hammock

Hammock

A coding agent skill for deliberate design thinking, based on Rich Hickey's Hammock Driven Development.

Most bugs come from misconception, not typos. The cheapest place to fix bugs is during design. Hammock guides you through structured problem-solving before you write code.

Works with Claude Code and Codex.

What It Does

Hammock turns your coding agent into a design partner that walks you through:

1. State the Problem - Separate the problem from the feature request
2. Understand the Problem - Gather facts, constraints, and unknowns
3. Gather Input - Research patterns and prior art
4. Analyze Tradeoffs - Compare at least two solutions honestly
5. Hammock Time - Step away and let your subconscious process
6. Capture & Implement - Document the decision and plan the work

It produces structured design documents saved to .claude/designs/ in your project.

Install

As a plugin (recommended)

In Claude Code:

claude plugin marketplace add adrianleb/hammock-skill
claude plugin install hammock

Manual install

git clone https://github.com/adrianleb/hammock-skill.git

# Copy into your global skills (available in all projects)
cp -r hammock-skill/skills/hammock ~/.claude/skills/

# Or copy into a specific project (available only in that project)
cp -r hammock-skill/skills/hammock your-project/.claude/skills/

Usage

Trigger the skill with natural language:

> /hammock
> design this
> plan this
> think through this problem
> let's think deeply about the auth system
> hammock time

In Claude Code, the skill uses interactive questions to guide you through each phase. In Codex, it runs the full process automatically.

Modes

• Quick - Problem, understand, tradeoffs. For time-pressured decisions.
• Standard - Full 6-phase process. Recommended for most work.
• Deep - Includes hammock time prompts. For major architectural decisions.

Templates

The skill includes specialized templates for different types of work:

Template	Use When
New Project	Starting something from scratch
New Feature	Adding capability to an existing system
Bug Investigation	Finding root cause, not just workarounds
Architecture Decision	Significant structural changes (ADRs)
Refactor	Improving existing code structure
Plan Review	Reviewing an existing design or proposal

Key Principles

1. Problem vs Feature - Solve problems, don't just build features
2. At Least Two - Never evaluate one solution in isolation
3. Know Your Unknowns - Document what you don't know
4. Tradeoffs Exist - Every choice sacrifices something
5. You Will Be Wrong - Plan for iteration, embrace it

Project Structure

.claude-plugin/
  plugin.json                             # Plugin manifest
skills/
  hammock/
    SKILL.md                              # Main skill definition
    references/
      phases.md                           # Detailed phase instructions
      templates/
        architecture.md                   # Architecture decision records
        bug-investigation.md              # Root cause analysis
        new-feature.md                    # Feature design
        new-project.md                    # New project planning
        plan-review.md                    # Design review
        refactor.md                       # Refactoring plans

Requirements

• Claude Code or Codex (or any coding agent that supports skills)

Contributing

This skill can definitely be improved. Some open questions:

• Should the agent ask questions interactively (via AskUserQuestion) or lay them out inline?
• How should the flow adapt for different agent runtimes?
• What templates or phases are missing?

PRs and ideas welcome. Open an issue to discuss before large changes.

License

MIT