Architecture review

SkillAI & models

Load skills/blocks/engineering-method-selection.md from the installed plugin and apply only the methods relevant to this task. Preserve this entry point's execution contract and output format. Read referenced skills as instructions; do not invoke the current command recursively or add provider calls from a seat.

Available today. Use it from your connected AI after setup.

Connect ahel once, and every AI you use reads what you have installed.

Then ask your AI: use the Architecture review skill

About this capability

Review system architecture, simplify boundaries, or compare interface designs from repository evidence

What this skill tells your AI

The instructions your AI receives, as published by nyldn/claude-octopus in .claude/skills/skill-architecture/SKILL.md and read by ahel’s review.

Load skills/blocks/engineering-method-selection.md from the installed plugin and apply only the methods relevant to this task. Preserve this entry point's execution contract and output format. Read referenced skills as instructions; do not invoke the current command recursively or add provider calls from a seat.

Run this method on the current host. A routine architecture review makes zero additional provider dispatches. --peer-review, an explicit independent-review request, or an existing risk policy may add one bounded external reviewer through Octopus routing. Report incomplete independent coverage if that reviewer cannot read the source or does not return a grounded contribution.

Method

Read and apply skills/blocks/architecture-simplification.md from the installed plugin root. Pin the source revision and inspect implementation, callers, tests, recent churn, and failure behavior before recommending a boundary.

For a single simplification, produce one evidence-backed interface. For a design choice, produce two alternatives from the same immutable requirements:

  • Draft A minimizes caller knowledge and configuration.
  • Draft B makes the next demonstrated extension easier.

Label two host-generated drafts as correlated alternatives from one model. If an independent reviewer is authorized, send it the same source and requirements but not Draft A before its first response. Transport diversity does not prove model family diversity. Unknown family means unknown independence.

Completion

Return Evidence, Caller contract, Proposed interface, Migration, Test impact, and Decision. The decision is keep, simplify, or investigate. simplify requires exact source evidence and a concrete caller example. A design review never authorizes an automatic refactor.

LSP Integration

When the host exposes language-server tools, use document symbols, workspace symbols, definitions, and references to confirm module boundaries and caller relationships before proposing an interface. Treat LSP results as an index: verify consequential claims against source and tests, and fall back to repository search when the language server is unavailable or incomplete.

Adapted from codebase-design and DESIGN-IT-TWICE in mattpocock/skills at commit 3cca18b368ae95cdbdebbff572ccafa662551015 under the MIT License. See THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md.

Signals

GitHub stars
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Forks
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Last commit
Sep 2026
Advanced
Catalog kind
skill
Gateway key
octopus-architecture-nyldn
Source
github.com/nyldn/claude-octopus