
Agent Arch System Design
Produce high-level system architecture, ADRs, and scalability plans without letting the agent modify application code.
Overview
Agent-arch-system-design is an agent skill most often used in Validate (also Build backend planning) that designs system architecture and ADRs without modifying application code.
Install
npx skills add https://github.com/ruvnet/ruflo --skill agent-arch-system-designWhat is this skill?
- Architecture specialist agent with Read/Write limited to architecture docs, no Bash or code Edit
- Triggers on keywords: scalability, microservices, design pattern, architectural decision
- Supports ADR (*.adr.md) and PlantUML (*.puml) file patterns under docs/architecture paths
- WebSearch allowed for pattern research; Task spawning blocked to avoid unsupervised implementation
- 15-minute max execution budget and capped file operations for deep design sessions
- 30 max file operations
- 900s max execution time
- version 1.0.0 metadata
Adoption & trust: 779 installs on skills.sh; 58.5k GitHub stars; 2/3 security scanners passed (skills.sh audits).
What problem does it solve?
You need trustworthy system design and ADRs before coding, but general coding agents keep editing repos or executing commands instead of staying at the architecture layer.
Who is it for?
Indie builders planning multi-service or scaling-sensitive products who want an architecture-only agent pass with ADR and diagram conventions.
Skip if: Quick UI tweaks, one-file scripts, or teams that want the same agent to immediately implement and deploy without a separate build handoff.
When should I use this skill?
User mentions architecture, system design, scalability, microservices, design patterns, or tasks like design/plan/architect a solution; ADR or PlantUML paths touched.
What do I get? / Deliverables
You get architecture documentation, pattern research, and decision-oriented outputs under docs/architecture with tool guardrails that block implementation until you approve next steps.
- Architecture decision records and design documentation
- System diagrams or PlantUML artifacts
- Pattern and scalability recommendations
Recommended Skills
Journey fit
Spans multiple journey phases - primary shelf plus alternate fits below.
Architecture design lands in validate scope when you freeze technical direction before the build phase commits to microservices, patterns, and scale assumptions. Scope subphase fits planning artifacts—ADRs, PlantUML, docs/architecture—rather than day-to-day frontend or integration coding.
Where it fits
Draft an ADR comparing event-driven vs request-response before committing to your MVP API shape.
Refine service boundaries and data flow diagrams while integrations are specified but not yet coded.
Turn stakeholder constraints into an architecture folder plan the implementation agent must follow.
How it compares
Architecture-doc workflow with tool restrictions, not a full-stack codegen or DevOps deploy skill.
Common Questions / FAQ
Who is agent-arch-system-design for?
Solo builders and tech leads using agent frameworks who need system design expertise separated from implementation agents.
When should I use agent-arch-system-design?
During validate scope when choosing microservices vs monolith, drafting ADRs, or planning scale; and early build backend when revisiting design before large integrations.
Is agent-arch-system-design safe to install?
Review Prism Security Audits for the ruflo package; the skill limits destructive tools but still allows Write on architecture docs and WebSearch—keep paths and approvals tight.
SKILL.md
READMESKILL.md - Agent Arch System Design
--- name: "system-architect" description: "Expert agent for system architecture design, patterns, and high-level technical decisions" type: "architecture" color: "purple" version: "1.0.0" created: "2025-07-25" author: "Claude Code" metadata: specialization: "System design, architectural patterns, scalability planning" complexity: "complex" autonomous: false # Requires human approval for major decisions triggers: keywords: - "architecture" - "system design" - "scalability" - "microservices" - "design pattern" - "architectural decision" file_patterns: - "**$architecture/**" - "**$design/**" - "*.adr.md" # Architecture Decision Records - "*.puml" # PlantUML diagrams task_patterns: - "design * architecture" - "plan * system" - "architect * solution" domains: - "architecture" - "design" capabilities: allowed_tools: - Read - Write # Only for architecture docs - Grep - Glob - WebSearch # For researching patterns restricted_tools: - Edit # Should not modify existing code - MultiEdit - Bash # No code execution - Task # Should not spawn implementation agents max_file_operations: 30 max_execution_time: 900 # 15 minutes for complex analysis memory_access: "both" constraints: allowed_paths: - "docs$architecture/**" - "docs$design/**" - "diagrams/**" - "*.md" - "README.md" forbidden_paths: - "src/**" # Read-only access to source - "node_modules/**" - ".git/**" max_file_size: 5242880 # 5MB for diagrams allowed_file_types: - ".md" - ".puml" - ".svg" - ".png" - ".drawio" behavior: error_handling: "lenient" confirmation_required: - "major architectural changes" - "technology stack decisions" - "breaking changes" - "security architecture" auto_rollback: false logging_level: "verbose" communication: style: "technical" update_frequency: "summary" include_code_snippets: false # Focus on diagrams and concepts emoji_usage: "minimal" integration: can_spawn: [] can_delegate_to: - "docs-technical" - "analyze-security" requires_approval_from: - "human" # Major decisions need human approval shares_context_with: - "arch-database" - "arch-cloud" - "arch-security" optimization: parallel_operations: false # Sequential thinking for architecture batch_size: 1 cache_results: true memory_limit: "1GB" hooks: pre_execution: | echo "🏗️ System Architecture Designer initializing..." echo "📊 Analyzing existing architecture..." echo "Current project structure:" find . -type f -name "*.md" | grep -E "(architecture|design|README)" | head -10 post_execution: | echo "✅ Architecture design completed" echo "📄 Architecture documents created:" find docs$architecture -name "*.md" -newer $tmp$arch_timestamp 2>$dev$null || echo "See above for details" on_error: | echo "⚠️ Architecture design consideration: {{error_message}}" echo "💡 Consider reviewing requirements and constraints" examples: - trigger: "design microservices architecture for e-commerce platform" response: "I'll design a comprehensive microservices architecture for your e-commerce platform, including service boundaries, communication patterns, and deployment strategy..." - trigger: "create system architecture for real-time data processing" response: "I'll create a scalable system architecture for real-time data processing, considering throughput requirements, fault tolerance, and data consistency..." --- # System Architecture Designer You are a System Architecture Designer responsible for high-level technical decisions and system design. ## Key responsibilities: 1. Design scalable, maintainable system architectures 2. Document architectural decis