--- name: Design Blueprint slug: design-blueprint category: AI Engineering description: Design Blueprint runs a structured design workflow from context setup through four design levels to an approved blueprint. Use it when planning architecture, starting a feature design, or resuming work from an existing context doc. github: "https://github.com/techygarg/lattice/tree/main/skills/design-blueprint" language: Shell stars: 185 forks: 13 install: "npx degit https://github.com/techygarg/lattice/tree/main/skills/design-blueprint ~/.claude/skills/design-blueprint" installs_to: ~/.claude/skills/design-blueprint source_path: skills/design-blueprint/SKILL.md collection_size: 25 category_size: 3278 collection_url: "https://dirskills.com/collections/techygarg/lattice" added: 2026-09-06T05:20:43.168Z last_synced: 2026-09-06T05:20:43.168Z canonical_url: "https://dirskills.com/skills/design-blueprint" --- # Design Blueprint Design Blueprint runs a structured design workflow from context setup through four design levels to an approved blueprint. Use it when planning architecture, starting a feature design, or resuming work from an existing context doc. **Install:** ```bash npx degit https://github.com/techygarg/lattice/tree/main/skills/design-blueprint ~/.claude/skills/design-blueprint ``` ## README # Design Blueprint ## Required Skills Read and apply in order before Step 1: 1. `framework:knowledge-priming` -- Load the project knowledge base so every decision grounds in the real project. (always) 2. `framework:context-anchoring` -- Create or load the feature's living context doc (Create / Load / Enrich behaviors). (always) 3. `framework:learning-harvest` -- Load prior operational learnings at session start; harvest new ones at session end. (always) 4. `framework:collaborative-judgment` -- Surface genuine judgment calls as structured options instead of silently assuming. (always) 5. `framework:design-first` -- Owns the 5-level methodology. Its Entry Assessment, Complexity Calibration, Simplicity Check, and Level Completion Protocol govern Step 2. (Step 2) 6. `framework:architecture` -- Validate components, layers, dependency direction, and boundary rules (design mode). (Levels 2-4) 7. `framework:domain-driven-design` -- Model aggregates, entities, value objects, events, and contracts (design mode). (Levels 2-4) ## Workflow ### Step 1: Establish Context 1. Run `framework:learning-harvest` Load behavior. Focus hint: "design session — focus: design patterns, reliability, structural health". 2. Set up the feature's living doc with `framework:context-anchoring`: - **Discover**: scan `.lattice/context/` for an existing anchor doc matching the feature name or frontmatter. - **Found** → Load behavior. Present the structured acknowledgment: feature name, status, decision count, open questions, constraints. Then run the resume check below. - **Not found** → Create behavior. Confirm the feature name, summary, and requirement doc link with the user before creating. Then begin Step 2 — the Entry Assessment sets the entry level. 3. **Resume check** (when a doc was found) — derive the earliest incomplete step from the doc itself. **STOP:** Never re-walk agreed work: - `status: approved` → design is finished. Say so and stop; suggest `/code-forge`. - No sections starting `## Design: Level` → start Step 2 at Level 1. - Some levels persisted → summarize the approved levels briefly, then resume at the first missing level at or after the recorded entry level (the `[Entry]` Decisions Log entry; older docs without one → treat entry as Level 1). - Every level from entry through Level 4 persisted, but no `## Design Summary`, or `status` ≠ `approved` → go directly to Step 3. 4. **Requirement constraints**: read `requirement_doc` from the context doc frontmatter. - Absent → skip. - Local path, unreadable → STOP: "Requirement doc not found at `[path]`. Verify before continuing." - Local path, readable → read it and extract `## Technical Constraints`. Treat as non-negotiable — same authority as architecture rules. Surface to the user before the first level is presented. - External reference (URL, ticket ID, or other non-local-path identifier) → resolve via a connected MCP tool if one can. If none is connected or the fetch returns nothing, ask the user to paste the current constraints — expected, not an error. - Conflict during design → surface via `framework:collaborative-judgment`. The user decides; record the change back in the requirement doc's `## Technical Constraints` if local, or in the Decisions Log if external — this molecule never writes to an external system. 5. **Write the back-link**: if `requirement_doc` resolved to a readable local file at `.lattice/requirements/features/{feature-name}.md`, add to its `## Links` section: `- Design: [{feature-name}.md](../../context/{feature-name}.md)`. One discrete file edit; skip if the link is already present. ### Step 2: Walk the Design Levels Run design-first's Entry Assessment first: state the proposed entry level from its Complexity Calibration table and wait for confirmation. Record the confirmed entry level as the first Decisions Log entry: `[Entry] Start at Level N (name) — rationale.` If key use cases or success criteria are unclear, surface them via `framework:collaborative-judgment` before producing the first level output. Drive the levels sequentially from the confirmed entry level through Level 4 via `framework:design-first`. Complexity Calibration sets how deep each level goes; it never removes a gate or skips persistence. **Gate (every level)** — follow design-first's Level Completion Protocol: present the level output with its targeted gating question, then **STOP — do NOT advance until the user explicitly confirms**, not on silence, not on ambiguity. **Persist (after every approval, before advancing)** — use `framework:context-anchoring` Enrich to write into the context doc: 1. The approved output as a clean structured summary under `## Design: Level N -- {Name}`, same format as presented (numbered list L1; component table + diagram L2; sequence/flow L3; typed interfaces L4). Persist diagrams as Mermaid. 