software-design-philosophy
by wondelai3 months ago1.8kManage software complexity through deep modules, information hiding, and strategic programming. Use when the user mentions "module design", "API too complex", "shallow class", "complexity budget", "strategic vs tactical", "deep module", "information leakage", "pass-through method", "this code is over-engineered", or "simplify this design". Also trigger when reviewing an interface for simplicity, evaluating whether an abstraction is pulling its weight, deciding whether a comment is worth writing, or choosing between general-purpose and special-purpose approaches. Covers deep vs shallow modules, red flags for complexity, and comments as design documentation. For code quality, see clean-code. For architecture boundaries, see clean-architecture.
Install
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Open your terminal
- Mac: Press ⌘ Space, type "Terminal", press Enter
- Windows: Press Win R, type "cmd", press Enter
Paste the command above and press Enter
Use the Copy command button, then paste in your terminal (Mac: ⌘V, Windows: Ctrl V).
Restart Claude Code
Close and reopen Claude Code, or start a new session, so it picks up the new skill.
Where it lives
Related skills
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You MUST use this before any creative work - creating features, building components, adding functionality, or modifying behavior. Explores user intent, requirements and design before implementation.
writing-plans
Use when you have a spec or requirements for a multi-step task, before touching code
finishing-a-development-branch
Use when implementation is complete, all tests pass, and you need to decide how to integrate the work - guides completion of development work by presenting structured options for merge, PR, or cleanup
test-driven-development
Use when implementing any feature or bugfix, before writing implementation code