Agent-Skills.md

Agent Skills: Search First — Research Before You Code

Research-before-coding workflow — search for existing tools, libraries, and patterns before writing custom code. Use before writing custom utilities or adding new dependencies.

UncategorizedID: xbklairith/kisune/search-first

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xbklairith/kisune
xbklairith
11

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pnpm dlx add-skill https://github.com/xbklairith/kisune/tree/HEAD/dev-workflow/skills/search-first

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dev-workflow/skills/search-first/SKILL.md

Skill Metadata

Name
search-first
Description
Research-before-coding workflow — search for existing tools, libraries, and patterns before writing custom code. Use before writing custom utilities or adding new dependencies.

Search First — Research Before You Code

Systematizes the "search for existing solutions before implementing" workflow.

When to Activate

  • Starting a feature that likely has existing solutions
  • Adding a dependency or integration
  • Before creating a new utility, helper, or abstraction
  • User asks "add X functionality" and you're about to write code

Workflow

1. NEED ANALYSIS
   Define functionality needed + language/framework constraints

2. PARALLEL SEARCH
   - Package registries (npm, PyPI, crates.io)
   - Existing codebase (grep for similar patterns)
   - GitHub / web search
   - MCP servers and Claude Code skills

3. EVALUATE
   Score: functionality, maintenance, community, docs, license, deps

4. DECIDE
   Adopt | Extend/Wrap | Build Custom

5. IMPLEMENT
   Install package / Configure / Write minimal custom code

Decision Matrix

| Signal | Action | |--------|--------| | Exact match, well-maintained, MIT/Apache | Adopt — install and use | | Partial match, good foundation | Extend — install + thin wrapper | | Multiple weak matches | Compose — combine 2-3 packages | | Nothing suitable | Build — write custom, informed by research |

Quick Checklist

Before writing a utility:

  1. Does this already exist in the repo? (rg through modules)
  2. Is this a common problem? (search npm/PyPI)
  3. Is there a GitHub implementation? (code search)
  4. Is there an MCP server for this?
  5. Is there a Claude Code skill for this?

Common Shortcuts

Development Tooling

  • Linting: eslint, ruff, golangci-lint
  • Formatting: prettier, black, gofmt
  • Testing: jest, pytest, go test
  • Pre-commit: husky, lint-staged

Data & APIs

  • HTTP: httpx (Python), ky/got (Node)
  • Validation: zod (TS), pydantic (Python)
  • DB: Check for ORM/query builder first

AI/LLM Integration

  • Claude SDK for latest API patterns
  • Document processing: pdfplumber, mammoth

Anti-Patterns

  • Jumping to code without checking if solution exists
  • Over-customizing — wrapping a library so heavily it loses benefits
  • Dependency bloat — installing massive package for one small feature
  • Ignoring internal code — not checking if repo already has the utility

Examples

"Add dead link checking"

Need: Check markdown for broken links
Found: textlint-rule-no-dead-link
Action: ADOPT
Result: Zero custom code

"Add HTTP client with retries"

Need: Resilient HTTP with retries + timeouts
Found: got (Node) with retry plugin
Action: ADOPT with config
Result: Zero custom code