design

TRIGGER when: asked to write or refine a technical design, PRD, specification, implementation plan, or task list, or resume an existing docs/feat/wip feature. Turns ideas and requirements into written

SKILL.md

GitHub

Task Analysis Process

Goal: Before writing any code, make sure you understand the requirements and have an implementation plan ready.

Conventions

  • Read capy knowledge base conventions at shared-capy-knowledge-protocol.md.
  • Read profile detection at shared-profile-detection.md. When an active profile contributes a design/ subdirectory (e.g., ${TOOLBOX_PLUGIN_ROOT}/profiles/k8s/design/), its questions.md feeds the idea-refinement question pool and its sections.md lists required sections the design document must cover. Both the idea-to-design and continue-WIP flows consult the shared procedure; see each flow's workflow file for the specific integration points.

For fresh ideas, two reference files provide methodology and evaluation rubric: shared-ideation-frameworks.md (ideation lenses for the diverge phase) and shared-idea-refinement-criteria.md (evaluation dimensions and MVP scoping for the converge phase). These are loaded during the instruction-load step and consumed by idea-process.md Step 3 sub-phases.

Workflow

Mandatory order — understanding before engagement. The flow below is strictly sequential. Do not engage with idea prose beyond a keyword scan, read WIP document content, ask refinement questions, or write design content until all instructions — this SKILL.md, the relevant process file, the shared protocols, every resolved profile's design/ content, and the fresh-idea references below (when applicable) — are fully loaded. Bounded signal inspection for profile detection is the only content-read exception.

The /kk:design skill has two entry points; each has its own process file with a detailed workflow. Both follow the same mandatory ordering:

  1. Keyword scan only. The idea prose (or WIP feature directory) is scanned at the keyword/filename level — enough to drive profile detection, not enough to engage with the content.
  2. Load instructions. Read the relevant process file (idea-process.md or existing-task-process.md), the shared protocols above and example-tasks.md (task format), even on an unchanged resume.
  1. Detect active profiles. Delegate to shared-profile-detection.md. For fresh ideas, this uses the design interaction pattern (token matching against idea prose). For WIP features, this uses file-based detection with design-pattern fallback.
  2. Load profile content. For each active profile contributing a design/ subdirectory, read its index.md and all always-load and matching conditional entries. These feed the refinement question pool and required design sections.
  3. Engage with subject matter. Follow the selected process file's content-reading, refinement and drafting steps.
  4. Recommend next steps. After drafting or substantive refinement, suggest an optional /kk:clarify-docs invocation naming the created or materially revised documents, before the /kk:review-design recommendation. An unchanged resume skips the clarification suggestion. Follow the selected process file for review recommendation and implementation handoff.

Clarification is a separate user-selected editing workflow: this skill neither loads its procedure nor runs it automatically. Drafting still owns clear explanations and preservation of required sections, profile topics, decisions, task state and links. A clarification suggestion does not replace design review; neither recommendation executes a review or establishes independent verification.

Ideas and Prototypes

Use this to develop an idea into a written design/specification and implementation plan.

For example: Help me turn this idea into a written design, implementation plan, and task list before we start coding.

Your job: Help me turn it into a fully formed design, spec, implementation plan, and task list.

See idea-process.md.

Continue WIP Feature

Use this to resume work on a feature that already has design docs and a task list in /docs/feat/wip/.

For example: Let's continue working on the auth system.

Your job: Review the current state of the feature, understand what's been done and what's next, then proceed with implementation.

See existing-task-process.md.