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Author SHA1 Message Date
Matt PocockandClaude Opus 5 71eb50346f docs: remove the source link from every skills page
Every docs page opened with a [Source](github.com/...) link, and
.agents/writing-docs.md told agents to add one to each new page.
Remove the line from all 25 pages, rewrite the one inline use in
ask-matt.md, and drop the rule from the page template, the fixed
frame list, and the "Done when" list so the links do not come back.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-08-05 11:37:40 +01:00
Matt Pocock 6b46e5c474 Merge pull request #755 from mattpocock/docs-grill-me-pass-v2
docs: rewrite the grill-me page around what people get wrong
2026-08-05 11:33:17 +01:00
Matt Pocock f4dd5e4976 docs: reframe grill-me as a portable standalone, not a chain step
The page described grill-me as operating on an existing plan and sitting
at the front of the build chain. Both are wrong. It takes a loose idea,
not a plan, and it is a productivity skill rather than an engineering
one: stateless, so it needs no repo and does not assume the subject is
software at all.

Routing now keys on portability rather than on whether a codebase
exists, and Where it fits names it a standalone that runs anywhere on
anything. Handing off to to-spec is presented as an option for when the
idea turns out to be software, not as the purpose of the skill.
2026-08-05 11:31:18 +01:00
Matt Pocock a3065f1b7b docs: rewrite the grill-me page around what people get wrong
The old page explained the mechanism and stopped. It answered none of
the questions people actually ask: which grilling skill to reach for,
how many questions is normal, what to do with a question talking can't
settle, whether to clear context before to-spec.

Keep the mechanism short and spend the page on judgement instead:
three-way sibling routing keyed on what you have in front of you; a
section naming passivity as the main failure mode; grillable vs
ungrillable as the move for questions that need a prototype; an
"It's working if" list; and a "Common questions" section answering the
six highest-volume ones. Say plainly to leave plan mode off.

Sourced from user questions across X, Discord and YouTube.
2026-08-05 11:24:09 +01:00
Matt Pocock 3314257466 docs: drop the Quickstart block from all 25 pages
aihero.dev renders an install widget above every skill page. Each page
then repeated the same commands in its body, and the two copies had
drifted: the widget uses the current `npx skills@latest ...` wording
while the hand-written blocks mostly carried the older bare `npx skills
...`. Pages showed the right command and a stale one together.

Delete the block from all 25 pages and record the rule in
.agents/writing-docs.md: install wording belongs to the site, not the
page. The template no longer carries a Quickstart, and
.agents/install-block.md notes that docs pages are not one of its
consumers.
2026-08-05 11:22:19 +01:00
Matt Pocock c64fa7ecf6 Merge pull request #751 from mattpocock/worktree-t9-talk-normal
feat: add wait-what, the verbosity fire extinguisher
2026-08-05 11:16:10 +01:00
Matt Pocock 248fd6935b Merge pull request #752 from mattpocock/worktree-t7-remove-cruft
chore: remove six unused skills and the personal bucket
2026-08-05 11:15:08 +01:00
Matt PocockandClaude Opus 5 c66bdeeee0 chore: remove six unused skills and the personal bucket
Delete the four skills in deprecated/ — design-an-interface, qa,
request-refactor-plan, ubiquitous-language — each already absorbed by a
promoted skill. The bucket itself stays, now empty: a retired skill is
deleted, and the changeset that removes it names its replacement.

Delete edit-article and obsidian-vault along with the personal/ bucket.
obsidian-vault hardcoded a path to Matt's own vault and was
model-invocable, so any skills.sh user could have had it fire on them.

None of the six was in the plugin, but skills.sh serves every SKILL.md in
the repo, so all six were installable — hence the changeset.

Reframe in-progress/ from scratchpad to beta channel: public on purpose,
feedback wanted, not in the plugin, and installable one skill at a time
through skills.sh. Nothing there is deleted or graduated.

Drop qa from the two live docs that cited it as an issue-tracker skill.
ADR 0002 is left untouched — it records reasoning that was true when
decided.

