gh api repos/<owner>/<repo>/issues/<n> --jq .id`, _not_ the `#number` or `node_id`). GitHub reports `issue_dependencies_summary.blocked_by` (open blockers only — the live gate). Where dependencies aren't available, fall back to a `Blocked by: #<n>, #<n>` line at the top of the child body. A ticket is unblocked when every blocker is closed.
- **Frontier query**: list the map's open children (`gh issue list --state open`, scoped to the map's sub-issues / task list), drop any with an open blocker (`issue_dependencies_summary.blocked_by > 0`, or an open issue in the `Blocked by` line) or an assignee; first in map order wins.
- **Claim**: `gh issue edit <n> --add-assignee @me` — the session's first write.
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
# Issue tracker: GitLab
Issues and specs for this repo live as GitLab issues. Use the [`glab`](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/cli) CLI for all operations.
Issues and PRDs for this repo live as GitLab issues. Use the [`glab`](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/cli) CLI for all operations.
## Conventions
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ Run `glab issue view <number> --comments`.
Used by `/wayfinder`. The **map** is a single issue with **child** issues as tickets.
- **Map**: a single issue labelled `wayfinder:map`, holding the Notes / Decisions-so-far / Fog body. `glab issue create --label wayfinder:map`. (On GitLab tiers with native epics, an epic may hold the map instead; a labelled issue works everywhere.)
- **Child ticket**: an issue carrying `Part of #<map>` at the top of its description and labels `wayfinder:<type>` (`research`/`prototype`/`grilling`/`task`). Once claimed, the ticket is assigned to the driving dev.
- **Child ticket**: an issue carrying `Part of #<map>` at the top of its description and labels `wayfinder:<type>` (`prototype`/`grilling`/`task`). Once claimed, the ticket is assigned to the driving dev.
- **Blocking**: GitLab's **native blocking link** — the canonical, UI-visible representation. Add it with the `/blocked_by #<n>` quick action, posted as a note (`glab issue note <child> --message "/blocked_by #<blocker>"`). Native blocking links are a Premium/Ultimate feature; on the free tier (or where unavailable) fall back to a `Blocked by: #<n>, #<n>` line at the top of the description. A ticket is unblocked when every blocker is closed.
- **Frontier query**: `glab issue list -F json` scoped to the map's children, drop any with an open blocker — a native `blocked_by` link to an open issue (`glab api projects/:id/issues/:iid/links`), or an open issue in the `Blocked by` line — or an assignee; first in map order wins.
- **Claim**: `glab issue update <n> --assignee @me` — the session's first write.
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
# Issue tracker: Local Markdown
Issues and specs for this repo live as markdown files in `.scratch/`.
Issues and specs (you may know a spec as a PRD) for this repo live as markdown files in `.scratch/`.
## Conventions
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ Read the file at the referenced path. The user will normally pass the path or th
Used by `/wayfinder`. The **map** is a file with one **child** file per ticket.
- **Map**: `.scratch/<effort>/map.md` — the Notes / Decisions-so-far / Fog body.
- **Child ticket**: `.scratch/<effort>/issues/NN-<slug>.md`, numbered from `01`, with the question in the body. A `Type:` line records the ticket type (`research`/`prototype`/`grilling`/`task`); a `Status:` line records `claimed`/`resolved`.
- **Child ticket**: `.scratch/<effort>/issues/NN-<slug>.md`, numbered from `01`, with the question in the body. A `Type:` line records the ticket type (`prototype`/`grilling`/`task`); a `Status:` line records `claimed`/`resolved`.
- **Blocking**: a `Blocked by: NN, NN` line near the top. A ticket is unblocked when every file it lists is `resolved`.
- **Frontier**: scan `.scratch/<effort>/issues/` for files that are open, unblocked, and unclaimed; first by number wins.
- **Claim**: set `Status: claimed` and save before any work.
@@ -1,3 +0,0 @@
interface:
display_name: "TDD"
short_description: "Test-driven red-green-refactor"
+1 -1
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@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ description: Turn the current conversation into a spec and publish it to the pro
disable-model-invocation: true
---
This skill takes the current conversation context and codebase understanding and produces a spec. Do NOT interview the user — just synthesize what you already know.
This skill takes the current conversation context and codebase understanding and produces a spec (you may know this document as a PRD). Do NOT interview the user — just synthesize what you already know.
The issue tracker and triage label vocabulary should have been provided to you — run `/setup-matt-pocock-skills` if not.
@@ -1,5 +0,0 @@
interface:
display_name: "To Spec"
short_description: "Turn a conversation into a spec"
policy:
allow_implicit_invocation: false
+2
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@@ -103,3 +103,5 @@ The end-to-end behaviour this ticket makes work, from the user's perspective —
</issue-template>
In either form, avoid specific file paths or code snippets — they go stale fast. Exception: if a prototype produced a snippet that encodes a decision more precisely than prose can (state machine, reducer, schema, type shape), inline it and note briefly that it came from a prototype. Trim to the decision-rich parts — not a working demo, just the important bits.
