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design-decisions SKILL.md skillA

This file is byte-identical to the first copy the registry indexed. Same content hash, so the same checks give both the same grade.

design-decisions from cercano-ai/cercano is an agent skill: a SKILL.md folder an AI agent loads when a task calls for it.

Install it, pinned

mdr add cercano-ai/cercano/design-decisions@git:20260709.887cd3f

Pins git:20260709.887cd3f in mdr.lock. Pin the fingerprint instead.

Audit grade: A, 17 of 17 checks passed
Kind: SKILL.md skill
Repository: cercano-ai/cercano
Path: .agents/skills/design-decisions/SKILL.md
Versions recorded: 1
Latest version: git:20260709.887cd3f, committed Jul 9, 2026
Size: 3,924 bytes
Repository stars: 11
License: Apache-2.0

Stop and weigh real options before coding a structural decision.

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

# Design Decision Protocol

## When This Applies

Any time there are multiple viable implementation approaches — data modeling, encoding choices, interface changes, module boundaries, state machine structure, anything structural. If you can think of more than one way to do it, this protocol is mandatory.

## The Rule

**STOP. Do not write code.** Present options to the human first.

## Steps

1. **Identify the decision point.** State what needs to be decided and why.

2. **Enumerate at least 2–3 real options.** Not strawmen. Each must be a genuinely viable approach.

3. **For each option, quantify these four dimensions:**

   - **Cost/complexity**: lines of code, files touched, new dependencies introduced, test surface added. Be specific — "~50 new lines across 3 files" not "small." (Hardware analog: gates, registers, mm².)
   - **Risk**: what can go wrong? Is the failure silent (wrong output) or loud (crash/hang)? What testing catches it? How hard is it to debug if it breaks?
   - **Reward/outcome**: what does this solve? Does it unlock future work? Does it close off future options?
…

Read the whole file at its exact version.

How to install

The exact contents, by fingerprint

mdr add cercano-ai/cercano/design-decisions@sha256:c617ee7167ade0ec

The line at the top of this page pins the label git:20260709.887cd3f, 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.

Badge

[![mdr](https://markdownregistry.com/badge/art_rgqvlnk5s5u3dki3.svg)](https://markdownregistry.com/a/art_rgqvlnk5s5u3dki3)

2 badge image fetches in 30 days. What the badge shows.

Versions

The registry has recorded 1 version of this file, committed on Jul 9, 2026.

version	committed	commit	size	audit
git:20260709.887cd3f latest	2026-07-09	887cd3f	3,924 B	A	view

Audit of the latest version

A 17 of 17 checks passed. Fixed automatic checks with no AI involved, so the same checks give the same answer every run.

pass: Frontmatter block present
pass: Frontmatter declares a name
pass: Frontmatter declares a description
pass: Size between 200 bytes and 200 KB (3924 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

GitHub

cercano-ai/cercano · 11 stars · license Apache-2.0 · pushed 2026-11-08 · branch main

API

GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_rgqvlnk5s5u3dki3
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=cercano-ai/cercano/design-decisions
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/c617ee7167ade0ec946b8a867a738684f5953397d13af1fd198cb30be21772d3

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.

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