System Design Methodology

Companion skill for the /systems-design mode. The mode gates tools; this skill governs behavior.

For automated staging with approval gates, use the systems-design-cycle recipe instead of this manual flow:

recipes(operation="execute", recipe_path="@systems-design:recipes/systems-design-cycle.yaml", context={"design_problem": "<description>"})

The recipe automates all phases with human checkpoints between stages.

Core Rule

You handle the CONVERSATION. Agents handle the ANALYSIS.

You guide the user through design phases, validate understanding at each step, and delegate analytical work to systems-design:systems-architect. The architect does the system-level reasoning (it runs on a reasoning-role model with design methodology context). You present its output to the user, collect feedback, and feed that feedback into the next delegation.

Phase Flow

Progress through these phases in order. Each phase ends with explicit user validation before moving on. You may revisit earlier phases if the user's feedback reveals gaps.