Work the frontier one ticket at a time with `/implement`, clearing context between tickets.
@@ -1,5 +0,0 @@
interface:
display_name: "To Tickets"
short_description: "Split a plan into tracer-bullet tickets"
policy:
allow_implicit_invocation: false
+1 -1
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@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ Show counts and a one-line summary per item. Let the maintainer pick.
3. **Verify the claim.** Before any grilling, check that the claim holds up. For a bug, reproduce it from the reporter's steps. For a PR, confirm the diff does what it claims — check it out, run the relevant tests or commands. Report what happened: confirmed (with code path), failed, or insufficient detail (a strong `needs-info` signal). A confirmed verification makes a much stronger agent brief.
4. **Grill (if needed).** If the request needs fleshing out, run the `/grilling` and `/domain-modeling` skills together — grill it into shape a round of questions at a time, sharpening domain terms and updating `CONTEXT.md`/ADRs inline as decisions land.
4. **Grill (if needed).** If the request needs fleshing out, run the `/grilling` and `/domain-modeling` skills together — grill it into shape one question at a time, sharpening domain terms and updating `CONTEXT.md`/ADRs inline as decisions land.
5. **Apply the outcome:**
- `ready-for-agent` — post an agent brief comment ([AGENT-BRIEF.md](AGENT-BRIEF.md)).
@@ -1,5 +0,0 @@
interface:
display_name: "Triage"
short_description: "Move issues through triage roles"
policy:
allow_implicit_invocation: false
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@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
---
name: wayfinder
description: Plan a huge chunk of work — more than one agent session can hold — as a shared map of decision tickets on your issue tracker, and resolve them one at a time until the way to the destination is clear.
description: Plan a huge chunk of work — more than one agent session can hold — as a shared map of investigation tickets on your issue tracker, and resolve them one at a time until the way to the destination is clear.
disable-model-invocation: true
---
A loose idea has arrived — too big for one agent session, and wrapped in fog: the way from here to the **destination** isn't visible yet. Wayfinding is about finding that way, not charging at the destination. This skill charts the way as a **shared map** on the repo's issue tracker, then works its **decision tickets** — questions whose resolution is a decision, not slices of a build to execute — one at a time until the route is clear.
A loose idea has arrived — too big for one agent session, and wrapped in fog: the way from here to the **destination** isn't visible yet. Wayfinding is about finding that way, not charging at the destination. This skill charts the way as a **shared map** on the repo's issue tracker, then works its tickets one at a time until the route is clear.
The destination varies per effort, and naming it is the first act of charting — it shapes every ticket. It might be a spec to hand off and iterate on, a decision to lock before planning starts, or a change made in place like a data-structure migration. The map is domain-agnostic — engineering work, course content, whatever fits the shape.
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ Wayfinder is **planning** by default: each ticket resolves a decision, and the m
## Refer by name
Every map and ticket is an issue, so it has a **name** — its title. In everything the human reads — narration, the map's Decisions-so-far — refer to it by that name, never by a bare id, number, or slug. A wall of `#42, #43, #44` is illegible; names read at a glance. The id and URL don't vanish — a name wraps its link — but they ride _inside_ the name, never stand in for it.
Every map and ticket is an issue, so it has a **name** — its title. In everything the human reads — narration, the map's Decisions-so-far — refer to it by that name, never by a bare id, number, or slug. A wall of `#42, #43, #44` is illegible; names read at a glance. The id and URL don't vanish — a name wraps its link — but they ride *inside* the name, never stand in for it.
## The Map
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ Each ticket is a **child issue** of the map; the tracker's issue id is its ident
<the decision or investigation this ticket resolves>
```
Each ticket carries a `wayfinder:<type>` label — one of `research`, `prototype`, `grilling`, `task` (see [Ticket Types](#ticket-types)).
Each ticket carries a `wayfinder:<type>` label — one of `prototype`, `grilling`, `task` (see [Ticket Types](#ticket-types)). Research is deliberately _not_ a ticket type: it's AFK fuel a session runs inline, never a stop on the route (see [Research runs inline, not as a ticket](#research-runs-inline-not-as-a-ticket)).
A session **claims** a ticket by assigning it to the dev driving the map, **first**, before any work, so concurrent sessions skip it. That assignee _is_ the claim: an open, unassigned ticket is unclaimed.
@@ -72,12 +72,23 @@ The answer isn't part of the body — it's recorded on resolution (see [Work thr
## Ticket Types
Every ticket is either **HITL** human in the loop, worked _with_ a human who speaks for themselves or **AFK**, driven by the agent alone. A HITL ticket only resolves through that live exchange; the agent never stands in for the human's side of it (a grilling agent that answers its own questions has broken this).
