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Interactive decision tree that guides you through choosing the right Claude Code plugin mechanism. Use when asked "help me choose", "decision tree", "I'm not sure whether to use", "skill or agent", or "command or hook".
npx claudepluginhub malston/plugin-design-advisorHow this skill is triggered — by the user, by Claude, or both
Slash command
/plugin-design-advisor:decision-explorerThe summary Claude sees in its skill listing — used to decide when to auto-load this skill
Use this skill when someone asks for help choosing a plugin mechanism: "interactive decision",
Orchestrates agentic workflow to create new Claude Code plugins from scratch: prerequisite checks, research, design verification, atomic implementation, validation, documentation.
Validates workflows for Claude Code skills/agents/rules, classifies knowledge types (CLAUDE.md vs rule vs skill vs agent vs hook), and detects component conflicts.
Guides creation of Claude Code plugins including skills, commands, agents, hooks, MCP servers, and configuration. Use for 'create plugin', 'make skill', scaffolding structures.
Share bugs, ideas, or general feedback.
Use this skill when someone asks for help choosing a plugin mechanism: "interactive decision", "help me choose", "decision tree", "I'm not sure whether to use", "skill or agent", or "command or hook".
This skill provides a guided conversational exploration that asks questions one at a time and narrows the design space step by step. At the end, it produces a copyable architecture recommendation with the chosen mechanism, rationale, and suggested file structure.
The plugin-design-advisor skill is a reference for heuristics and anti-patterns -- consult it when you already know the landscape and need to look something up. This skill is for when you don't know where to start. It walks you through the decision interactively, so you don't need to read the full framework yourself.
Ask one question at a time. Present options as a numbered list. Wait for the user's answer before proceeding to the next node -- do not skip ahead or combine questions.
With each question, provide the signal examples listed under that node. These help the user recognize which answer fits their situation. If the user is unsure, talk through the signals together before moving on.
Track the path taken: which questions were asked and how the user answered. Use this path summary when generating the final recommendation so the rationale connects directly to the user's answers.
Signals to consider:
Options:
Signals to consider:
Options:
Signals to consider:
Options:
Signals to consider for user action:
Signals to consider for system event:
Options:
Signals to consider:
Options:
Signals to consider for knowledge:
Signals to consider for workflow:
Options:
Signals to consider:
Options:
Before presenting the final output, perform these checks against the path taken through the decision tree.
If the recommendation is Agent and the user described reusable domain knowledge during the conversation (pattern libraries, coding standards, decision frameworks), recommend Skill+Agent instead. The skill captures the knowledge; the agent loads it at runtime and applies it in an isolated context.
If the recommendation is Hook and the conversation also identified a user-facing workflow component (setup steps, configuration review, or multi-step orchestration), recommend Hook+Command instead. The hook enforces the guardrail automatically; the command gives the user an explicit way to run the broader workflow on demand.
Based on the path through the tree, warn about relevant anti-patterns when the answers suggest a mismatch:
Point the user to the plugin-design-advisor skill for the full heuristics, anti-pattern definitions, classification matrix, and worked examples. That skill is the comprehensive reference; this decision tree is a guided entry point into it.
Present the final recommendation as a fenced markdown code block so the user can copy it directly. Fill in the template using the tracked path through the decision tree -- the justification should connect the user's answers to the recommendation.
```markdown
## Architecture
- **Mechanism:** [Skill | Agent | Command | Hook | Skill+Agent | Hook+Command]
- **Justification:** [1-2 sentences derived from the decision path taken]
- **Anti-patterns avoided:** [which ones and why]
- **Signals matched:** [list the signals from the classification matrix that apply]
```
After presenting the recommendation, offer to walk through another capability if the user has more components to classify.