Software Architect Skill Skill

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Software Architect Skill

Communication: User's language. Docs: English.

Purpose

Make informed architecture decisions balancing quality attributes (scalability, performance, security, maintainability) with business constraints (time, cost, team skills).

Context Discovery

Auto-Investigation

Detect existing architecture from project:

| Signal | How to Check | What It Tells Us | |--------|--------------|------------------| | ADRs | Glob("**/adr/*.md") or Glob("**/docs/decisions/*") | Architecture decisions documented | | C4 diagrams | Glob("**/*.dsl") or Grep("C4_", "**/*.puml") | Architecture visualized | | constitution.md | Glob("**/.aidocs/constitution.md") | Tech stack defined | | docker-compose | Glob("**/docker-compose*.yml") | Service architecture | | k8s manifests | Glob("**/k8s/**/*.yaml") | Kubernetes deployment | | Multiple services | Glob("**/services/*/") | Microservices structure | | Single app | Glob("**/src/") + no services | Monolith structure |

Read existing architecture:

constitution.md for tech decisions
Any existing ADRs
docker-compose for service dependencies
README for architecture overview

Discovery Questions

Q1: Architecture Goal

question: "What architecture decision do you need help with?"
header: "Goal"
multiSelect: false
options:
  - label: "Design new system architecture"
    description: "Starting from scratch or major redesign"
  - label: "Choose technology (database, framework, cloud)"
    description: "Technology selection decision"
  - label: "Document existing architecture"
    description: "Create ADRs, diagrams, docs"
  - label: "Evaluate/improve current architecture"
    description: "Review for issues, plan improvements"
  - label: "Migrate or refactor"
    description: "Move to new patterns or technologies"

Q2: Scale & Team Context

question: "What's your scale and team context?"
header: "Context"
multiSelect: false
options:
  - label: "Solo/small team, MVP/early stage"
    description: "Speed matters, keep it simple"
  - label: "Growing team (5-15), scaling product"
    description: "Need modularity, some structure"
  - label: "Large team (15+), multiple teams"
    description: "Independent deployment, team boundaries"
  - label: "Enterprise, compliance requirements"
    description: "Security, audit, formal processes"

Recommendation:

"Solo/MVP" → Monolith, simple tech stack
"Growing" → Modular monolith, prepare for split
"Large team" → Microservices, clear boundaries
"Enterprise" → Formal architecture, ADRs, compliance

Q3: Quality Priorities (multiSelect)

question: "What are your top quality priorities?"
header: "Priorities"
multiSelect: true
options:
  - label: "Scalability (handle growth)"
    description: "10x, 100x load handling"
  - label: "Performance (low latency)"
    description: "Fast response times"
  - label: "Availability (uptime)"
    description: "99.9%+ availability"
  - label: "Security (protect data)"
    description: "Compliance, threat protection"
  - label: "Maintainability (easy changes)"
    description: "Developer productivity"
  - label: "Cost efficiency"
    description: "Minimize infrastructure spend"

Q4: Constraints

question: "What constraints do you have?"
header: "Constraints"
multiSelect: true
options:
  - label: "Limited budget"
    description: "Must minimize cloud costs"
  - label: "Small team / solo"
    description: "Can't manage complexity"
  - label: "Existing tech stack"
    description: "Must work with current systems"
  - label: "Compliance (HIPAA, SOC2, GDPR)"
    description: "Regulatory requirements"
  - label: "No major constraints"
    description: "Flexibility to choose"

Quick Decision Reference

| If you need... | Use | File | |----------------|-----|------| | Architecture style for small team/MVP | Monolith or Modular Monolith | monolith-architecture.md, modular-monolith.md | | Architecture style for large team | Microservices | microservices-architecture.md | | Database for relational data | PostgreSQL/MySQL | database-selection.md | | Database for documents | MongoDB/DynamoDB | database-selection.md | | Database for cache | Redis | caching-architecture.md | | API for external devs | REST + OpenAPI | patterns.md | | API for internal | gRPC | patterns.md | | Communication async | Kafka/RabbitMQ | event-driven-architecture.md | | Pattern for distributed transactions | Saga | distributed-patterns.md | | Pattern for resilience | Circuit Breaker | distributed-patterns.md |

Methodologies (30)

Fundamentals (5): system-design-process | c4-model | architecture-decision-records | quality-attributes-analysis | trade-off-analysis

Styles (5): monolith-architecture | microservices-architecture | modular-monolith | serverless-architecture | event-driven-architecture

Patterns (5): creational-patterns | structural-patterns | behavioral-patterns | architectural-patterns | distributed-patterns

Data (4): data-modeling | database-selection | caching-architecture | data-pipeline-design

Infrastructure (4): cloud-architecture | container-orchestration | api-gateway-design | service-mesh

Quality (4): security-architecture | performance-architecture | reliability-architecture | observability-architecture

Templates (3): adr-template | quality-attributes | workflows

Quality Attributes

Scalability: Handle 10x load? | Performance: p95 < 200ms? | Availability: 99.9%+ uptime? | Security: Threat model done? | Maintainability: Deploy daily?

Framework: quality-attributes.md | Analysis: quality-attributes-analysis.md

C4 Model

| Level | Audience | Shows | File | |-------|----------|-------|------| | Context (C1) | Business | External systems, users | c4-model.md | | Container (C2) | Architects | Apps, databases, services | c4-model.md | | Component (C3) | Developers | Internal components | c4-model.md |

ADR Template

# ADR-NNN: Title
## Status: Proposed/Accepted
## Context: Why needed?
## Decision: What we decided
## Consequences: Trade-offs
## Alternatives: Other options

Full template: adr-template.md

Workflows

System Design: Requirements → Scale estimation → High-level design → Components → Quality attributes → Documentation

Technology Selection: Define criteria → Research → Evaluate → Decide → Document ADR

Full workflows: workflows.md

faion-software-architect v1.2 30 Methodologies

Agent Skills: Software Architect Skill

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