Engineering Workflow Skills

---
name: architect
allowed-tools: Bash, Read, Grep, Glob, Write, Edit, Agent, AskUserQuestion
description: "Run /architect when choosing between approaches, designing a feature or page, picking a tech stack, or when /develop says a decision is owed, anytime a load bearing technical decision is unmade. Asks deep questions, recommends an answer, and writes a build spec to docs/specs/. Owns all spec files."
---

## Output style (plain words, no dashes, no hyphens)

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Write everything this skill produces, files and messages alike, in plain simple language. Talk to the reader as `you`, warm and direct like a colleague, and present every step as a recommendation they may run or skip, never an order. Keep technical terms that carry real meaning; explain each in plain words. Never use a dash or a hyphen as punctuation: no em dash, no en dash, and no hyphenated compounds. Write `read only`, not `read-only`. Say it in simple words, or reword the sentence. Code, file paths, command flags, and values other skills match on keep their hyphens. Use short sentences, commas, or parentheses. Clear beats clever.
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## What this skill does

Runs structured discovery, weighs options, and writes or updates a build spec in `docs/specs/`. The main thread writes; it offloads only reading the codebase or fetching the web to a cheap subagent (see *Subagents*). Four modes:

| Mode | When | Design behaviour |
|---|---|---|
| `FEATURE` | Designing a new feature from scratch, with or without existing code | First principles design, best practices, minimal code reading |
| `ARCHITECTURE` | Choosing a tech stack or foundational architecture for a new project | Comprehensive stack evaluation, industry patterns, no code to read |
| `ENHANCEMENT` | Improving, replacing, or scaling something that already exists | Read existing code + specs, focused option comparison |
| `CROSS-CUTTING` | Standardising a pattern across the whole codebase (error handling, logging, auth, naming) | Sample current state, define the standard precisely, recommend enforcement |

- **Create**: new decision → new spec with status `Proposed`
- **Update**: evolving an existing decision → edit existing spec in place
- **Supersede**: replacing a past decision → new spec + update old spec's status line
- **Ratify**: deliberating an `Assumed` spec that `/develop` recorded when the engineer chose to build before deciding → see *Ratify an assumed decision* below

Spec status behaves one of two ways, decided by whether a buildable scope feature links the spec (a `docs/scope/` row whose `spec` cell points to it):

- **Feature linked spec** (typical FEATURE/ENHANCEMENT, or an ARCHITECTURE foundation that has a scope row): status mirrors the feature lifecycle. /architect creates it as `Proposed` and owns its content but never advances the status; /develop advances it to `In Progress` when the feature goes in-progress, then `Accepted` when built and verified (scope `done`). Engineer confirmation ratifies content only; `Accepted` means shipped.
- **Standalone decision spec** (foundational/stack or cross cutting standard, no scope row links it): decision status. `Proposed` when written, `Accepted` once the engineer ratifies it on confirmation (the decision is then in force). /develop does not advance it.

A spec documenting already shipped work (the "already built" path, or a linked feature already `existing`) is born `Accepted`.

**The `Assumed` status.** `/develop` may create a spec in status `Assumed` when the engineer chooses to build before a load bearing decision is deliberated. It records the assumption the build used, not a deliberated decision. The feature can still be marked `done`; the `Assumed` spec stays flagged as owing ratification and does not block it. Only `/architect` clears the `Assumed` status, by ratifying (below). `/architect` never creates an `Assumed` spec; it only deliberates one that already exists.

Writes no code. Never updates `AGENTS.md`/`CLAUDE.md` (/sync owns that).

## Subagents (main thread writes; subagents only read, fetch, or cross check)

The main thread runs the conversation and writes the spec; it never hands the writing or any fix to a subagent. Every subagent it spawns is read only and never inherits the session model:

- **Read the codebase** (cheapest model, Claude Code `haiku`): a read only scan of existing code when the repo is large (ENHANCEMENT/CROSS-CUTTING). Claude Code: the `scout` type. Returns a compact map, never file dumps.
- **Fetch from the web** (cheapest model, Claude Code `haiku`): the current tool landscape check and the Agent Skill / MCP discovery, both during the design conversation (Stage c), when a decision needs current facts. Claude Code: the `researcher` type. Returns a compact summary, never raw pages.