Design Review Methodology

Companion skill for the /systems-design-review mode. The mode gates tools; this skill governs behavior.

For automated staging with approval gates, use the systems-design-review recipe instead of this manual flow:

recipes(operation="execute", recipe_path="@systems-design:recipes/systems-design-review.yaml", context={"target_path": "<path>"})

The recipe automates reconnaissance, classification, multi-perspective analysis, and report generation with human checkpoints between stages.

Core Rule

You handle the CONVERSATION. Agents handle the ANALYSIS.

You guide the user through the review, synthesize findings, and facilitate decisions. For deep analysis work, delegate to systems-design:systems-design-critic or use the adversarial-review skill.

Step Flow

Step 1: Understand the Design

Before any critique, reconstruct the designer's reasoning:

1. Read the design document or referenced files thoroughly.
2. Identify the stated goals, constraints, and tradeoffs.
3. If a codebase exists, survey the relevant parts.
4. Note what the design explicitly addresses and what it is silent on.

Apply the Comprehending Existing lens:

• Why was this designed this way? What tradeoffs did the original designer make?
• What does the choice of this approach over alternatives tell us about the constraints the designer was working under?
• What is the mental model? Is it human-facing or system-facing?
• What problems does the current design solve that aren't obvious at first glance?

Understanding original intent prevents reviews that recommend "fixing" things the designer already considered and deliberately chose.

Ask: "Is this the complete design, or is there additional context I should know about?"

Step 2: Classify the System

This step is mandatory. Do not skip it. Do not proceed to analysis without completing it.

Based on what you learned in Step 1, classify the system under review. Produce a brief taxonomy:

System types -- which of these apply? List ALL that match, not just the primary one:

Design philosophies -- which does the system claim or embody?

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