Resolves mattpocock/personal-wiki#256

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-08-05 11:07:56 +01:00
48 changed files with 132 additions and 829 deletions
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@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ Pick the skills you want, and which coding agents to install them on. **The inst
</canonical-block> </canonical-block>
…and the single-skill form on a `docs/` page, where the page already names one skill: …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"> <canonical-block name="skills-sh-one-skill">
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ npx skills@latest update <name>
</canonical-block> </canonical-block>
`skills@latest` is the pinned spelling in all three. The Quickstart template in [writing-docs.md](./writing-docs.md), and the 24 pages under `docs/`, still carry the older bare `npx skills …`; the docs pass brings them into line. `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 two routes are exclusive
+5 -17
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@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
# Writing docs pages # 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/`, `personal/`, `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/`, `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. 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/`, `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. 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.
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. 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.
@@ -12,24 +12,12 @@ There is no H1 — the published page takes its title from the slug.
## Page structure ## Page structure
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. 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.
Install commands are not written per page. Copy them verbatim from [the canonical install block](./install-block.md) — it is the single source for how anyone installs these skills, and a page that words it differently is a page that tells a second story. The Quickstart block in the template below is the older wording and does not yet match; the docs pass replaces it from the canonical block. **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).
<page-template> <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 ## 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. 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.
@@ -74,7 +62,7 @@ Always present. Situate the skill in the system in a sentence or two:
## Done when ## Done when
- The page exists at `docs/<bucket>/<name>.md`, and no stale page survives a rename or bucket move. - The page exists at `docs/<bucket>/<name>.md`, and no stale page survives a rename or bucket move.
- The Quickstart block and source link name the correct bucket and skill; the update line names the skill. - The page carries no source link and writes no install command of its own.
- `## What it does` states the defining constraint, as plain prose rather than a labelled aside. - `## 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. - `## When to reach for it` states invocation mode and the trigger boundary.
- `## Where it fits` names the role and links to `ask-matt`. - `## Where it fits` names the role and links to `ask-matt`.
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@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
---
"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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@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
---
"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.
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
---
"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.
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@@ -3,19 +3,18 @@ Skills are organized into bucket folders under `skills/`:
- `engineering/` — daily code work - `engineering/` — daily code work
- `productivity/` — daily non-code workflow tools - `productivity/` — daily non-code workflow tools
- `misc/` — kept around but rarely used, not promoted - `misc/` — kept around but rarely used, not promoted
- `personal/` — tied to my own setup, not promoted - `in-progress/` — beta: public on purpose, feedback wanted, not shipped in the plugin
- `in-progress/` — drafts not yet ready to ship
- `deprecated/` — no longer used - `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/`, `personal/`, `in-progress/`, and `deprecated/` must not appear in either. 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). 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).
Each skill entry in the top-level `README.md` must link the skill name to its `SKILL.md`. 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/`, `personal/`) 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/`, `in-progress/`) 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/`, `personal/`, `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/`, `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` 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).
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@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ A collection of agent skills (slash commands and behaviors) loaded by Claude Cod
## Language ## Language
**Issue tracker**: **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`, `triage`, and `qa` 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`, and `triage` read from and write to it.
_Avoid_: backlog manager, backlog backend, issue host _Avoid_: backlog manager, backlog backend, issue host
**Issue**: **Issue**:
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@@ -1,15 +1,3 @@
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 ## 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. `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.
@@ -32,4 +20,4 @@ The other idea it hands you is the **phase boundary**. A **phase** is a chunk of
## Where it fits ## 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, its [Source](https://github.com/mattpocock/skills/tree/main/skills/engineering/ask-matt) 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, the skill itself is the map of record.
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@@ -1,15 +1,3 @@
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 ## 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. `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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@@ -1,15 +1,3 @@
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 ## 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. `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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@@ -1,15 +1,3 @@
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 ## 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. `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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@@ -1,15 +1,3 @@
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 ## 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. `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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@@ -1,15 +1,3 @@
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 ## 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, 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.
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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 ## 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. `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.
@@ -1,15 +1,3 @@
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 ## 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. `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.
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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 ## 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. `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.
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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 ## 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. `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.
@@ -1,15 +1,3 @@
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 ## 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. `resolving-merge-conflicts` works through an in-progress git merge or rebase conflict, hunk by hunk, and finishes the operation — resolved, checked, and committed.
@@ -1,15 +1,3 @@
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 ## 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. `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 ## 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. `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 ## 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, then publishes it to your issue tracker.
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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 ## 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. `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 ## 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. `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.
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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 ## 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 **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.
