Provides KISS, YAGNI, and SOLID code quality principles for clean code, reducing complexity, preventing over-engineering, and improving maintainability.

Use this skill at the START of every session. This is MANDATORY for quota management. location: plugin token_budget: 300. Use when session starts (mandatory), prompt sizes spike, tool calls increase, before long-running analyses or massive context loads. Do not use when context-optimization already handles the scenario. DO NOT use when: simple queries with minimal context.

Multi-LLM deliberation for strategic decisions via expert pressure-testing and consensus building. Use for critical, irreversible, or high-stakes architecture choices and conflicts. Skip for trivial or reversible decisions.

Consult this skill when designing client-server systems or API architectures. Use when traditional web/mobile applications with centralized services, clear separation between client and server responsibilities needed. Do not use when selecting from multiple paradigms - use architecture-paradigms first. DO NOT use when: peer-to-peer dominates - consider dedicated P2P patterns.

Functional Core, Imperative Shell: isolate deterministic logic from side effects for testability. Triggers: functional-core, imperative-shell, pure functions, side-effects, testability Use when: business logic is entangled with I/O or tests are brittle DO NOT use when: simple scripting without complex logic, or performance-critical hot paths where immutability overhead matters.

Single deployable with enforced module boundaries for team autonomy without distributed complexity. Triggers: modular-monolith, module boundaries, single deployment, team autonomy Use when: teams need autonomy without distributed overhead DO NOT use when: already using microservices or system is small.

Coarse-grained service architecture for deployment independence without microservices complexity. service-based, SOA, coarse-grained services, domain services Use when: teams need deployment independence without microservices complexity DO NOT use when: fine-grained scaling needed - use microservices.

Asynchronous event-based communication to decouple producers/consumers for scalability and resilience. Triggers: event-driven, message queue, pub/sub, asynchronous, decoupling Use when: real-time workloads or multiple subsystems react to same events DO NOT use when: selecting paradigms (use architecture-paradigms first), simple request-response.

Data-grid architecture for high-traffic stateful workloads with linear scalability. space-based, data grid, in-memory, linear scaling, high traffic Use when: traffic overwhelms database nodes or linear scalability needed DO NOT use when: data does not fit in memory or simpler caching suffices.

Use this skill to quickly understand "what changed and what matters". Use when resuming work after absence, preparing handoff documentation, reviewing sprint progress, analyzing git history for context. Do not use when doing detailed diff analysis - use diff-analysis instead. DO NOT use when: full code review needed - use review-core instead.

Consult this skill when implementing layered patterns or enforcing layer boundaries. Use when building traditional applications with clear boundaries, working with moderate-sized teams, needing familiar and well-understood patterns, compliance requirements demand clear separation. Do not use when selecting from multiple paradigms - use architecture-paradigms first. DO NOT use when: high scalability needs independent component scaling. DO NOT use when: teams need independent deployment cycles - use microservices.

Consult this skill when designing data pipelines or transformation workflows. Use when data flows through fixed sequence of transformations, stages can be independently developed and tested, parallel processing of stages is beneficial. Do not use when selecting from multiple paradigms - use architecture-paradigms first. DO NOT use when: data flow is not sequential or predictable. DO NOT use when: complex branching/merging logic dominates.

Consult this skill when cultivating and maintaining digital gardens. Use when managing note collections, creating link structures, maintaining knowledge bases, tending garden health and growth. Do not use when creating memory palace structures - use memory-palace-architect. DO NOT use when: evaluating new knowledge - use knowledge-intake.

CQRS and Event Sourcing for auditability, read/write separation, and temporal queries. Triggers: CQRS, event-sourcing, audit-trail, temporal queries, distributed-systems Use when: read/write scaling differs or audit trail required DO NOT use when: selecting paradigms (use architecture-paradigms first), simple CRUD without audit needs.

Decouple domain logic from infrastructure using Hexagonal (Ports & Adapters) pattern. Triggers: hexagonal, ports-adapters, infrastructure-independence, domain-isolation, testability Use when: business logic separation, infrastructure changes needed, testability critical DO NOT use when: selecting paradigms (use architecture-paradigms first), simple CRUD.

Consult this skill for session-scoped temporary knowledge structures. Use when working on complex multi-step projects, preserving context across interruptions, tracking session-specific state. Do not use when permanent knowledge structures needed - use memory-palace-architect. DO NOT use when: searching existing knowledge - use knowledge-locator.

Cross-plugin testing quality metrics and standards. Referenced by pensive:test-review and parseltongue:python-testing. testing standards, quality metrics, coverage thresholds, anti-patterns Use when: test quality evaluation, coverage thresholds, quality standards DO NOT use when: simple scripts without quality requirements.

Consult this skill when designing permanent memory palace structures. Use when creating new memory palace structures, organizing complex domains, designing spatial layouts for knowledge retention. Do not use when quick knowledge search - use knowledge-locator instead. DO NOT use when: session-specific context - use session-palace-builder.

Serverless FaaS for event-driven workloads with minimal infrastructure management. serverless, FaaS, Lambda, event-driven, pay-per-use Use when: workloads are event-driven with bursty traffic DO NOT use when: long-running processes or stateful operations required.

Outputs markdown digests and CSV exports for GitHub issues and PRs. Use when creating status reports, weekly updates, stakeholder briefings, generating GitHub comment digests, tracking initiative health. Do not use when release gates/readiness - use release-health-gates. DO NOT use when: project planning - use spec-kit:speckit-orchestrator.