fresh-arch · diff
git:20260721.801eb0f to git:20260810.3750f6a
10 added, 7 removed. Audit A to A.
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name: fresh-arch
description: Architecture design reasoned forward from requirements. Use when the user wants a fresh-mind design pass — "design an architecture for", "how would you build", "redesign from scratch" — or when repeated follow-up patches accumulate on the same module. Repeated follow-up patches landing on the same module (~3rd) → stop patching, invoke this skill to re-derive from the full requirement set.
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Design an architecture for the topic above by reasoning forward from requirements. If a codebase exists, you may Read/Grep it — but only as evidence to evaluate, not as a frame to fit the new design into.
**Mindset**
Catch yourself in any of these and stop — they are migration concerns smuggled in as design concerns:
- "the current code does X, so the new design should look similar"
- "we need to stay backward-compatible with X"
- "let's stick to the existing module boundaries / pattern / abstractions"
- "let's not be too aggressive / disruptive / far from what the team knows"
- "X is already wired up, so reuse it"
If a current pattern survives, it survives on merit — because it is the right answer when reasoned forward from requirements — not because it is already there.
- **Output**
- 1. **Problem** — 1-3 lines, what the system must do (not how).
- 2. **Components** — 3-7 boxes, each with a one-sentence responsibility. Justify why these and not fewer/more.
- 3. **Contracts** — interfaces / message shapes between components.
- 4. **Data & state** — what's stored where, consistency model, lifecycle.
- 5. **Rejected alternatives** — at least one different shape you considered and why this one wins.
- 6. **Critique of the current design** *(if a codebase exists)* — judged against the design above. What the current system gets wrong, what it accidentally gets right, what is load-bearing vs. incidental. Not a migration plan; migration is a separate problem.
+ **Checklist**
+
+ Think through these points mentally:
+
+ - [ ] **Problem** — 1-3 lines, what the system must do (not how).
+ - [ ] **Components** — 3-7 boxes, each with a one-sentence responsibility. Justify why these and not fewer/more.
+ - [ ] **Contracts** — interfaces / message shapes between components.
+ - [ ] **Data & state** — what's stored where, consistency model, lifecycle.
+ - [ ] **Rejected alternatives** — at least one different shape you considered and why this one wins.
+ - [ ] **Critique of the current design** *(if a codebase exists)* — judged against the design above. What the current system gets wrong, what it accidentally gets right, what is load-bearing vs. incidental. Not a migration plan; migration is a separate problem.