A ticket exists because someone has to sit with it — so every ticket is either **HITL** (human in the loop, worked *with* a human who speaks for themselves) or a **task** the agent must drive by hand. A HITL ticket only resolves through that live exchange; the agent never stands in for the human's side of it (a grilling agent that answers its own questions has broken this).
- **Research** (AFK): Reading documentation, third-party APIs, or local resources like knowledge bases to surface a fact a decision waits on. Resolved by a `/research` **subagent**. Use when knowledge outside the current working directory is required.
- **Prototype** (HITL): Raise the fidelity of the discussion by making a cheap, rough, concrete artifact to react to — an outline, a rough take, a stub, or UI/logic code via the /prototype skill. Links the prototype as an asset. Use when "how should it look" or "how should it behave" is the key question.
- **Grilling** (HITL): Conversation. The default case. Always invoke the /grilling and /domain-modeling skills.
- **Task** (HITL or AFK): Manual work that must happen before a _decision_ can be made — nothing to decide, prototype, or research, but the discussion is blocked until it's done. Signing up for a service so its API can be judged, provisioning access, moving data so its shape can be seen. This is the one type that _does_ rather than decides — and it earns its place by unblocking a decision, not by delivering the destination. The agent drives it alone where it can (AFK); otherwise it hands the human a precise checklist (HITL). Resolved when the work is done; the answer records what was done and any resulting facts (credentials location, new URLs, row counts) later tickets depend on.
- **Grilling** (HITL): Conversation via the /grilling and /domain-modeling skills, one question at a time. The default case.
- **Task** (HITL or AFK): Manual work that must happen before a *decision* can be made — nothing to decide, prototype, or research, but the discussion is blocked until it's done. Signing up for a service so its API can be judged, provisioning access, moving data so its shape can be seen. This is the one type that *does* rather than decides — and it earns its place by unblocking a decision, not by delivering the destination. The agent drives it alone where it can (AFK); otherwise it hands the human a precise checklist (HITL). Resolved when the work is done; the answer records what was done and any resulting facts (credentials location, new URLs, row counts) later tickets depend on.
## Research runs inline, not as a ticket
Research — reading docs, third-party APIs, source, or local knowledge bases to gather facts — is **fully AFK**: no human gates it, and it produces a *fact*, not a decision. That combination is exactly why it must **not** be its own ticket. A ticket earns its place as a session boundary: a self-contained unit some *later* session claims and works. Research needs no such boundary — any session, charting or resolving, can spin up a research **subagent** (`/research`) the moment it hits a knowledge gap, keep working while it reads, and fold the findings straight into the decision it's making. Parking research as a ticket only forces a second session to open it, do the AFK read, and close it — a session boundary bought for nothing.
So there is no research ticket and no research assignee. When a decision needs external knowledge:
1. **Launch a research subagent inline** via `/research`, scoped to the specific question. Charting can do this to sharpen the destination or the frontier; resolving can do it to answer the ticket in hand.
2. **Capture the findings as a primary source**, the way `/prototype` captures a prototype: commit the research Markdown to a **throwaway branch** out of main (`research/<name>`), so main stays clean but the reading stays findable.
3. **Leave a context pointer** to that branch — on the ticket whose decision the research informs, or, if it informs the whole effort rather than one ticket, in the map's **Notes**. The pointer is a link, never a paste; the map stays an index.
A blocked ticket that used to wait on a "research ticket" now simply carries, in its own body, the note that resolving it starts with a research subagent — the read happens inside that ticket's session, not as a prerequisite ticket before it.
## Fog of war
@@ -102,18 +113,17 @@ Ruling something out of scope is a scoping act, not a step on the route. When a
## Invocation
Two modes. Either way, **never resolve more than one ticket per session** — with the exception of research tickets.
Two modes. Either way, **never resolve more than one ticket per session.**
### Chart the map
User invokes with a loose idea.
1. **Name the destination.** Run a `/grilling` and `/domain-modeling` session to pin down what this map is finding its way to — the spec, decision, or change. The destination fixes the scope, so it's settled first.
2. **Map the frontier.** Grill again, **breadth-first** this time: fan out across the whole space rather than deep on any one thread, surfacing the open decisions and the first steps takeable now. **If this surfaces no fog** — the way to the destination is already clear, the whole journey small enough for one session — you don't need a map. Stop and ask the user how they'd like to proceed.
2. **Map the frontier.** Grill again, **breadth-first** this time: fan out across the whole space rather than deep on any one thread, surfacing the open decisions and the first steps takeable now. Where a gap is a knowledge gap, resolve it with an inline `/research` subagent rather than charting a ticket for it (see [Research runs inline, not as a ticket](#research-runs-inline-not-as-a-ticket)). **If this surfaces no fog** — the way to the destination is already clear, the whole journey small enough for one session — you don't need a map. Stop and ask the user how they'd like to proceed.
