System Design
Turn a vague product idea into a structured architecture with APIs, data model, scale assumptions, and explicit trade-offs before you commit to build.
Install
npx skills add https://github.com/anthropics/knowledge-work-plugins --skill system-designWhat is this skill?
- 5-step framework: requirements, high-level design, deep dive, scale/reliability, trade-off analysis
- Covers functional and non-functional requirements plus team, timeline, and stack constraints
- Deep dive on data models, REST/GraphQL/gRPC APIs, caching, queues, and retry semantics
- Scale section: load estimation, horizontal vs vertical scaling, failover, monitoring
- Output spec: structured design doc with ASCII or described diagrams and growth revisit list
Adoption & trust: 4.2k installs on skills.sh; 19.6k GitHub stars; 3/3 security scanners passed (skills.sh audits).
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Journey fit
Primary fit
Canonical shelf is Validate → scope because the skill shines when defining what to build and how services fit together before implementation. Requirements gathering, component diagrams, and trade-off analysis are scoping artifacts—not day-one frontend or launch SEO work.
Common Questions / FAQ
Is System Design safe to install?
skills.sh reports 3 of 3 security scanners passed. Review the Security Audits panel on this page before installing in production.
SKILL.md
READMESKILL.md - System Design
# System Design Help design systems and evaluate architectural decisions. ## Framework ### 1. Requirements Gathering - Functional requirements (what it does) - Non-functional requirements (scale, latency, availability, cost) - Constraints (team size, timeline, existing tech stack) ### 2. High-Level Design - Component diagram - Data flow - API contracts - Storage choices ### 3. Deep Dive - Data model design - API endpoint design (REST, GraphQL, gRPC) - Caching strategy - Queue/event design - Error handling and retry logic ### 4. Scale and Reliability - Load estimation - Horizontal vs. vertical scaling - Failover and redundancy - Monitoring and alerting ### 5. Trade-off Analysis - Every decision has trade-offs. Make them explicit. - Consider: complexity, cost, team familiarity, time to market, maintainability ## Output Produce clear, structured design documents with diagrams (ASCII or described), explicit assumptions, and trade-off analysis. Always identify what you'd revisit as the system grows.