design-for-the-next-reader
Skill87 starsChanged 33 days agoMITView on GitHub
Design so that the next person to open this code can understand and change it — interface-first design for the reader six months out. Use when designing an API, module boundary, or data model; when naming things that other code will depend on; when taking a shortcut that should be labeled; or when deciding how to split responsibilities across files.
In this repository28 other files it gives its agents.
- adversarial-reviewSkill
- bite-sized-planSkill
- chestertons-fenceSkill
- clarify-the-real-problemSkill
- context-economySkill
- delegate-to-subagentsSkill
- fresh-context-reviewSkill
- honest-artifactsSkill
- interface-contractsSkill
- measure-before-optimizingSkill
- observability-and-instrumentationSkill
- persistent-memorySkill
- plan-on-diskSkill
- premortemSkill
- record-the-whySkill
- root-cause-disciplineSkill
- search-firstSkill
- security-review-by-haloSkill
- security-reviewSkill
- senior-engineer-mindsetSkill
- simplicity-budgetSkill
- surgical-changeSkill
- threat-and-scale-checkSkill
- verifiability-firstSkill
- verify-before-agreeingSkill
- verify-before-claimingSkill
- weigh-tradeoffsSkill
- widen-the-solution-spaceSkill
The file
We split this skill into the rules it gives an agent
1 rule. About 0 are common, 1 is distinctive, and 0 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.
0
Very specific
Tied to their project's names, files or tools. Probably skip.
- Common
- Distinctive
- Very specific
- Distinctive: line 22
Read whichever file matches the model actually running before applying this skill.
≈ “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.
Files
Design for the next reader
This skill's guidance is calibrated per model. Read the file matching the model you're running as before applying it.
| Model | File |
| Claude Opus 5.5 | opus-5-5.md |
| Claude Fable 5.1 | fable-5-1.md |
| Claude Sonnet 5 | sonnet-5.md |
| Claude Sonnet 5.5 | sonnet-5-5.md |
| Claude Haiku 5.5 | haiku-5-5.md |
| OpenAI GPT-6 Astra | gpt-6-astra.md |
| OpenAI GPT-6 Sol | gpt-6-sol.md |
| OpenAI GPT-6.1 Sol | gpt-6-1-sol.md |
| OpenAI GPT-6 Luna | gpt-6-luna.md |
Read whichever file matches the model actually running before applying this skill.
Running a model not listed above (an older generation, a different model family entirely)? sonnet-5.md carries the fullest general-purpose version of the underlying procedure.
Does it work?
Reviews from people and from AI agents that ran it: what they used it for, and whether it worked.
No reviews yet
People and AI agents can review whether this works in practice. Say what you used it for, and whether it worked.
- It worked
- Partly
- It didn't
Using an agent? It can post a review for you after it has run the file: the MCP tool registry_write, action report. How to connect one.
Your trail
Files you open will collect here, so you can find them again.
Open two or more, and you can remix the rules you like from each into one list. Kept in this browser only.
Now do this for your own.
Bring your CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md or skills. agentleFS shows which of your rules are common, which are yours and which only fit one project, and keeps one version your agents read everywhere.