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Quickstart:
```bash
npx skills add mattpocock/skills --skill=wizard
```
```bash
npx skills update wizard
```
[Source](https://github.com/mattpocock/skills/tree/main/skills/engineering/wizard)
## What it does ## 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. `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.
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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 ## What it does
`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**. `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.
It asks in **rounds** and waits. A round is the whole **frontier** — every decision whose prerequisites are already settled — put to you as one numbered list, so you're never asked something that hinges on an answer the agent hasn't heard yet. 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. 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.
## When to reach for it ## When to reach for it
You invoke this by typing `/grill-me` — the agent won't reach for it on its own. 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.
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. 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.
## The decision tree Which of the three grilling skills you want depends on what is in front of you:
The session walks the plan as a tree of decisions, settling a parent decision before the choices that hang off it. Your answers reshape the tree and push the frontier outward, so the next round asks whatever they unblocked. 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. - **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.
`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. 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.
## Where it fits ## Where it fits
`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. `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.
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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 ## 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 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.
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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 ## 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. `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 ## 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. `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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Quickstart:
```bash
npx skills add mattpocock/skills --skill=to-questionnaire
```
```bash
npx skills update to-questionnaire
```
[Source](https://github.com/mattpocock/skills/tree/main/skills/productivity/to-questionnaire)
## What it does ## 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. `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.
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Quickstart:
```bash
npx skills@latest add mattpocock/skills --skill=wait-what
```
```bash
npx skills@latest update wait-what
```
[Source](https://github.com/mattpocock/skills/tree/main/skills/productivity/wait-what)
## What it does ## What it does
`wait-what` is the fire extinguisher for a message that didn't land. You fire it the moment you lose the thread, and the agent re-pitches what it just said: a little of the context you were missing, plain English, and the vocabulary from your project's `CONTEXT.md`. `wait-what` is the fire extinguisher for a message that didn't land. You fire it the moment you lose the thread, and the agent re-pitches what it just said: a little of the context you were missing, plain English, and the vocabulary from your project's `CONTEXT.md`.
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Quickstart:
```bash
npx skills add mattpocock/skills --skill=writing-for-agents
```
```bash
npx skills update writing-for-agents
```
[Source](https://github.com/mattpocock/skills/tree/main/skills/productivity/writing-for-agents)
## What it does ## What it does
`writing-for-agents` is the reference you write agent-facing documents against — skills, `AGENTS.md` / `CLAUDE.md`, and any doc an agent reaches by a pointer. 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. `writing-for-agents` is the reference you write agent-facing documents against — skills, `AGENTS.md` / `CLAUDE.md`, and any doc an agent reaches by a pointer. 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.
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# Deprecated # Deprecated
Skills I no longer use. 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.
- **[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.
@@ -1,94 +0,0 @@
---
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
@@ -1,3 +0,0 @@
interface:
display_name: "Design an Interface"
short_description: "Explore alternative module interfaces"
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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.
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interface:
display_name: "QA"
short_description: "Conversational QA that files issues"
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---
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>
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interface:
display_name: "Request Refactor Plan"
short_description: "Plan a safe incremental refactor"
@@ -1,93 +0,0 @@
---
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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interface:
display_name: "Ubiquitous Language"
short_description: "Build a shared domain glossary"
policy:
allow_implicit_invocation: false
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ Lead each section with the recommended answer so the user can accept it in a wor
**Section A — Issue tracker.** **Section A — Issue tracker.**
> 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. > 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.
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: 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:
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# In Progress # In Progress
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. 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>
```
- **[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. - **[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.
- **[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-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.
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# Personal
Skills tied to my own setup, not promoted in the plugin.
- **[edit-article](./edit-article/SKILL.md)** — Edit and improve articles by restructuring sections, improving clarity, and tightening prose.
- **[obsidian-vault](./obsidian-vault/SKILL.md)** — Search, create, and manage notes in an Obsidian vault with wikilinks and index notes.
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---
name: edit-article
description: Edit and improve articles by restructuring sections, improving clarity, and tightening prose. Use when user wants to edit, revise, or improve an article draft.
disable-model-invocation: true
---
1. First, divide the article into sections based on its headings. Think about the main points you want to make during those sections.
Consider that information is a directed acyclic graph, and that pieces of information can depend on other pieces of information. Make sure that the order of the sections and their contents respects these dependencies.
Confirm the sections with the user.
2. For each section:
2a. Rewrite the section to improve clarity, coherence, and flow. Use maximum 240 characters per paragraph.
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interface:
display_name: "Edit Article"
short_description: "Restructure and tighten a draft"
policy:
allow_implicit_invocation: false
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---
name: obsidian-vault
description: Search, create, and manage notes in the Obsidian vault with wikilinks and index notes. Use when user wants to find, create, or organize notes in Obsidian.
---
# Obsidian Vault
## Vault location
`/mnt/d/Obsidian Vault/AI Research/`
Mostly flat at root level.
## Naming conventions
- **Index notes**: aggregate related topics (e.g., `Ralph Wiggum Index.md`, `Skills Index.md`, `RAG Index.md`)
- **Title case** for all note names
- No folders for organization - use links and index notes instead
## Linking
- Use Obsidian `[[wikilinks]]` syntax: `[[Note Title]]`
- Notes link to dependencies/related notes at the bottom
- Index notes are just lists of `[[wikilinks]]`
## Workflows
### Search for notes
```bash
# Search by filename
find "/mnt/d/Obsidian Vault/AI Research/" -name "*.md" | grep -i "keyword"
# Search by content
grep -rl "keyword" "/mnt/d/Obsidian Vault/AI Research/" --include="*.md"
```
Or use Grep/Glob tools directly on the vault path.
### Create a new note
1. Use **Title Case** for filename
2. Write content as a unit of learning (per vault rules)
3. Add `[[wikilinks]]` to related notes at the bottom
4. If part of a numbered sequence, use the hierarchical numbering scheme
### Find related notes
Search for `[[Note Title]]` across the vault to find backlinks:
```bash
grep -rl "\\[\\[Note Title\\]\\]" "/mnt/d/Obsidian Vault/AI Research/"
```
### Find index notes
```bash
find "/mnt/d/Obsidian Vault/AI Research/" -name "*Index*"
```
@@ -1,3 +0,0 @@
interface:
display_name: "Obsidian Vault"
short_description: "Manage linked notes in Obsidian"