What problem does it solve?
Cross-cutting design principles like SOLID, separation of concerns, and dependency inversion are often either ignored entirely or applied as a generic checklist without context, leading to brittle codebases where every change ripples unpredictably across modules. This Skill provides scoped, paradigm-aligned guidance to help teams apply design principles consistently where they fit, avoiding the trap of principle theatre that adds complexity without tangible benefit.
Core Features & Use Cases
- Paradigm-scoped principle guidance: Provides separate, applicable rules for object-oriented codebases (SOLID weighting, inheritance vs composition tradeoffs) and functional codebases (pure core, effects at edges), avoiding literal translation of OO principles to functional contexts where they do not apply.
- Dependency and module health guardrails: Defines clear rules for dependency direction (volatile to stable), module cohesion, and coupling, with explicit red flags for common failure modes like unmaintained utils grab-bags and bidirectional cross-module dependencies.
- Maturity-aligned enforcement: Offers tailored guidance for projects at every stage, from early POCs to safety-critical systems, including recommended stances on principle weighting, pattern enforcement styles, and technical debt paydown discipline.
- Real-world use case: A team reviewing a new microservice's architecture can use this Skill to validate that high-level domain logic does not depend on concrete database clients, that bounded contexts do not share entity types directly, and that the team has a declared stance on SOLID weighting to avoid inconsistent code review feedback.
Quick Start
Use the principles-and-patterns skill to review the architecture of the new payment processing module for adherence to declared design principles and dependency direction rules.
