ask-user
Conventions for asking the user questions during a workflow via the AskUserQuestion tool. Other skills reference this to keep prompts consistent and structured.
brainstorming
Interactive exploration of ideas through Socratic Q&A. Produces progressive documents that serve as lightweight pre-PRDs feeding into research.
code-reviewing
Two-axis code review of a diff — Standards (is the code well built?) and Spec (does it actually solve the stated problem?) — run as parallel sub-agents and reported separately, never merged. Use when reviewing implementation output (a phase, a wave, a branch, a PR), when the user says "review the code", "review the diff", "review this phase", or when another desplega skill (implementing, v-implementing, verifying, delegate-work) calls for a per-phase or final code review. For reviewing DOCUMENTS (plans, research, brainstorms), use desplega:reviewing instead.
comms
Re-express something so it lands — re-explain your last reply in plain casual language, show the current topic visually (diagram, code-shape sketch, HTML artifact), do both at once, or rewrite artifact text into unambiguous ASD-STE100 English. Use when the user runs /desplega:comms, types /bro, says 'say it simpler', 'bro what', 'I don't follow', 'show me', 'draw this', 'visualize', 'disambiguate this', or 'STE100 rewrite'. Not for creative or marketing copy.
delegate-work
Executor routing policy for ALL delegated work — pick the right model for every sub-agent and the right Codex variant for every implementation slice. Use whenever you are about to spawn a sub-agent/Task (research, review, QA, UI, search), whenever a desplega skill (implement-plan, v-implement, run-phase, run-step, research) is choosing executors for phases/steps, or when the user says "implement with codex", "delegate this", "which model should do this", or similar. Supersedes codex-implement (its worktree/exec mechanics live here).
design-docs
Create and maintain living per-system design docs at thoughts/*/design-docs/<system-slug>.md — Purpose, Glossary, numbered testable Invariants (normative for the code-reviewing Spec axis), Boundaries & Non-goals, Interfaces, Decision log, Amendment log. Use when the user says "create a design doc", "write down the invariants", "document the design/contract of X", or when researching/planning/one-shot finds a design doc for the touched system and needs the read-and-abide rules.
engineering-standards
Code-shape policy for ALL code that gets written or reviewed — the senior-engineer bar for minimal complexity. Use whenever you are about to write code, design a module or abstraction, draft a plan phase that shapes code, or review a diff; also when the user asks "is this over-engineered", "can this be simpler", or pushes back on complexity. Sibling of desplega:delegate-work (which picks WHO executes; this skill defines WHAT good output looks like).
implementing
Plan implementation skill. Executes approved technical plans phase by phase with verification checkpoints.
improve-agents-md
Improve (or bootstrap) an AGENTS.md / CLAUDE.md file using `<important if>` conditional blocks so the agent actually attends to the right guidance at the right time. Use this skill whenever the user mentions AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md, agent instructions, project rules for AI, "my claude config", onboarding docs for agents, or asks to tighten / shorten / audit / rewrite an existing one — even if they don't explicitly say the filename. Also use when the user complains that an agent keeps ignoring their project rules.
learning
Compounding knowledge across projects and teams. Captures, searches, and promotes institutional learnings via tiered backends (local/qmd/agent-fs).
one-shot
Small-scope plan+implement in one session. Assess the prompt, optionally one bundled round of questions, maintain a lightweight yolo plan while implementing, verify, quick code review, commit. Use when the user invokes /one-shot, or asks to "just build/fix/add" something small without the full create-plan → implement-plan pipeline. Small means ≤ ~3 phases inside one subsystem — anything bigger escalates to /desplega:create-plan.
phase-running
Execute individual plan phases as background sub-agents for context-efficient implementation.
planning
Implementation planning skill. Creates detailed technical plans through interactive research and iteration.
qa
Functional validation skill. Captures test evidence (screenshots, recordings, links) and produces QA reports in thoughts/*/qa/.
questioning
One-shot question answering using the research process. Answers inline without generating documents, then offers handoff to brainstorm or research.
researching
Comprehensive codebase research skill. Documents codebase as-is by spawning parallel sub-agents and synthesizing findings into research documents.
reviewing
Structured critique of research, plan, and brainstorm documents for completeness, gaps, and quality.
