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Buy vs build decision

Skill stdin/buy-vs-build/plugins/buy-vs-build/skills/buy-vs-build-decision

Stop AI coding agents from adding dependency and build ownership without a decision note.

Install
npx -y skills add stdin/buy-vs-build --skill buy-vs-build-decision

Assembled from the repository path, not quoted from the project. Check it against their README if it does not work.

One thing to look at

  • 3 stars3 stars. Stars are a popularity signal and not a quality one, but at this level it is likely that nobody has read this closely except its author, and you would be relying on your own review.

What its author says it does

Copied from the file, not written here

Use when choosing between built-ins, standard libraries, native platform features, installed packages, open source libraries, commercial products, or in-house implementation for a feature or technical design.

SKILL.md

1.6 KB, as published. Nobody here has run it

Buy vs Build Decision

Make the smallest useful decision memo. The goal is clarity, not ceremony.

Workflow

  1. State the requirement and constraints.
  2. Classify it: core (differentiation) or context, and commodity (stable) or novel. Reuse context and commodity work; reserve in-house for core, novel work.
  3. Walk the ladder: do nothing, built-in, native platform, installed dependency, open source, commercial, in-house.
  4. When several options fit the rung, pick the one that matches the requirement's real shape (directionality, volume, latency, consistency, failure mode), not the most powerful, popular, or familiar one.
  5. Compare fit, total cost of ownership, security, licensing, maintenance, integration, maturity, reversibility, and exit risk.
  6. Choose the lowest-ownership option that satisfies the constraints. For hard-to-reverse (one-way-door) choices, demand more scrutiny and an exit plan.
  7. Name the trigger that would justify revisiting the decision.

Output

Use this format:

Decision: use <option/rung>.
Why: <one or two sentences on the winning tradeoff>.
Rejected: <main alternative> because <constraint>.
Revisit if: <specific trigger>.

If building in-house, name the reuse option that failed and the constraint it failed. If adding a dependency or service, name the built-in or installed option that was insufficient.

Keep looking

Skills are one crate of 328,083. Ordering is by how many stacks a row turns up in, so the top of any crate is what has actually been picked rather than what has the most stars.