Use design-doc

Generate a Google-style engineering design doc (problem, goals/non-goals, options considered, recommended approach, risks, rollout) from a feature brief or short…

Generate a Google-style engineering design doc (problem, goals/non-goals, options considered, recommended approach, risks, rollout) from a feature brief or short description.

Reach for it when the user wants to draft a design doc, technical proposal, or one-pager for an engineering review.

Install it

npx skilldrop-cli install design-doc                 # Claude Code, your user folder
npx skilldrop-cli install design-doc --project       # Claude Code, this repo
npx skilldrop-cli install design-doc --ide cursor    # or kiro, codex, antigravity, copilot

It is part of the Solution architect pack: --pack solution-architect installs it with its neighbours.

Ask for it

Say it the way you would to a colleague. Requests like these route to it:

• "Draft a design doc for this feature"
• "Write a Google-style engineering design document from this brief"
• "I need a technical design with goals, non-goals, alternatives, and rollout"
• "Turn this feature brief into a design doc the team can review"

Requests like these belong to a different skill, so it shouldn't answer them:

• "Write an ADR recording this one decision"
• "Draft the product requirements document for this feature"
• "Critique the design doc I already wrote"

If another skill answers instead, ask for this one by name: "use design-doc".

Check what you get

A good result:

• Non-goals are real, not throat-clearing. If your non-goals list reads "we're not solving world hunger", delete it. Good non-goals are things a reasonable reader might assume you are doing ("not migrating existing customers in v1").
• Alternatives have a why-not, not just a description. Two sentences each: what is it, why didn't we pick it.
• Risks have mitigations. A bare list of "things that could go wrong" is anxiety, not engineering.
• Rollout criteria are concrete. "We'll monitor closely" is not a criterion. "Roll forward to 100% if p99 < 80ms for 48h after 10% rollout" is.

Where a loop runs it

• Stage shape of the design loop

Next

• SKILL.md, the instructions the agent reads
• Its page on the site
• Related: architecture-diagrams

Edit this page on GitHub · View source