design
This skill contains shell command directives (!`command`) that may execute system commands. Review carefully before installing.
Pre-computed context
Current branch: !git branch --show-current 2>/dev/null || echo "unknown"
Variables
Arguments: $ARGUMENTS
Purpose
Design exploration answers WHAT before /planning:plan answers HOW. Without it, implementation plans are built on unexamined assumptions — the wrong types, wrong boundaries, wrong package topology: the shape underspecification takes once the task contract is set but the design is not. This skill structures the exploratory work so that every /planning:plan plan starts from a design the user has validated through iterative discussion.
This is the step between research and planning: exploration maps existing code, research gathers external facts, this skill synthesizes both into a concrete design, and /planning:plan plans implementation of that design. Upstream: when the PROBLEM itself is still rough — no chosen approach to design — diverge first via /brainstorm (cheapest→most-ambitious candidates, user reacts), then design the direction that resonated.
The depth of design exploration scales to the work:
- Single-file fix → early-exit: write
design-resolution.mdwithoutcome: early-exit, tierC, and reason — then proceed to/planning:plan - New module → light-form (1-2 discussion rounds, basic type sketch)
- Large library or system → full-form (multiple sessions, all phases, all artifact types)