mcpbeat

Survey Patterns

tobihagemann/survey-patterns

Survey the codebase for analogous features, reusable utilities, and existing patterns relevant to a proposed change. Returns structured findings without writing code. Use when the user asks to \"survey patterns\", \"find existing patterns\", \"look for analogous features\", \"check how similar things are done\", \"find prior art for this change\", or needs pattern context before planning a change.

1k tokens
context cost
the whole folder, loaded on every use
2
files
instructions only
0
copies elsewhere
how many repositories repackaged it
398
stars on the repo
on the repository, not the skill itself

Install

one command, takes just this skill from the repository 
npx skills add https://github.com/tobihagemann/turbo --skill survey-patterns

The instruction itself

5 sections, as written by the author

Survey Patterns

Search the codebase for analogous features and reusable building blocks before planning a change. Returns structured findings. Does not write code or plans.

Step 1: Identify the Task

Determine what the change is about:

  • If a task description was passed in, use it
  • Otherwise, derive it from conversation context (the user's latest request)

State the task back in one sentence to confirm scope before searching.

Step 2: Spawn Pattern Survey Subagent

Spawn a single subagent in the foreground (model: "opus", no name). Its prompt must direct it to treat the shared working tree and its git index as read-only and to survey by reading and reasoning. The subagent's prompt must include:

  • The confirmed task description from Step 1
  • An instruction to read references/pattern-surveyor.md for survey guidelines, categories, and output format before searching

The subagent covers all three categories (Analogous Features, Reusable Utilities, Convention Anchors) in one sweep and returns a single structured report.

Step 3: Output Findings

Output the subagent's report verbatim. Do not reformat or re-synthesize — references/pattern-surveyor.md specifies the exact output format the subagent produces.

Then use the TaskList tool and proceed to any remaining task.

Rules

  • Do not write files.
  • Do not propose implementation steps.

How to use it

Copy the folder

Take tobihagemann/survey-patterns from the repository into ~/.claude/skills for personal use, or into .claude/skills inside a project.

Check the name does not clash

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.