Designing Architecture Skill for Claude
Designs software architecture and selects appropriate patterns for projects. Use when designing systems, choosing architecture patterns, structuring projects, making technical decisions, or when asked about microservices, monoliths, or architectural approaches.
Install
one command, takes just this skill from the repositorynpx skills add https://github.com/CloudAI-X/claude-workflow-v2 --skill designing-architectureThe instruction itself
18 sections, as written by the authorDesigning Architecture
When to Load
- Trigger: System design, module structure, new project scaffolding, choosing architecture patterns
- Skip: Simple bug fixes or minor code changes that don't affect architecture
Architecture Decision Workflow
Copy this checklist and track progress:
Architecture Design Progress:
- [ ] Step 1: Understand requirements and constraints
- [ ] Step 2: Assess project size and team capabilities
- [ ] Step 3: Select architecture pattern
- [ ] Step 4: Define directory structure
- [ ] Step 5: Document trade-offs and decision
- [ ] Step 6: Validate against decision framework
Pattern Selection Guide
By Project Size
| Size | Recommended Pattern |
| ----------------- | --------------------------------- |
| Small (<10K LOC) | Simple MVC/Layered |
| Medium (10K-100K) | Clean Architecture |
| Large (>100K) | Modular Monolith or Microservices |
By Team Size
| Team | Recommended |
| --------- | ---------------------------- |
| 1-3 devs | Monolith with clear modules |
| 4-10 devs | Modular Monolith |
| 10+ devs | Microservices (if justified) |
Common Patterns
1. Layered Architecture
┌─────────────────────────────┐
│ Presentation │ ← UI, API Controllers
├─────────────────────────────┤
│ Application │ ← Use Cases, Services
├─────────────────────────────┤
│ Domain │ ← Business Logic, Entities
├─────────────────────────────┤
│ Infrastructure │ ← Database, External APIs
└─────────────────────────────┘
Use when: Simple CRUD apps, small teams, quick prototypes
2. Clean Architecture
┌─────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Frameworks & Drivers │
│ ┌─────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │ Interface Adapters │ │
│ │ ┌─────────────────────┐ │ │
│ │ │ Application │ │ │
│ │ │ ┌─────────────┐ │ │ │
│ │ │ │ Domain │ │ │ │
│ │ │ └─────────────┘ │ │ │
│ │ └─────────────────────┘ │ │
│ └─────────────────────────────┘ │
└─────────────────────────────────────┘
Use when: Complex business logic, long-lived projects, testability is key
3. Hexagonal (Ports & Adapters)
┌──────────┐
│ HTTP API │
└────┬─────┘
│ Port
┌────────▼────────┐
│ │
│ Application │
│ Core │
│ │
└────────┬────────┘
│ Port
┌────▼─────┐
│ Database │
└──────────┘
Use when: Need to swap external dependencies, multiple entry points
4. Event-Driven Architecture
Producer → Event Bus → Consumer
│
├─→ Consumer
│
└─→ Consumer
Use when: Loose coupling needed, async processing, scalability
5. CQRS (Command Query Responsibility Segregation)
┌─────────────┐ ┌─────────────┐
│ Commands │ │ Queries │
│ (Write) │ │ (Read) │
└──────┬──────┘ └──────┬──────┘
│ │
▼ ▼
Write Model Read Model
│ │
└────────┬───────────┘
▼
Event Store
Use when: Different read/write scaling, complex domains, event sourcing
Directory Structure Patterns
Feature-Based (Recommended for medium+)
src/
├── features/
│ ├── users/
│ │ ├── api/
│ │ ├── components/
│ │ ├── hooks/
│ │ ├── services/
│ │ └── types/
│ └── orders/
│ ├── api/
│ ├── components/
│ └── ...
├── shared/
│ ├── components/
│ ├── hooks/
│ └── utils/
└── app/
└── ...
Layer-Based (Simple apps)
src/
├── controllers/
├── services/
├── models/
├── repositories/
└── utils/
Decision Framework
When making architectural decisions, evaluate against these criteria:
- Simplicity - Start simple, evolve when needed
- Team Skills - Match architecture to team capabilities
- Requirements - Let business needs drive decisions
- Scalability - Consider growth trajectory
- Maintainability - Optimize for change
Trade-off Analysis Template
Use this template to document architectural decisions:
## Decision: [What we're deciding]
### Context
[Why this decision is needed now]
### Options Considered
1. Option A: [Description]
2. Option B: [Description]
### Trade-offs
| Criteria | Option A | Option B |
| ---------------- | -------- | -------- |
| Complexity | Low | High |
| Scalability | Medium | High |
| Team familiarity | High | Low |
### Decision
We chose [Option] because [reasoning].
### Consequences
- [What this enables]
- [What this constrains]
Validation Checklist
After selecting an architecture, validate against:
Architecture Validation:
- [ ] Matches project size and complexity
- [ ] Aligns with team skills and experience
- [ ] Supports current requirements
- [ ] Allows for anticipated growth
- [ ] Dependencies flow inward (core has no external deps)
- [ ] Clear boundaries between modules/layers
- [ ] Testing strategy is feasible
- [ ] Trade-offs are documented
If validation fails, reconsider the pattern selection or adjust the implementation approach.
Other skills for the same job
different authors, same section of the catalogue
Guide users through a structured workflow for co-authoring documentation. Use when user wants to write documentation, proposals, technical specs, decision docs, or similar structured content. This workflow helps users efficiently transfer context, refine content through iteration, and verify the doc works for readers. Trigger when user mentions writing docs, creating proposals, drafting specs, or similar documentation tasks.
Intelligently organizes your files and folders across your computer by understanding context, finding duplicates, suggesting better structures, and automating cleanup tasks. Reduces cognitive load and keeps your digital workspace tidy without manual effort.
Generates creative domain name ideas for your project and checks availability across multiple TLDs (.com, .io, .dev, .ai, etc.). Saves hours of brainstorming and manual checking.
You MUST use this before any creative work - creating features, building components, adding functionality, or modifying behavior. Explores user intent, requirements and design before implementation.
Implements Manus-style file-based planning for complex tasks. Creates task_plan.md, findings.md, and progress.md. Use when starting complex multi-step tasks, research projects, or any task requiring >5 tool calls.
Creative research ideation and exploration. Use for open-ended brainstorming sessions, exploring interdisciplinary connections, challenging assumptions, or identifying research gaps. Best for early-stage research planning when you do not have specific observations yet. For formulating testable hypotheses from data use hypothesis-generation.
Comprehensive GitHub project management with swarm-coordinated issue tracking, project board automation, and sprint planning
Interview the user relentlessly about a plan or design until reaching shared understanding, resolving each branch of the decision tree. Use when user wants to stress-test a plan, get grilled on their design, or mentions "grill me".
How to use it
Take cloudai-x/designing-architecture from the repository into ~/.claude/skills for personal
use, or into .claude/skills inside a project.
The agent identifies a skill by the name field in its header. Two skills with the
same name cannot sit side by side — one of them will be ignored.