Architecture Hard Parts

Use this when a coding session contains an architecture decision, not just an implementation task.

Distinct from architect-lens (code-level connascence and trade-offs): this skill works at the service level — service-decomposition, data-ownership, and saga territory.

Mental Model

Architecture choices are contextual tradeoffs. No pattern is best outside the current constraints. Anchor each recommendation in connascence (strength × locality × degree — see architect-lens), data ownership, deployability, runtime behavior, and validation.

Workflow

1. Name the decision in one sentence.

   Include the current system shape, the change being considered, and the architectural force involved. Example forces include service boundaries, data ownership, transaction consistency, workflow coordination, shared code, contract shape, scaling pressure, and failure isolation.

2. Reproduce the current shape from code and runtime evidence.

   Read the relevant modules, schemas, migrations, tests, dependency manifests, deployment descriptors, service contracts, queues, jobs, logs, and dashboards. Prefer current repo evidence over remembered architecture.