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@4fa3cb9
by Anthropicanthropics/knowledge-work-plugins26k stars
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Design systems, services, and architectures. Trigger with "design a system for", "how should we architect", "system design for", "what's the right architecture for", or when the user needs help with API design, data modeling, or service boundaries.

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Use this Skill: https://skilld.dev/gh/anthropics/knowledge-work-plugins/system-design

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SKILL.md

≈66 tokens always: the name and description. ≈255 when used: this file.

System Design

Help design systems and evaluate architectural decisions.

Framework

1. Requirements Gathering

  • Functional requirements (what it does)
  • Non-functional requirements (scale, latency, availability, cost)
  • Constraints (team size, timeline, existing tech stack)

2. High-Level Design

  • Component diagram
  • Data flow
  • API contracts
  • Storage choices

3. Deep Dive

  • Data model design
  • API endpoint design (REST, GraphQL, gRPC)
  • Caching strategy
  • Queue/event design
  • Error handling and retry logic

4. Scale and Reliability

  • Load estimation
  • Horizontal vs. vertical scaling
  • Failover and redundancy
  • Monitoring and alerting

5. Trade-off Analysis

  • Every decision has trade-offs. Make them explicit.
  • Consider: complexity, cost, team familiarity, time to market, maintainability

Output

Produce clear, structured design documents with diagrams (ASCII or described), explicit assumptions, and trade-off analysis. Always identify what you'd revisit as the system grows.

Source: SKILL.md on GitHub

Third-party checks

1 warning16d5 checks · Risk SAFE
  • Gen Agent Trust Hub16d

    This skill provides a structured framework for architectural system design and contains no executable code or security risks.

  • Socket16d

    No alerts

  • Snyk16d

    Risk: LOW · No issues

  • Runlayer7mo

    1/1 file flagged

  • ZeroLeaks5mo

    Score: 93/100 · 2 sections analyzed

Provenance

Signed by skilld at 4fa3cb9. This ties the file your Agent reads to that commit on GitHub. It does not review the instructions.

Last checked against GitHub last week.

Activeupdated 7 months ago

Topics

  • system-design
  • architecture
  • api-design
  • data-modeling
  • scalability
  • reliability
  • trade-offs
  • service-design

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What it does

Guides architectural decisions through structured requirements gathering, component design, data modeling, and trade-off analysis. Useful when designing APIs, service boundaries, or evaluating scaling strategies for distributed systems.

Generated from the current SKILL.md.

Frequently asked

When should I trigger this skill?
Use it when you need help designing a system architecture, evaluating API design, modeling data structures, or defining service boundaries. Common triggers include 'design a system for', 'how should we architect', or 'what's the right architecture for'.
Does this skill produce diagrams?
Yes. It generates component diagrams and data flow visualizations in ASCII or described format, not just text.
What does the skill cover in its design process?
It covers requirements gathering, high-level design, deep dives into data models and APIs, scale and reliability analysis, and explicit trade-off analysis for every architectural decision.
Does this help with specific technologies or is it framework-agnostic?
It's framework-agnostic and works with any tech stack. It considers your existing constraints and team familiarity as part of the trade-off analysis.

Generated from the current SKILL.md. These answers refresh after source changes.