Phase 0: SKILL DISCOVERY & REQUIRED READING

⚠️ CRITICAL — UI Design Quality Gate: If the project produces ANY visual HTML output (dashboard, web app, landing page, portfolio, any page the user will see), you MUST read_file the ui-design skill's SKILL.md and follow it BEFORE writing any HTML/CSS. This is not optional. project-builder handles engineering; ui-design handles visual quality (and tells you when to reach for a component library like shadcn/ui, HeroUI, or coss ui instead of hand-writing). Skipping ui-design produces generic AI slop.

A. Pick the sources and tools. For research and API documentation, use web search. For live market numbers or external actions, reuse the relevant installed skill. Read its SKILL.md before use; search missing skills with auto_install=false and install only with user approval. Write custom API code only after checking that no suitable skill covers the operation; verify endpoints and response shapes against current official documentation.

B. Read the platform rules for what the project touches. These rules live in references (not in your system prompt) so you must read_file them before writing code. Skipping this is the #1 cause of 401s, broken paths, and "worked locally, fails in preview" bugs.

If the project includes...	`read_file` before Phase 2
Any external API call	`config/context/references/sc-proxy.md`
Preview / dashboard / web app	`config/context/references/preview-guide.md`
Scheduled task	`config/context/references/scheduled-tasks-guide.md`
Long-running background job	`config/context/references/background-tasks.md`
File writing >300 lines	`config/context/references/tool-writing-guide.md`
Any visual HTML output (dashboard, web app, landing page, portfolio)	`ui-design` skill SKILL.md — load it and follow it for all visual decisions (track choice, color, typography, layout, animation, and when to use a component library). This skill is the UI quality gate; skipping it produces generic AI slop.