45 skills found
Break a plan, spec, or the current conversation into tracer-bullet tickets with blocking edges, published to the project tracker. Use when splitting approved work into issues.
You MUST use this when an approved design or settled requirements need a detailed multi-step implementation plan before code changes begin.
Format, numbering, and when-to-write criteria for Architecture Decision Records in docs/adr/. Use when recording an architectural decision, when another skill flags a decision as ADR-worthy, or when the user asks to write or review an ADR.
Turn the current conversation into a spec published to the project tracker — no interview, just synthesis of what was already discussed.
Audits existing tests in any language using formal, research-backed test smell names and the testsmells.org 19-smell academic taxonomy. Use when the caller asks for an academic or citable test-smell review, named smell categories, or a formal severity-ranked smell assessment. Covers Assertion Roulette, Conditional Test Logic, Mystery Guest, Eager Test, Sleepy Test, Unknown Test, Sensitive Equality, and the rest of the catalog across .NET, Python, JavaScript/TypeScript, Java, Go, Ruby, Rust, Swif
Build and sharpen a project's domain model. Use when the user wants to pin down domain terminology or a ubiquitous language, record an architectural decision, or when another skill needs to maintain the domain model.
Design an auditable playbook when no narrower one fits: a large migration, an ambitious multi-part change, or work a human reviews after stepping away. Scales rigor to the task, runs a hypothesis loop, and logs decisions via show-me-your-work. Use for /figure-it-out, 'figure it out', a large migration, or when no narrower playbook applies.
Use when documenting an existing codebase whose documentation is missing, stale, or untrusted - an inherited system, a legacy application, a repo where the docs lie - or when regrounding a documentation tree against the code, or when someone asks what a system actually does. Encodes the survey-first inventory, the writer-side evidence hierarchy, depth-per-surface rules, the refactor test, dead-or-alive proofs, the quirks-and-findings split, the coverage ledger, the parallel campaign, and the doc
Create an implementation plan artifact in Alan
Generates a structured Bug Fix Brief (BFB) to document issue corrections. Includes root cause analysis, repro steps, fix options, and fix checklist. Use when user asks to create a BFB, document a bug fix, or generate a bug correction document.
Safely change and test untested codebases using Feathers' "Working Effectively with Legacy Code". Use when the user mentions "legacy code", "no tests", "untested codebase", "how do I test this", "seams", "characterization tests", "golden master", "sprout method", "afraid to change this code", "monster method", "dependency breaking", or "inherited a messy codebase". Also trigger when changing code without tests safely, getting a class under test when constructors, statics, or singletons block it,
Adversarial senior-engineer review for agent-generated plans, designs, and architectures. Treats the current output as junior work, constructs a senior reviewer whose domain expertise comes from live codebase research plus web research of current best practices, diagnoses altitude failures (too vague or too granular), then rewrites the plan into a scoped, state-of-the-art version. Use when the user says "junior to senior", "senior review", "review this like a staff engineer", when a plan feels h
