Agent skill
dev-search-first
Research-before-coding workflow. Search for existing tools, packages, and patterns before writing custom code. Checks NuGet, npm, MCP servers, GitHub, and the existing codebase. Use when starting a new feature, adding a dependency, or before creating a new utility.
Install this agent skill to your Project
npx add-skill https://github.com/majiayu000/claude-skill-registry/tree/main/skills/other/other/dev-search-first
SKILL.md
Search First — Research Before You Code
Search for existing solutions before implementing custom code.
Stack: C#/.NET + Angular/TypeScript
When to Use
- Starting a new feature that likely has existing solutions
- Adding a dependency or integration
- Before creating a new utility, helper, or abstraction
- The user asks "add X functionality" and you're about to write code
Workflow
1. NEED ANALYSIS
Define what functionality is needed
Identify framework constraints (.NET / Angular)
2. PARALLEL SEARCH
┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐
│ NuGet / │ │ MCP / │ │ Existing │ │ GitHub / │
│ npm │ │ Skills │ │ Codebase │ │ Web │
└──────────┘ └──────────┘ └──────────┘ └──────────┘
3. EVALUATE
Score candidates (functionality, maintenance,
community, docs, license, dependencies)
4. DECIDE
┌─────────┐ ┌──────────┐ ┌─────────┐
│ Adopt │ │ Extend │ │ Build │
│ as-is │ │ /Wrap │ │ Custom │
└─────────┘ └──────────┘ └─────────┘
5. IMPLEMENT
Install package / Configure / Write minimal custom code
Decision Matrix
| Signal | Action |
|---|---|
| Exact match, well-maintained, MIT/Apache | Adopt — install and use directly |
| Partial match, good foundation | Extend — install + write thin wrapper |
| Multiple weak matches | Compose — combine small packages |
| Nothing suitable found | Build — write custom, informed by research |
Search Checklist
Before writing anything, mentally run through:
- Does this already exist in the repo? →
rgthrough relevant code first - Is this a common problem? → Search NuGet (C#) or npm (Angular)
- Is there an MCP for this? → Check configured MCP servers
- Is there a skill for this? → Check
.claude/skills/ - Is there an llms.txt? → Check the library/framework docs site for
/llms.txt - Is there a GitHub implementation? → Search for maintained OSS
Search Shortcuts by Stack
C#/.NET
| Need | Look for |
|---|---|
| Validation / Result types | Results (ValidationBuilder, Result<T>) |
| Mapping | Mapster with Mapster.Tool (compile-time code generation). Manual mapping preferred for simple cases |
| HTTP client | IHttpClientFactory (built-in), Refit, Flurl |
| Serialization | System.Text.Json (built-in) |
| Logging | Serilog, NLog (over raw ILogger) |
| Testing | xUnit, NSubstitute, Testcontainers |
| Background jobs | Hangfire, Quartz.NET |
| Caching | HybridCache (Microsoft.Extensions.Caching.Hybrid), IMemoryCache (built-in), IDistributedCache |
| Auth | ASP.NET Core Identity, Duende IdentityServer |
| Rate limiting | Microsoft.AspNetCore.RateLimiting (built-in .NET 7+) |
| Feature flags | Microsoft.FeatureManagement |
| Health checks | Microsoft.Extensions.Diagnostics.HealthChecks (built-in) |
| OpenAPI | Swashbuckle, NSwag |
| Resilience | Polly, Microsoft.Extensions.Http.Resilience |
| Domain building blocks | ErikLieben.* NuGet packages (event sourcing, strongly typed IDs, specifications, etc.) |
| ID generation | Guid.CreateVersion7() (.NET 9+) |
Angular/TypeScript
| Need | Look for |
|---|---|
| State management | Signals (built-in, preferred), NgRx only for complex event-driven scenarios |
| Forms | Template-driven forms with FormsModule (preferred), Reactive Forms for complex cases |
| HTTP | HttpClient (built-in), interceptors for auth/retry |
| UI components | Angular Material, PrimeNG |
| Tables | ag-Grid, ngx-datatable |
| Charts | ngx-charts, Chart.js wrappers |
| i18n | @ngx-translate/core, Angular i18n (built-in) |
| Validation | class-validator, zod |
| Date handling | date-fns, Luxon (over Moment.js) |
| Feature flags | @internal/ng-feature-flags (custom internal library) |
| Permissions | @internal/ng-permissions (custom internal library) |
| Testing | Vitest, @testing-library/angular, Playwright |
| Linting | eslint + @angular-eslint |
Shared / Infrastructure
| Need | Look for |
|---|---|
| CI/CD | GitHub Actions, Azure DevOps pipelines |
| Containers | Docker multi-stage builds |
| Database | EF Core migrations, Flyway |
| Monitoring | OpenTelemetry, Application Insights |
| Docs site | VitePress (you have /tool-vitepress) |
Examples
Example 1: "Add retry logic to HTTP calls"
Need: Resilient HTTP calls with retry and circuit breaker
Search: NuGet "resilience http"
Found: Microsoft.Extensions.Http.Resilience (built-in .NET 8+)
Action: ADOPT — already in the framework, zero extra deps
Result: AddStandardResilienceHandler() on HttpClient registration
Example 2: "Add a data table with sorting and filtering"
Need: Feature-rich data table for Angular
Search: npm "angular data table"
Found: ag-Grid Community (score: 9/10), PrimeNG Table (score: 8/10)
Action: ADOPT — ag-Grid for complex needs, PrimeNG if already using PrimeNG
Result: One package, battle-tested, accessible
Example 3: "Add input validation to API"
Need: Request validation in ASP.NET Core
Search: NuGet "validation", check built-in options
Found: Results (in-house), DataAnnotations (built-in)
Action: ADOPT Results for Result-based validation with Railway-Oriented flow
Result: Explicit success/failure flow, TypedResults integration, error accumulation
Example 4: "Persist domain state with full audit trail"
Need: Persist domain state with full audit trail
Search: NuGet "event sourcing", check built-in options
Found: EventSourcing (in-house, Azure Storage backend)
Action: ADOPT — already in-house, battle-tested, includes analyzers + testing helpers
Result: Aggregate + event pattern with blob storage, projections for read models
Anti-Patterns
- Jumping to code: Writing a utility without checking if one exists
- Ignoring built-ins: .NET and Angular have rich built-in capabilities — check the framework first
- Dependency bloat: Installing a massive package for one small feature
- Over-wrapping: Wrapping a library so heavily it loses its benefits
- Outdated packages: Preferring a familiar but unmaintained package over the modern equivalent
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