script-builder
Generate durable, re-runnable scripts from session intent — validation scripts (PASS/FAIL contract) AND gather/bulk scripts (many API/tool calls in code, one derived summary out). Supports TypeScript, Python, Bash with auto-detection, enforces context-optimal output, and auto-documents scripts in CLAUDE.md. Triggers on "turn this into a script", "I want to test/validate X end-to-end", "wrap this in a re-runnable script" — and, critically, whenever you are about to make (or just made) ~10+ similar tool/API calls or any bulk fan-out over a list: that mechanical middle belongs in a script, not in context.
step-running
Execute a single DAG step as an autonomous background sub-agent. Sibling of phase-running for DAG plans produced by v-planning. Reads a step-<n>.md file directly, atomically claims it via frontmatter status, runs the three-bucket Success Criteria, and reports back. Spawned by v-implementing or by /run-step.
tackle-gh-comments
Work through every review comment on a GitHub PR — fetch the threads, verify each claim against the code, fix what is real, then reply and mark each thread resolved before pushing. Use when the user says "tackle the PR comments", "address the review", "handle the bot comments", "check the comments on the PR", "resolve the review threads", or invokes /tackle-gh-comments. Project-agnostic; works in any repo with a GitHub remote.
tdd-planning
TDD-focused implementation planning. Creates plans with strict Red-Green-Commit/Rollback cycles for each step.
v-implementing
Parallel DAG-plan implementation skill. Reads a v-planning plan directory (root.md + step-<n>.md files), topologically schedules ready steps, and fans them out as parallel sub-agents. Use whenever the user invokes /v-implement, points at a plan directory produced by /v-plan, or asks to "run the parallel plan", "implement the DAG", or "fan out the steps" — even without those exact words. For linear plans (single .md file), use `implementing` instead.
v-planning
Vertical / parallel implementation planning skill. Creates DAG-structured plan directories where each step is an independent, QA-able vertical slice that sub-agents can pick up and implement in parallel. Use whenever the user wants a plan that fans out (multiple independent features), invokes /v-plan, or asks for a "parallel plan", "DAG plan", "vertical plan", or "plan that can be parallelized" — even if they don't say those exact words. Prefer the linear `planning` skill for strictly sequential work.
verifying
Post-implementation plan verification. Cross-references plans against actual changes for completeness and accuracy.
brain-expert
Personal knowledge management expert for the brain CLI. Use when users want to capture notes, search their knowledge base, or manage their second brain.
file-review
File review tool \u2014 launch GUI, process comments, or install. Use when user mentions file-review, reviewing files, leaving comments, or processing review comments.
file-review-install
Install the file-review tool. Use when user needs to install file-review on a new machine or asks how to set it up.
process-review
Process review comments in a file after user finishes reviewing in file-review GUI. Extracts HTML comment markers, guides Claude through addressing each comment interactively, and removes resolved markers.
oapi-expert
OpenAPI CLI expert for @desplega.ai/oapi. Use when users want to register OpenAPI specs, execute API requests, manage auth profiles, explore API endpoints, or work with REST APIs from the terminal.
feedback
Give Radically Candid feedback to the user — kind, clear, specific, and sincere — based on Kim Scott's framework (Care Personally × Challenge Directly). Use this whenever the user asks for your opinion, review, critique, or pushback on a plan, idea, code, writing, design, or decision; when the user invites honest disagreement ("tell me what you really think", "be honest", "poke holes in this", "am I missing something"); when something the user just said or did looks wrong and silence would be Ruinous Empathy; or when the user explicitly invokes /radical-candor:feedback. Prefer this skill over generic agreeable responses any time feedback would be more useful than validation. Default to a short headline reply and offer to expand — don't dump the full analysis unprompted.
remarkable-expert
reMarkable tablet expert. Use when users want to list, download, or upload files to their reMarkable tablet.
swarm-expert
Multi-agent coordination expert for agent-swarm MCP. Use when the user asks about swarm coordination, delegating tasks to agents, checking swarm status, agent messaging, or managing multi-agent workflows.
wts-expert
Git worktree management expert for @desplega.ai/wts. Use when the user asks about git worktrees, wts commands, worktree workflows, or wants help managing multiple branches simultaneously.
qa-use
E2E testing and browser automation with qa-use CLI. Use when the user needs to run tests, verify features, automate browser interactions, or debug test failures.