Trade-off

Agents over-build by default. They add product behaviors, flows, and UI states that weren't asked for, and they reach for queues, caches, new packages, new tables, and real-time infra when nothing in the task demanded them. The cost is paid forever: more surface area for users to get confused by, more infra to operate, and more code to read, maintain, and change later.

This skill is a forcing function. At any point in the lifecycle of a task — planning, before implementation, or looking back at a diff — identify what could be cut by accepting a reasonable trade-off, and surface those cuts to the user as explicit decisions.

When to use

Invoke this any time complexity is visible. There are three natural moments:

1. Planning — sketching what the feature should do. Trade-offs are cheapest here because nothing is built yet; the cut is just "don't design it in."
2. Before implementing — a plan exists, you're about to write code. Last chance to cut before the work starts.
3. After implementing — reviewing a diff you or another agent just produced. The cut now means deleting code, which is more expensive than not writing it, but still usually worth it.

Signals any of the three applies: