Agent Skills: Design Exploration

Design Exploration

Critical rules

• NO IMPLEMENTATION WITHOUT DESIGN AGREEMENT FIRST. No production code until the human validates the design.
• One question per message; prefer multiple choice when options are known.
• Present 2-3 approaches with trade-offs and a recommendation — never only one option.
• YAGNI ruthlessly. Never silently fill ambiguous requirements.
• Present design in 200-300 word sections; confirm each before continuing.
• Before questioning patterns or writing the doc, read references/process-and-template.md.

Workflow

1. Understand context: project state, related code, existing patterns.
2. Clarify intent: purpose, constraints, success criteria — one question at a time.
3. Explore 2-3 approaches with explicit trade-offs; lead with recommendation.
4. Present design in sections (architecture, components, data flow, errors, testing); confirm each.
5. Write validated design to docs/plans/YYYY-MM-DD-<topic>-design.md, commit, ask ready for implementation (implementation-planning / git-worktrees).

Resources

• references/process-and-template.md — question patterns, YAGNI, design template. Read during clarification and documentation.

Validation

• [ ] Existing state and patterns understood
• [ ] Ambiguities clarified one question at a time
• [ ] 2-3 approaches with trade-offs and recommendation
• [ ] Design covers architecture, components, data flow, errors, testing
• [ ] Human approved each section; doc saved and committed

Constraints

• Skip for unambiguous single-file changes, typos, or already-approved designs.
• Related: implementation-planning, git-worktrees, tdd-workflow.