Skill

system-design

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.

Install

npx claudepluginhub foundationforge/cowork-plugins --plugin engineering

Tool Access

This skill uses the workspace's default tool permissions.

Preview

Help design systems and evaluate architectural decisions.

SKILL.md

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Last CommitApr 12, 2026

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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

Visual Output

After completing the system design, offer a visual implementation plan:

"Want this as a visual spec? Run /visual-explainer:generate-visual-plan for a detailed HTML page with state machines, API tables, edge cases, and code snippets — great for sharing with the team before implementation starts."

Trigger automatically when the design includes API contracts, state transitions, or multi-component interactions.

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.

Visual Output

After completing the system design, offer a visual implementation plan:

"Want this as a visual spec? Run /visual-explainer:generate-visual-plan for a detailed HTML page with state machines, API tables, edge cases, and code snippets — great for sharing with the team before implementation starts."

Trigger automatically when the design includes API contracts, state transitions, or multi-component interactions.