Skill: search-first

Trigger: Automatically before any new feature implementation, or "search first" or "check if this exists"

Description: Enforces research-before-coding. Before writing any new code, search the existing codebase for reusable patterns, existing implementations, and prior art. Prevents duplicated logic.

Allowed Tools: Read, Glob, Grep, Bash

Steps

1. Search existing code for similar functionality:
   • Grep for method names, endpoint names, or key terms
   • Does something already do what's being requested?
2. Search memory indexes:
   • Check function indexes / API reference in .claude/memory/
   • Check architecture docs for existing patterns
3. Search for existing patterns:
   • Is there a helper or utility that already handles this?
   • Can an existing function be extended rather than duplicating?
4. Check for existing data fetching:
   • Is there already an API endpoint that returns this data?
   • Can the frontend reuse an existing call?
5. Report findings:
   • ✅ "Found existing: [method/function] in [file] — reuse this, no new code needed"
   • ⚠️ "Partial match: [method] — extend this instead of creating new"
   • 🆕 "No existing pattern found — safe to create new"
6. Only proceed to plan/code after search is complete

Why This Matters

• Duplicate logic = two places to fix when bugs appear
• Searching takes 2 minutes and can save hours of debugging
• The best code is code you don't write

Notes

• Search memory indexes first (faster) before reading source files
• If a pattern appears in 3+ places, it should be extracted into a shared utility
• After finding existing code: check if it needs to be updated vs reused as-is
• This skill pairs with plan-before-coding — search → plan → confirm → code