to-design SKILL.md skillA
to-design from arminzou/dotbrain is an agent skill: a SKILL.md folder an AI agent loads when a task calls for it.
mdr add arminzou/dotbrain/to-design@git:20261017.5b1062dPins git:20261017.5b1062d in mdr.lock. Pin the fingerprint instead.
- Audit grade
- A, 17 of 17 checks passed
- Kind
- SKILL.md skill
- Repository
- arminzou/dotbrain
- Path
plugin/skills/to-design/SKILL.md- Versions recorded
- 6
- Latest version
- git:20261017.5b1062d, committed Oct 17, 2026
- First version recorded
- Aug 26, 2026
- Size
- 6,529 bytes
- Repository stars
- 5
- License
- MIT
Formalizes a multi-step initiative as a design doc in the Brain plus a tracking epic bead. Use when an initiative is multi-step, crosses modules, or carries meaningful unknowns — before it is decomposed into work items — or when arriving from grill-decisions or find-unknowns with a shape worth writing down.
Collected from public GitHub. Every version is saved exactly as it was and never changes. Install it at an exact version with the mdr tool, and every file is checked before it reaches your agent. The main file is checked against the SHA-256 fingerprint recorded here, and the others against the fingerprints GitHub keeps for its source commit. The automatic checks below grade the latest version, and the same checks always give the same file the same grade.
What the file says
# To Design Synthesize the current conversation context and codebase understanding into a design doc under `.brain/designs/`, then open the epic that tracks it. `DOTBRAIN.md` governs the doc over its whole life; this skill covers authoring it. ## Stop before you start A design doc earns its keep only when the initiative is multi-step, crosses modules or workflows, needs explicit scope boundaries, or carries meaningful unknowns. Small, obvious, single-item changes go straight into beads instead. If the initiative warrants an ADR, stop and run `grill-decisions` first. ADRs own durable decision rationale; this doc owns the initiative's design, unknowns, and rollout. State the one-sentence reason this needs a doc rather than a bead before creating anything. ## Process ### 1. Read the local operating context Read the nearest `AGENTS.md`, `CONTEXT.md`, and the ADRs and design docs relevant to the initiative. If `.brain/docs/` holds runbooks or reference notes bearing on the work, read those too. Completion: every concept this initiative touches is paired with the project's existing term or flagged as needing a new one, and every ADR it interacts with is listed. …
Read the whole file at its exact version.
How to install
mdr add arminzou/dotbrain/to-design@sha256:08aba9a1afcc2f96The line at the top of this page pins the label git:20261017.5b1062d, which is what most people want. This one pins the sha256 fingerprint of the contents instead, so it survives a label being moved. Either way the exact version is written to mdr.lock, and mdr install downloads and checks those contents again, so it installs them exactly or stops with an error.
[](https://markdownregistry.com/a/art_6zjpo6zvi732d2pu)
1 badge image fetches in 30 days. What the badge shows.
Versions
The registry has recorded 6 versions of this file, between Aug 26, 2026 and Oct 17, 2026, about one every 10 days.
| version | committed | commit | size | audit | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| git:20261017.5b1062d latest | 2026-10-17 | 5b1062d | 6,529 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20261009.1da8791 | 2026-10-09 | 1da8791 | 5,261 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20261006.eebad1b | 2026-10-06 | eebad1b | 4,222 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20260911.072149e | 2026-09-11 | 072149e | 4,229 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20260902.29baf79 | 2026-09-02 | 29baf79 | 4,043 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20260826.25c60ca | 2026-08-26 | 25c60ca | 4,021 B | A | view |
Audit of the latest version
- pass: Frontmatter block present
- pass: Frontmatter declares a name
- pass: Frontmatter declares a description
- pass: Size between 200 bytes and 200 KB (6529 bytes)
- pass: No zero-width or bidi control characters
- pass: No instruction hidden inside an HTML comment
- pass: No link to an exfiltration or paste host
- pass: No credential-shaped string
- pass: No instruction to send local credentials anywhere
- pass: No text hidden with inline styles
- pass: No prompt-injection phrasing
- pass: No curl or wget piped into a shell
- pass: No recursive delete of root, home or parent
- pass: No instruction to read or print local credentials
- pass: No base64 blob over 200 characters
- pass: No link to a raw IP address
- pass: No script tag
Source
arminzou/dotbrain · 5 stars · license MIT · pushed 2026-10-22 · branch main
API
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_6zjpo6zvi732d2pu GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=arminzou/dotbrain/to-design GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/08aba9a1afcc2f96d84666025c4155ec1fd2a4e1a83335c8019bc0b2e49923a1
Your AI assistant does the legwork. You hear about the deals worth your word. Hand yours the standing instructions at modelranch.com and it joins the network that reads files like this one.
Guides: the SKILL.md format and its required fields · what to check before you install a skill · how to pin a skill to an exact version · where to find agent skills · keeping a team on the same skills · which agent file does what.