Skip to content
Merged
Show file tree
Hide file tree
Changes from all commits
Commits
File filter

Filter by extension

Filter by extension

Conversations
Failed to load comments.
Loading
Jump to
Jump to file
Failed to load files.
Loading
Diff view
Diff view
21 changes: 21 additions & 0 deletions custom-skills/matt/LICENSE
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
MIT License

Copyright (c) 2026 Matt Pocock

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
SOFTWARE.
23 changes: 23 additions & 0 deletions custom-skills/matt/PROVENANCE.md
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
# Matt skills snapshot provenance

This directory vendors an exact snapshot of Matt Pocock's public skills repository.

- Source: https://github.com/mattpocock/skills
- Commit: `84fdeffd12f2ee307994d1eb6feb48173b6e0502`
- Source roots: `skills/productivity/` and `skills/engineering/`
- Destination roots: `custom-skills/matt/productivity/` and `custom-skills/matt/engineering/`
- Snapshot inventory: 76 files from the two source roots, plus the upstream `LICENSE`.
- License: the upstream MIT license is retained verbatim at `custom-skills/matt/LICENSE`.
- Hash evidence: `SNAPSHOT.sha256` records the source path, destination path, byte count, source SHA-256, and destination SHA-256 for every copied file.

Reproduce the snapshot from the pinned commit with:

```sh
git archive 84fdeffd12f2ee307994d1eb6feb48173b6e0502 skills/productivity skills/engineering LICENSE | tar -x
```

Copy `skills/productivity/` to `custom-skills/matt/productivity/`, copy `skills/engineering/` to `custom-skills/matt/engineering/`, and copy `LICENSE` to `custom-skills/matt/LICENSE`.

Verify every source and destination pair with `cmp` and the matching rows in `SNAPSHOT.sha256`.

The copied upstream files are byte-preserved and are not adapted for Firstmate.
77 changes: 77 additions & 0 deletions custom-skills/matt/SNAPSHOT.sha256

Large diffs are not rendered by default.

32 changes: 32 additions & 0 deletions custom-skills/matt/engineering/README.md
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
# Engineering

Skills I use daily for code work.

## User-invoked

Reachable only when you type them (Claude Code: `disable-model-invocation: true`; Codex: `policy.allow_implicit_invocation: false` in `agents/openai.yaml`).

- **[ask-matt](./ask-matt/SKILL.md)** — Ask which skill or flow fits your situation. A router over the user-invoked skills in this repo.
- **[grill-with-docs](./grill-with-docs/SKILL.md)** — Grilling session that also builds your project's domain model, sharpening terminology and updating `CONTEXT.md` and ADRs inline.
- **[triage](./triage/SKILL.md)** — Move issues through a state machine of triage roles.
- **[improve-codebase-architecture](./improve-codebase-architecture/SKILL.md)** — Scan a codebase for deepening opportunities, present them as a visual HTML report, then grill through whichever one you pick.
- **[setup-matt-pocock-skills](./setup-matt-pocock-skills/SKILL.md)** — Configure this repo for the engineering skills (issue tracker, triage labels, domain doc layout). Run once per repo.
- **[to-spec](./to-spec/SKILL.md)** — Turn the current conversation into a spec and publish it to the issue tracker.
- **[to-tickets](./to-tickets/SKILL.md)** — Break any plan, spec, or conversation into a set of tracer-bullet tickets, each declaring its blocking edges — text in a local file, or native blocking links on a real tracker.
- **[implement](./implement/SKILL.md)** — Build the work described by a spec or set of tickets, driving `/tdd` at pre-agreed seams and closing out with `/code-review` before committing.
- **[wayfinder](./wayfinder/SKILL.md)** — Plan a huge chunk of work — more than one agent session can hold — as a shared map of decision tickets on the issue tracker, resolved one at a time until the way to the destination is clear.

## Model-invoked

Model- or user-reachable (rich trigger phrasing so the model can reach for them).

- **[prototype](./prototype/SKILL.md)** — Build a throwaway prototype to answer a design question: a single shareable HTML file for state/logic, or several toggleable UI variations.

