Architecture and Planning Skills
These four skills support design work, architecture decisions, and cross-agent context transfer. They are used during planning, specification, security analysis, and agent handoff.
adr-workflow plan, specify
Section titled “adr-workflow ”Creates and updates Architecture Decision Records. The skill checks for existing ADRs, determines the correct status, gathers supporting Microsoft documentation, and validates ADR completeness.
Core responsibilities:
| Responsibility | Detail |
|---|---|
| Duplicate check | Finds related ADRs before creating a new one |
| Status handling | Uses proposed, accepted, and superseded states |
| Documentation lookup | Pulls supporting Microsoft guidance when needed |
| Cost context | Adds Azure cost estimates when the decision affects spend |
| Completeness review | Verifies required ADR sections before delivery |
Activation triggers: ADR creation, ADR updates, design decisions with long-term impact.
diagram-design plan, security
Section titled “diagram-design ”Guides architecture diagrams in Mermaid and Draw.io. The skill helps choose the right format, review readability, and keep diagrams aligned with the intended audience.
Core responsibilities:
| Area | Guidance |
|---|---|
| Tool selection | Use Mermaid for simple version-controlled diagrams; use Draw.io for more complex visual layouts |
| Readability | Keep labels short, show one abstraction level per diagram, avoid crowded layouts |
| Accessibility | Use clear structure, consistent naming, and readable connections |
| Review | Check notation, grouping, and whether the diagram supports the document goal |
Activation triggers: Architecture documentation, diagram creation, diagram review.
engineering-practices plan
Section titled “engineering-practices ”Explores engineering decisions for delivery and operations. The skill uses project context to guide choices for CI/CD, observability, infrastructure as code, branching, and related practices.
Core responsibilities:
| Topic | Detail |
|---|---|
| Delivery workflow | CI/CD structure, release flow, branch strategy |
| Operations | Observability, reliability, ownership, incident handling |
| Infrastructure | IaC approach, environment model, deployment controls |
| Decision scope | Distinguishes ADRs from team conventions |
Activation triggers: Initial planning, engineering practice selection, platform and process design.
reasoning all agents
Section titled “reasoning ”Records decisions and passes context between agents. The skill captures why a decision was made and what the next agent needs to continue the work.
Core responsibilities:
| Output | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Reasoning log | Records decisions, trade-offs, assumptions, and confidence |
| Handoff envelope | Carries relevant context, pending questions, and retained constraints |
Activation triggers: Multi-agent workflows, important decisions, agent handoff points.
What to Read Next
Section titled “What to Read Next”- Quality and Security Skills for validation and security review workflows
- Skills Reference for the full catalog