3. **Create the map** (label `wayfinder:map`): Destination and Notes filled in, Decisions-so-far empty, the fog sketched into **Not yet specified**.
4. **Create the tickets you can specify now** as child issues of the map — then wire blocking edges in a **second pass** (issues need ids before they can reference each other). Wiring sorts them into the frontier and the blocked; everything you can't yet specify stays in the fog — the **Not yet specified** section.
5. **Fire the research subagents.** For each `research` ticket you just created, spin up a `/research` subagent to resolve it in parallel, capturing its findings on a throwaway `research/<name>` branch with a context pointer from the ticket.
6. Stop — charting is one session's work; it hand-resolves nothing.
5. Stop — charting the map is one session's work; do not also resolve tickets.
### Work through the map
@@ -121,7 +131,7 @@ User invokes with a map (URL or number). A ticket is **optional** — without on
1. Load the **map** — the low-res view, not every ticket body.
2. Choose the ticket. If the user named one, use it. Otherwise take the first frontier ticket in order. **Claim it**: assign it to yourself before any work.
3. Resolve it — **zoom as needed**: fetch the full body of any related or closed ticket on demand; invoke the skills the `## Notes` block names. If in doubt, use `/grilling` and `/domain-modeling`.
3. Resolve it — **zoom as needed**: fetch the full body of any related or closed ticket on demand; invoke the skills the `## Notes` block names. If the ticket needs external knowledge, spin up a `/research` subagent inline and fold its findings in (see [Research runs inline, not as a ticket](#research-runs-inline-not-as-a-ticket)) — don't hand the reading off to a separate session. If in doubt, use `/grilling` and `/domain-modeling`.
4. Record the resolution: post the answer as a **resolution comment**, **close** the issue, and **append a context pointer** to the map's Decisions-so-far.
5. Add newly-surfaced tickets (create-then-wire); graduate any fog the answer has made specifiable, clearing each graduated patch from **Not yet specified** so it lives only as its new ticket. If the answer reveals a ticket — this one or another — sits beyond the destination, **rule it out of scope** rather than resolving it on the route. If the decision invalidates other parts of the map, update or delete those tickets.
@@ -1,5 +0,0 @@
interface:
display_name: "Wayfinder"
short_description: "Map a large effort as decision tickets"
policy:
allow_implicit_invocation: false
@@ -1,5 +0,0 @@
interface:
display_name: "Wizard"
short_description: "Generate an interactive setup wizard"
policy:
allow_implicit_invocation: false
+2 -7
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@@ -1,14 +1,9 @@
# In Progress
Beta. These skills are public on purpose — try them and tell me what breaks. They're excluded from the plugin and the top-level README until they graduate to a stable bucket, they get no docs pages, and they can change or disappear without warning.
The plugin won't give you these. Install one directly:
```bash
npx skills@latest add mattpocock/skills --skill=<name>
```
Skills that are still being developed. They're not ready to ship — expect rough edges, breaking changes, and abandoned experiments. They're excluded from the plugin and the top-level README until they graduate to a stable bucket.
- **[loop-me](./loop-me/SKILL.md)** — Grill yourself into implementable workflow specs over multiple sessions, using the current directory as a stateful workspace. User-invoked.
- **[wizard](./wizard/SKILL.md)** — Generate an interactive bash wizard that walks a human through a manual procedure (setup, a one-off migration, a state transition) — opening URLs, capturing values, writing `.env` and GitHub Actions secrets. User-invoked.
- **[writing-beats](./writing-beats/SKILL.md)** — Shape an article as a journey of beats, choose-your-own-adventure style. Pick a starting beat, write only that beat, then pivot to the next, until the article reaches a natural end.
- **[writing-fragments](./writing-fragments/SKILL.md)** — Grilling session that mines you for fragments — heterogeneous nuggets of writing — and appends them to a single document as raw material for a future article.
- **[writing-shape](./writing-shape/SKILL.md)** — Take a markdown file of raw material and shape it into an article paragraph by paragraph, arguing format choices at each step.
+1 -1
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@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ Always pass `-n`/`--name` with a descriptive name (e.g. `--name "Fix login bug"`
Include a "suggested skills" section in the summary, which suggests skills that the agent should invoke.
Do not duplicate content already captured in other artifacts (specs, plans, ADRs, issues, commits, diffs). Reference them by path or URL instead.
Do not duplicate content already captured in other artifacts (PRDs, plans, ADRs, issues, commits, diffs). Reference them by path or URL instead.
Redact any sensitive information, such as API keys, passwords, or personally identifiable information — the summary becomes the agent's prompt.

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