Skills

aid-design-architecture

Frontmatter

name — aid-design-architecture
description — Develop the system’s shape as a DESIGN SEED in .aid/design/architecture.md — components, boundaries, interactions, invariants, and what is deliberately not a component. Use this skill when how the system should be shaped is still being worked out, and you want that thinking captured before it is written into the Knowledge Base. Grounded in the Knowledge Base (.aid/knowledge/) and the project source. It WRITES NO KB document and NO production code — realize the seed into the project’s C1 document with /aid-create-architecture once it is ready. For a subject with no dedicated design row use bare /aid-design; to write documentation about an existing architecture rather than design it, use /aid-document-architecture. Produced by the aid-architect agent and independently verified by aid-reviewer (full verify). Allocates a work-NNN folder.
allowed-tools — Read, Glob, Grep, Bash, Write, Edit, Agent
argument-hint — <subject> — the system/subsystem to design (components, boundaries, interactions, invariants)

Definition: canonical/skills/aid-design-architecture/SKILL.md

Flow

flowchart TB
  classDef aidNode color:#fff
  classDef aidEntry fill:#166534,stroke:#14532d,color:#fff
  classDef aidExit fill:#991b1b,stroke:#7f1d1d,color:#fff
  classDef aidDecision fill:#92400e,stroke:#78350f,color:#fff
  classDef aidLoopBack fill:#1e3a8a,stroke:#1e3a8a,color:#fff
  classDef aidStep fill:#1a2035,stroke:#d4a853,color:#f1f5f9
  n1(["INTAKE"])
  n2["DESIGN"]
  n3["VERIFY"]
  n4["PRESENT<br/>hard stop -- the user decides"]
  n5(["DONE"])
  n1 --> n2
  n2 --> n3
  n3 -.-> n2
  n3 --> n4
  n4 --> n5
  class n1 aidEntry
  class n2 aidStep
  class n3 aidLoopBack
  class n4 aidStep
  class n5 aidExit
  class n1 aidNode
  class n2 aidNode
  class n3 aidNode
  class n4 aidNode
  class n5 aidNode

Source fragments

Every node in the chart above, in chart order, with the exact canonical/ text it was derived from.

1 · INTAKE · entry

## State: INTAKE

1. **Require a subject.** Empty argument -> ask one bootstrapping question ("What system or
   subsystem do you want to design -- its components, boundaries, and invariants?") and wait.
2. **Allocate** through the Work Initiation Gate exactly as the contract's Allocation rule
   requires (`canonical/skills/aid-design/SKILL.md` INTAKE step 4 is the shape), with
   `initiator: aid-design-architecture`. `phase` is not driven.
3. **Acquire `.aid/design/`** per the contract, then read `.aid/design/architecture.md` if a
   prior seed exists -- re-invocation iterates it rather than starting over.
4. **Classify complexity** for the `aid-architect` dispatch (verifier tier >= producer).

Source: canonical/skills/aid-design-architecture/SKILL.md#L39-L48 · full step: canonical/skills/aid-design-architecture/SKILL.md#L39-L50

2 · DESIGN · step

## State: DESIGN

Dispatch **`aid-architect`** (clean context, tiered) to write or iterate
`.aid/design/architecture.md` in the seed shape the contract fixes (`design-seed.md`;
feature-002 §4), grounded in `.aid/knowledge/` and the project source plus any seed read
in INTAKE. What this artifact's seed must settle: **the components, their boundaries and
interactions, the invariants, and what is deliberately NOT a component**.

Source: canonical/skills/aid-design-architecture/SKILL.md#L54-L60 · full step: canonical/skills/aid-design-architecture/SKILL.md#L54-L76

3 · VERIFY · loop-back

## State: VERIFY

**Full verify**, as `design-lifecycle.md` defines it. Not clean -> loop to DESIGN; the
3-cycle circuit breaker there escalates to IMPEDIMENT + `lifecycle: Blocked`.

Source: canonical/skills/aid-design-architecture/SKILL.md#L80-L83 · full step: canonical/skills/aid-design-architecture/SKILL.md#L80-L85

4 · PRESENT — hard stop — the user decides · step

## State: PRESENT (hard stop -- the user decides)

Set `lifecycle: Paused-Awaiting-Input`. Present the seed clearly. Assert no resolution --
the user iterates (re-invoke this skill) or realizes it now (`/aid-create-architecture`).

Source: canonical/skills/aid-design-architecture/SKILL.md#L89-L92 · full step: canonical/skills/aid-design-architecture/SKILL.md#L89-L94

5 · DONE · exit · UNSPECIFIED

## State: DONE

Set `lifecycle: Completed`, `updated` now, append a `## Lifecycle History` row. The seed
persists at `.aid/design/architecture.md`; consumption happens at
`/aid-create-architecture`.

Source: canonical/skills/aid-design-architecture/SKILL.md#L98-L102 · full step: canonical/skills/aid-design-architecture/SKILL.md#L98-L102

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