Solution design
Evidence-first process skills for coding agents: codebase analysis, solution design, minimal implementation plans
npx -y skills add tony-adamson/groundwork --skill solution-designAssembled from the repository path, not quoted from the project. Check it against their README if it does not work.
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What its author says it does
Copied from the file, not written here
Creates SOLUTION.md for one concrete task: the minimal sufficient solution, grounded in the requirements, CURRENT_STATE.md, and live code. Use only when the user explicitly asks to run solution-design. Does not write code and does not create an implementation plan.
SKILL.md
4.6 KB, 966 tokens by cl100k_base, as published. Nobody here has run it
Solution Design → SOLUTION.md
The skill creates or fully rewrites SOLUTION.md in the directory returned by pwd.
SOLUTION.md answers the questions: what to change, why this way, which contracts must survive, what is out of scope, how to prove correctness.
It does not answer "which files to change, step by step" — that is planf3's job.
The resulting file is always two-block:
- Block 1. For the human — a short, readable summary without architectural overload.
- Block 2. For the agent — the complete contract for planning and implementation.
Hard boundaries
You may modify only SOLUTION.md.
Forbidden:
- writing code;
- modifying tests, configs, schemas, dependencies;
- creating implementation phases or a file-by-file checklist;
- automatically launching
codebase-analysisorplanf3; - overwriting
CURRENT_STATE.md; - adding future-proofing to the chosen solution;
- turning a local task into a subsystem/platform/framework.
Launch contract
The skill requires a concrete task: a feature, a bug fix, a refactoring goal, a migration, a product change, a greenfield system.
If there is no goal — do not create a general architecture document. Ask for the task.
At the start:
- Run
pwd. - Find the Git roots and the initial working tree status.
- Read the local instructions and the relevant docs/manifests.
- Find and classify
CURRENT_STATE.md:CURRENT,PARTIAL,STALE,IRRELEVANT,ABSENT. - Determine the mode:
existing,greenfield,hybrid. - Determine whether this is one coherent change set or independent workstreams.
Primary objective function
Not "the most correct architecture", but the minimal sufficient solution.
A solution is better if it:
- fulfills the observable requirements;
- preserves the existing contracts;
- uses the project's current patterns;
- adds fewer files, dependencies, layers, and state;
- is easier to review, test, and delete;
- explicitly moves future work outside the current task.
If the correct solution looks overbuilt, the status must be BLOCKED_BY_SCOPE_OVERDESIGN, not READY_FOR_PLANF3.
Mandatory minimality
SOLUTION.md must contain:
- the smallest acceptable option;
- explicit non-goals;
- rejected overengineering;
- a complexity budget;
- a future work parking lot;
- a justification for every new dependency/subsystem/persistent state/abstraction, if any are needed.
Delegation
Use subagents only when they add value:
- context explorer;
- domain/doc researcher;
- design challenger;
- lean challenger.
For a non-trivial solution, these are mandatory:
- a fresh Design Challenger — hunts for correctness/contract gaps;
- a Lean Challenger — hunts for overengineering/scope creep.
Both work read-only. Only the coordinator writes the final SOLUTION.md.
If the harness does not provide an isolated-subagent tool (for example, Pi) — run the challengers inline: two separate passes, each outputting only findings in the delegation-policy format, then the coordinator responds. Do not simulate spawning subagents and do not claim they were launched.
What to read
- context-modes.md
- design-workflow.md
- design-readiness-gate.md
- evidence-policy.md
- solution-lenses.md
- delegation-policy.md
- SOLUTION.template.md
Language
Write SOLUTION.md and all reports in the user's language — the language of the user's request and conversation, not the language of these instructions. If the request is in Russian, the artifact is in Russian. Do not translate file names, symbols, commands, statuses, or APIs.
Completion criteria
SOLUTION.md is done only if:
- there is a short human block;
- the agent block contains verifiable requirements, contracts, decisions, risks, validation;
- the minimal sufficient approach is chosen;
- the non-goals and rejected overengineering are explicit;
- every material requirement has observable verification;
- PlanF3 will not have to reinvent the architecture;
- the final status is exactly one of:
READY_FOR_PLANF3,BLOCKED,BLOCKED_BY_SCOPE_OVERDESIGN.
What ships with it: 7 files
19.7 KB alongside SKILL.md
references/
- context-modes.md1.7 KB
- delegation-policy.md2.1 KB
- design-readiness-gate.md2.4 KB
- design-workflow.md2.4 KB
- evidence-policy.md1.4 KB
- solution-lenses.md1.9 KB
- SOLUTION.template.md7.8 KB