code-designing

Reference: See reference.md for complete design principles and examples.

<quick_start>

1. Analyze Architecture: Check for vertical vs horizontal slicing
2. Understand Domain: Identify problem domain, concepts, invariants
3. Identify Core Types: Find primitives that need type wrappers
4. Design Self-Validating Types: Create types with validating constructors
5. Plan Package Structure: Vertical slices by feature
6. Output Design Plan: Present structured plan before implementation

Ready to implement? Use @testing skill for test structure. </quick_start>

<when_to_use>

• Planning a new feature (before writing code)
• Refactoring reveals need for new types (complexity extraction)
• Linter failures suggest types should be introduced
• When you need to think through domain modeling </when_to_use>

<architecture_pattern_analysis priority="FIRST_STEP"> Default: Always use vertical slice architecture (feature-first, not layer-first).

Scan codebase structure:

• Vertical slicing: internal/feature/{handler,service,repository,models}.go
• Horizontal layering: internal/{handlers,services,domain}/feature.go

<decision_flow>

1. Pure vertical → Continue pattern, implement as internal/[new-feature]/
2. Pure horizontal → Propose: Start migration with docs/architecture/vertical-slice-migration.md, implement new feature as first vertical slice
3. Mixed (migrating) → Check for migration docs, continue pattern as vertical slice </decision_flow>

Always ask user approval with options:

• Option A: Vertical slice (recommended for cohesion/maintainability)
• Option B: Match existing pattern (if time-constrained)
• Acknowledge: Time pressure, team decisions, consistency needs are valid

If migration needed, create/update docs/architecture/vertical-slice-migration.md:

# Vertical Slice Migration Plan
## Current State: [horizontal/mixed]
## Target: Vertical slices in internal/[feature]/
## Strategy: New features vertical, migrate existing incrementally
## Progress: [x] [new-feature] (this PR), [ ] existing features

See reference.md section #3 for detailed patterns. </architecture_pattern_analysis>

<understand_domain>

• What is the problem domain?
• What are the main concepts/entities?
• What are the invariants and rules?
• How does this fit into existing architecture? </understand_domain>

<identify_core_types> Ask for each concept:

• Is this currently a primitive (string, int, float)?
• Does it have validation rules?
• Does it have behavior beyond simple data?
• Is it used across multiple places?

If yes to any → Consider creating a type </identify_core_types>

<design_self_validating_types> For each type:

// Type definition
type TypeName underlyingType

// Validating constructor
func NewTypeName(input underlyingType) (TypeName, error) {
    // Validate input
    if /* validation fails */ {
        return zero, errors.New("why it failed")
    }
    return TypeName(input), nil
}

// Methods on type (if behavior needed)
func (t TypeName) SomeMethod() result {
    // Type-specific logic
}

</design_self_validating_types>

<plan_package_structure>

• Vertical slices: Group by feature, not layer
• Each feature gets its own package
• Within package: separate by role (service, repository, handler)

Good structure:

user/
├── user.go          # Domain types
├── service.go       # Business logic
├── repository.go    # Persistence
└── handler.go       # HTTP/API

Bad structure:

domain/user.go
services/user_service.go
repository/user_repository.go

</plan_package_structure>

<design_orchestrating_types> For types that coordinate others:

• Make fields private
• Validate dependencies in constructor
• No nil checks in methods (constructor guarantees validity)

type Service struct {
    repo        Repository  // private
    notifier    Notifier    // private
}

func NewService(repo Repository, notifier Notifier) (*Service, error) {
    if repo == nil {
        return nil, errors.New("repo required")
    }
    if notifier == nil {
        return nil, errors.New("notifier required")
    }
    return &Service{
        repo:     repo,
        notifier: notifier,
    }, nil
}

// Methods can trust fields are valid
func (s *Service) DoSomething() error {
    // No nil checks needed
    return s.repo.Save(...)
}

</design_orchestrating_types>

<review_against_principles> Check design against (see reference.md):

• No primitive obsession
• Types are self-validating
• Vertical slice architecture
• Types designed around intent, not just shape
• Clear separation of concerns </review_against_principles>

<output_format> After design phase:

DESIGN PLAN

Feature: [Feature Name]

Core Domain Types:
- UserID (string) - Self-validating, prevents empty IDs
- Email (string) - Self-validating, RFC 5322 validation
- Age (int) - Self-validating, range 0-150

Orchestrating Types:
- UserService - Coordinates user operations
   Dependencies: Repository, Notifier
   Methods: CreateUser, GetUser, UpdateUser

Package Structure:
user/
  ├── user.go          # UserID, Email, Age, User
  ├── service.go       # UserService
  ├── repository.go    # Repository interface + implementations
  ├── notifier.go      # Notifier interface + implementations
  └── handler.go       # HTTP handlers

Design Decisions:
- UserID is custom type to prevent passing empty/invalid IDs
- Email validation centralized in NewEmail constructor
- Vertical slice keeps all user logic in one package
- Repository as interface allows multiple backends (Postgres, in-memory for tests)

Integration Points:
- Consumed by: HTTP API (/users endpoints)
- Depends on: Database, Email service
- Events: UserCreated event published after creation

Next Steps:
1. Create types with validating constructors
2. Write unit tests for each type
3. Implement UserService
4. Write integration tests

Ready to implement? Use @testing skill for test structure.

</output_format>

<key_principles> See reference.md for detailed principles:

• Primitive obsession prevention (Yoke design strategy)
• Self-validating types
• Vertical slice architecture
• Types around intent and behavior, not just shape
• Single responsibility per type </key_principles>

<pre_code_review> Before writing code, ask:

• Can logic be moved into smaller custom types?
• Is this type designed around intent and behavior?
• Have I avoided primitive obsession?
• Is validation in the right place (constructor)?
• Does this follow vertical slice architecture?

Only after satisfactory answers, proceed to implementation.

See reference.md for complete design principles and examples. </pre_code_review>

<success_criteria> Design phase is complete when ALL of the following are true:

• Architecture pattern analyzed (vertical/horizontal/mixed)
• Core domain types identified with validation rules
• Self-validating type design documented
• Package structure follows vertical slice pattern
• Design decisions documented with rationale
• Pre-code review questions answered satisfactorily
• Design plan output presented to user </success_criteria>