cuioss/plugin-architecture

Plugin Architecture Skill

REFERENCE MODE: This skill provides reference material. Load specific references on-demand based on current task. Do not load all references at once.

Pure reference skill providing architecture principles, skill patterns, and design guidance for building goal-based marketplace components.

What This Skill Provides

Architecture Foundation: Core principles for building marketplace components that follow skills best practices and goal-based organization.

Skill Patterns: 10 implementation patterns for building different types of skills (automation, analysis, validation, etc.).

Design Guidance: Workflow-focused skill design, thin orchestrator commands, and proper resource organization.

Pattern Type

Pattern 10: Reference Library - Pure reference skill with no execution logic. Load references on-demand based on current task.

When to Use This Skill

Activate when:

• Creating new marketplace components - Agents, commands, skills, or bundles
• Refactoring existing components - Migrating to goal-based architecture
• Reviewing component design - Ensuring architecture compliance
• Learning marketplace architecture - Understanding principles and patterns

Core Concepts

Goal-Based Organization

Principle: Organize by WHAT users want to accomplish (goals), not by WHAT component operates on (types).

User Goals:

• CREATE - Create new marketplace components
• DOCTOR - Diagnose and fix quality issues (unified workflow)
• MAINTAIN - Keep marketplace healthy
• ANALYZE - Investigate failures and permission prompts

Progressive Disclosure

Principle: Minimize initial context load, load details on-demand.

Levels:

1. Frontmatter - Minimal metadata (~3 lines)
2. SKILL.md - Full instructions (~400-800 lines)
3. References - Detailed content (thousands of lines, loaded when needed)

Skill Naming Convention

Principle: Skill directory names are verb phrases (e.g., execute-task, manage-files). Noun suffixes — -executor, -manager, -runner, -handler, -orchestrator (and their plural forms) — are reserved for spawnable marketplace agents and MUST NOT appear at the end of a skill directory name. See references/skill-design.md for the full rule and enforcement.

Relative Path Pattern

Principle: All resource paths use relative paths from the skill directory for portability across installations.

Examples:

Read references/core-principles.md
bash scripts/analyzer.py
Load template: assets/template.html

When a skill is loaded, the host platform knows its installation directory and resolves relative paths from there.

Available References

Load references progressively based on current task. Never load all references at once.

| # | Reference | File | Load When | |---|-----------|------|-----------| | 1 | Core Principles | references/core-principles.md | Starting component development, learning fundamentals, relative path pattern | | 2 | Skill Patterns | references/skill-patterns.md | Designing a new skill, choosing implementation pattern (10 patterns + combinations) | | 3 | Goal-Based Organization | references/goal-based-organization.md | Understanding goal-based vs component-centric, migration strategies | | 4 | Architecture Rules | references/architecture-rules.md | Validating compliance, self-containment, progressive disclosure requirements | | 5 | Skill Design | references/skill-design.md | Designing workflows, multi-workflow skills, workflow composition, skill naming convention (verb-first names; forbidden noun suffixes -executor/-manager/-runner/-handler/-orchestrator) | | 6 | Command Design | references/command-design.md | Creating commands, parameter parsing, routing to skill workflows | | 7 | Token Optimization | references/token-optimization.md | Optimizing context, batch processing, token budgeting | | 8 | Reference Patterns | references/reference-patterns.md | Allowed reference types, relative path implementation, portability | | 9 | Frontmatter Standards | references/frontmatter-standards.md | Creating/validating YAML frontmatter, field specs | | 10 | Script Standards | references/script-standards.md | Documenting scripts, shell patterns, rule enforcement. For Python: Skill: pm-plugin-development:plugin-script-architecture | | 11 | Execution Directive | references/execution-directive.md | Ensuring execution (not explanation), EXECUTE vs READ vs REFERENCE modes | | 12 | Minimal Wrapper Pattern | references/minimal-wrapper-pattern.md | Thin orchestrators (<150 lines), agent-to-skill delegation, fat agent migration | | 13 | User-Facing Output | references/user-facing-output.md | Output filtering, status messages, anti-patterns (no step numbers, no diffs) | | 14 | AskUserQuestion Patterns | references/askuserquestion-patterns.md | Interactive workflows, free-text input, multi-select, UI constraints | | 15 | Domain-Knowledge Authoring | references/domain-knowledge-authoring.md | Authoring new domain-knowledge content — security explanations, "why-WRONG" examples, best-practice rules |

Examples

| Example | File | Shows | |---------|------|-------| | Goal-Based Skill | references/examples/goal-based-skill-example.md | Workflow organization, progressive disclosure in practice | | Thin Orchestrator Command | references/examples/workflow-command-example.md | Parameter parsing, skill invocation, user interaction | | Pattern Usage | references/examples/pattern-usage-examples.md | All 10 patterns applied to marketplace scenarios |

Usage Workflow

Step 1: Identify Your Goal and Load References

Never load all references — load only what's needed for current task.

| Goal | References to Load | |------|--------------------| | Creating component | core-principles.md, skill-patterns.md | | Understanding architecture | goal-based-organization.md, architecture-rules.md | | Designing skill | skill-design.md, skill-patterns.md | | Naming a new skill | skill-design.md (Skill Naming Convention) | | Designing command | command-design.md | | Optimizing context | token-optimization.md | | Validating compliance | architecture-rules.md, reference-patterns.md | | Ensuring execution | execution-directive.md | | Designing thin wrappers | minimal-wrapper-pattern.md | | Designing user output | user-facing-output.md | | Designing user interactions | askuserquestion-patterns.md | | Authoring domain-knowledge content | domain-knowledge-authoring.md |

Step 2: Apply and Validate

Follow guidance in loaded references, then verify:

• Self-contained (no external file references)
• Relative path pattern used throughout
• Progressive disclosure implemented
• Appropriate skill pattern chosen
• Goal-based organization followed

Integration with Other Skills

• plugin-doctor — Uses architecture rules and reference patterns for compliance checking
• plugin-create — Uses architecture principles, frontmatter standards, and validation rules
• plugin-maintain — Uses architecture rules for fix guidance and compliance criteria

References

Source Materials

• Claude Skills Deep Dive: https://leehanchung.github.io/blogs/2025/10/26/claude-skills-deep-dive/
• Claude Code Plugin Documentation: https://docs.claude.com/en/docs/claude-code/plugins

Related Skills

• plan-marshall:persona-plan-marshall-agent - Core development principles and tool usage patterns
• pm-plugin-development:plugin-script-architecture - Python implementation, testing, output contracts