- **[diagnosing-bugs](./diagnosing-bugs/SKILL.md)** — Disciplined diagnosis loop for hard bugs and performance regressions: build a feedback loop that goes red on this bug → minimise → hypothesise → instrument → fix → regression-test.
- **[research](./research/SKILL.md)** — Investigate a question against high-trust primary sources and capture the findings as a cited Markdown file in the repo, run as a background agent.
- **[tdd](./tdd/SKILL.md)** — Test-driven development with a red-green-refactor loop. Builds features or fixes bugs one vertical slice at a time.
- **[domain-modeling](./domain-modeling/SKILL.md)** — Actively build and sharpen a project's domain model — challenge terms, stress-test with scenarios, update `CONTEXT.md` and ADRs inline.
- **[codebase-design](./codebase-design/SKILL.md)** — Shared discipline and vocabulary for designing deep modules: small interfaces, clean seams, testable through the interface.
- **[code-review](./code-review/SKILL.md)** — Two-axis review of the diff since a fixed point: **Standards** (does it follow the repo's coding standards, plus a Fowler smell baseline?) and **Spec** (does it faithfully implement the originating issue/spec?), run as parallel sub-agents.
- **[resolving-merge-conflicts](./resolving-merge-conflicts/SKILL.md)** — Work through an in-progress git merge or rebase conflict hunk by hunk, resolving by intent traced to each side's primary source, then finish the operation — never `--abort`.
- **[wizard](./wizard/SKILL.md)** — Generate an interactive bash wizard that walks a human through steps only they can perform: provisioning infrastructure, setting up credentials or CI secrets, walking an unfamiliar third-party dashboard, or running a one-off migration or cutover.
55 changes: 55 additions & 0 deletions custom-skills/matt/engineering/ask-matt/PHASE-BOUNDARIES.md
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
# Phase boundaries

A **phase** is a chunk of work inside a session — the grilling, the implementation, the QA. The definition is fuzzy on purpose: a phase ends when you think *"ok, we're done with that"*.

The **phase boundary** is the gap between two phases, and it is the only place this decision belongs. Mid-phase there is no decision to make — continue, or split the work that's left into subagents. Compacting mid-phase makes the agent lose the thread.

## The five options

| Option | What it does |
| ------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Continue** | Stay in the session. No context switch at all. |
| **`/clear`** | Empty the context window and start from nothing. |
| **`/handoff`** | Write a portable markdown file and seed a session anywhere with it. |
| **Subagent** | Send the task to its own context window and get a report back. |
| **`/compact`** | Compress this context and seed a fresh session with the summary. |

## The tree

Work top to bottom at the boundary. The first **yes** wins.

**1. Can you continue in this session?** Two things make the answer yes: the next phase needs this phase as a **primary source**, or you have enough [smart zone](https://www.aihero.dev/ai-coding-dictionary/smart-zone) left (~150k tokens) for the next phase to fit. Grilling → implementation is the standard yes: the implementation wants the reasoning verbatim, not a summary of it. Continue costs nothing and loses nothing, so rule it out before anything else.

**2. Is the context irrelevant to what comes next?** Is everything in this session — the exploration, the decisions, the dead ends — disposable? If so, **`/clear`**. It is the cheapest move on the board: it takes no time and hands back the whole window. `/clear` also isn't terminal — the old session stays resumable.

The cost of getting this wrong is one-way. Clear a *relevant* context and you lose the **why** behind what you built, and no amount of reading the diff back gets it returned.

**3. Do you need to hand off?** `/handoff` is narrow. You need it only when you are:

- swapping to a **new harness** (Claude → Codex),
- moving to a **new directory** or repo,
- sending the work to a **colleague**,
- or forking a side task you found **mid-phase** without derailing what you're doing.

That list is the whole clause. What `/handoff` buys is **portability** — a file that travels. If nothing is travelling, you don't need it.

**4. Can the task be done AFK?** Is it scoped tightly enough to run with you away from the keyboard, no steering? Then send it to a **subagent** and leave this session untouched. Automated review is the standard case: the agent reads the diff and reports, and you aren't needed while it does.

**5. Otherwise, `/compact`.** Relevant context, same harness, same directory, and you need to stay in the loop — this is where the tree lands, and it lands here often. Pass it an instruction (`/compact we're going to QA this area`) so the summary keeps what the next phase needs.

`/compact` is the **default, not the first reach**. It sits at the bottom because the four questions above it are all cheaper or more precise. The failure mode when people start here is a fresh session that is confidently wrong about a decision the summary flattened.

## Primary and secondary sources

Every move except **Continue** turns a **primary source** into a **secondary source** — the session as it happened, replaced by a summary of it. The trade is always the same shape:

| Source | Information | Noise | Room to move |
| --------------------------------- | ----------- | ----- | ------------ |
| Primary (Continue) | Full | Lots | Little |
| Secondary (`/compact`, `/handoff`) | Lossy | Less | Lots |

This is why question 1 comes first. You only pay the lossiness when staying costs more than it saves.

## These are judgement calls

The questions are not objective — each has taste in it, and the same boundary can go two ways on two days. The value is in asking them **in order**, at the boundary rather than in the middle of the work.
Loading
Loading