Start with the unknowns
Ask at most ten questions, each with a default, and make the remaining assumptions visible.
Ask first. Do the math. Then design.
An agent skill for designing new systems. Ask the missing questions, show the capacity estimates and plan for failure before writing the first line of code.
Works with Claude Code and OpenAI Codex. Setup instructions and evaluation results are on GitHub.
The same three design scenarios
- Without the skill
- 1 / 18
- With the skill
- 18 / 18
Checks passed
Show the working
Estimate peak load, storage and monthly cost before choosing the components, then record when the design needs to grow.
Make failure part of the design
Set backup goals for each kind of data and walk through what happens when the system's dependencies fail.
Why I built it this way.
Before writing a single rule, I tested agents with no skill and listed exactly what they skipped. The skill only teaches those gaps and leaves out what the models already do well.
Read the engineering case study