agentleFS
daveebbelaardaveebbelaar/bawa/skills/start/app-brief/SKILL.md

app-brief

Skill17 starsChanged 11 days agoMITView on GitHub

One-page brief (docs/BRIEF.md) for a new Windows app, written before any code. Use when the user has an app idea, wants to replace an app they pay for, or the research and clone skills are done.

2 other projects use a version of this, 2 of them edited.

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The file

We split this skill into the rules it gives an agent

6 rules. About 0 are common, 1 is distinctive, and 5 are very specific to this project.

  • ≈0

    Common · estimate

    Many files like this have a rule of this kind.

  • ≈1

    Distinctive · estimate

    This author's own choices. Worth a look.

  • 5

    Very specific

    Tied to their project's names, files or tools. Probably skip.

  • Common
  • Distinctive
  • Very specific
  1. Very specific:

    Write docs/BRIEF.md in a folder named after the app (<parent>\<AppName>\docs\BRIEF.md.

    line 9
  2. Very specific:

    If docs/research/ or docs/screens/INDEX.md exist, read them first.

    line 20
  3. Very specific:

    If the user gives you a spec from BAWA's specs/ folder (a file or a link), it already holds the brief and the stories.

    line 23
  4. Distinctive:

    Ask a few questions at a time.

    line 32
  5. Very specific:

    Should it look like a built-in Windows 11 app, or have its own look?

    line 44
  6. Very specific:

    Call the Skill tool with user-stories, or with new-windows-app if the user wants to see a window first.

    line 97

≈ “Common” is an estimate: at least 1 in 5 of the 350,495 skill files we read have a rule of the same kind, not the same words. “Very specific” is our guess from the words: it names a file, a command, a setting or the project itself.

Keep what fits and drop the rest. Your version, ready for your agents.
Files
SKILL.md

App brief

Write docs/BRIEF.md in a folder named after the app (<parent>\<AppName>\docs\BRIEF.md; ask for the parent folder, default $HOME\Developer). Every later skill reads it. Keep it to one page.

1. Name and read what exists

Pick the name first: one UpperCamelCase word (Tasks, DailyLog), not the name of an app already installed (check Start and %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs). The folder, the research, and the scaffold all use it.

If docs/research/ or docs/screens/INDEX.md exist, read them first. Skip every question they already answer.

If the user gives you a spec from BAWA's specs/ folder (a file or a link), it already holds the brief and the stories. Copy its Brief block to docs/BRIEF.md and its Stories block to docs/STORIES.md. Keep the rest of the spec as docs/SPEC.md, so later skills read its How it works and Gotchas. Ask only what the user wants to change, then call the Skill tool with new-windows-app.

2. Interview

Ask a few questions at a time. If the user asked you to decide everything, answer each question yourself from the research, write the choice in the brief, and note "decided by the agent" next to it.

  1. What do you do today, and which app or habit does it replace?
  2. What are the three things you do most often? These become the main pages.
  3. What data does it hold? Name the nouns: tasks, notes, recipes, invoices.
  4. Is there a reference app you like? Then the clone skill comes next.
  5. Where does it live: a window with navigation, a tray icon, a quick-capture panel with a global shortcut, or a mix?
  6. Does it need the internet? Default: no.
  7. Which three things are out of scope for version one?
  8. Should it look like a built-in Windows 11 app, or have its own look? Note a brand or accent color, and any app they name ("like the new Notepad"): the design-from-app skill rebuilds its look. No answer means native with the Windows accent color.

3. Cut scope

A personal app has one user. Remove what exists only for other users: accounts, sharing, teams, sync servers, billing, onboarding, analytics. If the user wants data on two PCs, note "later: sync through a OneDrive folder".

Version one is one afternoon of agent time: one window, two to five main pages, one data model with two to four types. Smart lists that filter one model (Today, Upcoming, Someday) count as one page.

4. Write docs/BRIEF.md

# <AppName>

One sentence: what it is and who it is for.

## Replaces
<app or habit>

## Main jobs
1. ...
2. ...
3. ...

## Data
- <Type>: <fields>

## Shape
<navigation window / tray icon / quick panel>, Windows 11 (Windows 10 19041 or later runs).
Local data. Works offline. No accounts.

## System hooks
<global shortcut, tray icon, launch at login, clipboard, toast notifications, CLI, or "none">

## Reference
<app name, or "none">

## Look
<native with an accent color (name it, or "Windows accent"), own parts, or "like <app>", and why>

## Not in version one
- ...

5. Hand off

Call the Skill tool with user-stories, or with new-windows-app if the user wants to see a window first.

Done when docs/BRIEF.md exists, fits on one page, and has every section.

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