Agent skill

before-dev

Discovers and injects project-specific coding guidelines from .trellis/spec/ before implementation begins. Reads spec indexes, pre-development checklists, and shared thinking guides for the target package. Use when starting a new coding task, before writing any code, switching to a different package, or needing to refresh project conventions and standards.

View SKILL.md on GitHub Repository
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Forks 287

Install this agent skill to your Project

npx add-skill https://github.com/mindfold-ai/Trellis/tree/main/packages/cli/src/templates/codex/skills/before-dev

SKILL.md

Read the relevant development guidelines before starting your task.

Execute these steps:

  1. Discover packages and their spec layers:

    bash
    python3 ./.trellis/scripts/get_context.py --mode packages

  2. Identify which specs apply to your task based on:

    • Which package you're modifying (e.g., cli/, docs-site/)
    • What type of work (backend, frontend, unit-test, docs, etc.)

  3. Read the spec index for each relevant module:

    bash
    cat .trellis/spec/<package>/<layer>/index.md

    Follow the "Pre-Development Checklist" section in the index.

  4. Read the specific guideline files listed in the Pre-Development Checklist that are relevant to your task. The index is NOT the goal — it points you to the actual guideline files (e.g., error-handling.md, conventions.md, mock-strategies.md). Read those files to understand the coding standards and patterns.

  5. Always read shared guides:

    bash
    cat .trellis/spec/guides/index.md

  6. Understand the coding standards and patterns you need to follow, then proceed with your development plan.

This step is mandatory before writing any code.

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