2. One Decisions Log entry per decision: `[Level N] Chose X because Y. Rejected: Z.` 3. Constraints identified during the discussion (non-negotiable boundaries that emerged). 4. Open questions surfaced but unresolved. **STOP:** Do not present the next level until these writes are done. **Judgment calls**: when applying architectural atoms at any level, surface genuine design judgment calls immediately via `framework:collaborative-judgment` — never batch them to the end of a level. **Evidence rule (Level 2)**: before presenting components, quickly explore the codebase and map each proposed component to the existing modules/packages it extends, wraps, or modifies — or mark it `new`. Present the mapping with the components. Never invent a parallel structure that ignores what exists. Level-specific applications: - **Level 1 (Capabilities)**: numbered user-facing capabilities, max 5, no technical detail (per design-first). - **Level 2 (Components)**: challenge each component before approving — does it need to exist? One known implementation, one caller, or an unconfirmed problem → inline it or defer. Then validate in design mode: `framework:architecture` (layer mapping, dependency direction, boundary clarity) and `framework:domain-driven-design` (aggregates, entities, value objects; domain vs infrastructure placement). - **Level 3 (Interactions)**: `framework:architecture` — data flows follow the loaded patterns; boundary-crossing rules respected. `framework:domain-driven-design` — cross-aggregate communication uses domain events / eventual consistency. - **Level 4 (Contracts)**: `framework:domain-driven-design` — repository interfaces, value object types, aggregate root boundaries reflecting the tactical choices from earlier levels. `framework:architecture` — boundary-data rules and interface ownership respected. Every Level 3 interaction maps to at least one interface. **Regression rule**: if the user reopens an approved level, re-run that level's gate. On re-approval, mark every downstream persisted level section stale ("stale — pending re-approval after Level N change") and re-present them for confirmation before Step 3. **STOP:** Never leave contradictory approved sections in the doc. **Early exit**: if the user wants to stop or shortcut the design, follow design-first's Mid-level exit. Persist whatever was approved and leave `status` as `draft` — a partial doc is a valid outcome. ### Step 3: Finalize Blueprint After Level 4 is approved and persisted: 1. **Verify completeness and consistency**: the context doc must contain all four level sections plus every decision made during the design. Enrich anything missing now. Then check: - Every Level 3 interaction maps to at least one Level 4 interface. - Every Level 4 interface is owned by exactly one Level 2 component (a shared type is owned by its defining component). Fix any gap through the affected level's gate — never silently. 2. **Check requirement spec drift**: read `requirement_doc` from the context doc frontmatter. - Absent → note in Design Summary: "No requirement doc — drift check skipped." - Local path, unreadable → STOP: "Requirement doc not found at `[path]`. Verify before continuing." (A broken local path is an error.) - External reference, unresolvable (no connected MCP tool, or the fetch returns nothing) → do not STOP — expected, not broken. Ask the user to paste current constraints/scenarios if a comparison is wanted, or note in Design Summary: "Requirement doc is external and unavailable this session — drift check skipped." - Resolved (local file read, external fetch succeeded, or user pasted constraints) → compare L4 contracts against Scenarios/ACs and `## Technical Constraints`. Present each divergence as `[field/behavior] — changed from [X] to [Y]. Reason: [from Decisions Log]`, or "L4 consistent with requirement spec — no overrides" if none. Ask: *"Record this in the requirement doc?"* - **STOP: do not write to `requirement_doc` until confirmed.** Confirmed and local → write each finding into the requirement doc's `## Links` section as `- Design override: [field/behavior] — changed from [X] to [Y]. Reason: [...]`, or `- Design alignment: L4 consistent with requirement spec — no overrides.` if none. Confirmed and external → this molecule never writes to an external system; record the findings in the Design Summary instead. Declined → note in Design Summary: "Drift check results not written to requirement doc — see Decisions Log." 3. **Write the design summary**: use `framework:context-anchoring` Enrich to add a `## Design Summary` section containing components and layer assignments, key contracts and interfaces, architectural constraints, domain model decisions (if applicable), and open questions resolved during design. 4. **Set approved status**: write `status: approved` into the context doc frontmatter. **STOP: discrete file edit — not prose.** Without it, code-forge will not proceed. **STOP: never write status to `requirement_doc`** — the requirement's status belongs to whoever manages it (a human, or an external system); this molecule manages only its own context doc. 5. Log the completion decision: "Design approved at Level 4. Status set to approved — ready for implementation." Present the summary to the user as confirmation. 6. **Harvest learnings**: run `framework:learning-harvest` Harvest behavior. Session context: "design session — architectural decomposition and contract definition". Synthesize and propose cross-cutting patterns from this session — decomposition approaches, architectural trade-offs, scope decisions that could inform future designs. The user confirms what enters the document. **STOP: run this before the next bullet — do not jump straight to the `/code-forge` suggestion.** 7. Design complete. Do NOT proceed to Level 5 (Implementation). Suggest the user invoke `/code-forge` when ready to begin coding against the approved design.