architecture
Installation
SKILL.md
Architecture
Create or update root ARCHITECTURE.md. Design the system we intend to build.
Keep this as a long-running system document alongside REQUIREMENTS.md.
Use /requirements for product needs and /spec for a feature's technical change.
Process
- Read the requirements, repository instructions, existing architecture, and relevant code, schemas, tests, and infrastructure. A new system may have no code yet.
- Identify the decisions that shape the system: boundaries, responsibilities, data ownership, dependencies, and quality constraints. Ask for missing consequential decisions; recommend an answer with its tradeoff when evidence supports one.
- Choose the simplest structure that satisfies the requirements. For consequential decisions, explain the chosen approach, strongest alternative, reason, and main cost. Consider keeping the existing system when relevant. Skip comparisons that cannot change the choice.
- Write the architecture using the shape below. Always include an architecture and data flow diagram. Reference requirements instead of copying them.
- Trace critical success and failure flows. Check ownership, contracts, data consistency, security, recovery, and measurable limits against the requirements.
- Stop with the architecture ready for review. Do not plan tasks or implement it.