Workflow Skill Designer

Workflow Skill Designer

Meta-skill for creating structured workflow skills following the orchestrator + phases pattern. Generates complete skill packages with SKILL.md as coordinator and phases/ folder for execution details.

Architecture Overview

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  Workflow Skill Designer                                         │
│  → Analyze requirements → Design orchestrator → Generate phases  │
└───────────────┬─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                │
    ┌───────────┼───────────┬───────────┐
    ↓           ↓           ↓           ↓
┌─────────┐ ┌─────────┐ ┌─────────┐ ┌─────────┐
│ Phase 1 │ │ Phase 2 │ │ Phase 3 │ │ Phase 4 │
│ Require │ │  Orch   │ │ Phases  │ │ Valid   │
│ Analysis│ │ Design  │ │ Design  │ │ & Integ │
└─────────┘ └─────────┘ └─────────┘ └─────────┘
     ↓           ↓           ↓           ↓
  workflow    SKILL.md    phases/     Complete
  config     generated   0N-*.md     skill pkg

Target Output Structure

The skill this meta-skill produces follows this structure:

.claude/​skills/​{skill-name}/
├── SKILL.md                    # Orchestrator: coordination, data flow, TodoWrite
├── phases/
│   ├── 01-{phase-name}.md      # Phase execution detail (full content)
│   ├── 02-{phase-name}.md
│   ├── ...
│   └── 0N-{phase-name}.md
├── specs/                      # [Optional] Domain specifications
└── templates/                  # [Optional] Reusable templates

Core Design Patterns

Patterns extracted from successful workflow skill implementations (workflow-plan, project-analyze, etc.):

Pattern 1: Orchestrator + Progressive Loading

SKILL.md = Pure coordinator. Contains:

• Architecture diagram (ASCII)
• Execution flow with Ref: phases/​0N-xxx.md markers
• Phase Reference Documents table (read on-demand)
• Data flow between phases
• Core rules and error handling

Phase files = Full execution detail. Contains:

• Complete agent prompts, bash commands, code implementations
• Validation checklists, error handling
• Input/​Output specification
• Next Phase link

Key Rule: SKILL.md references phase docs via Ref: markers. Phase docs are read only when that phase executes, not all at once.

Pattern 2: TodoWrite Attachment/​Collapse

Phase starts:
  → Sub-tasks ATTACHED to TodoWrite (in_progress + pending)
  → Orchestrator executes sub-tasks sequentially

Phase ends:
  → Sub-tasks COLLAPSED back to high-level summary (completed)
  → Next phase begins

Pattern 3: Inter-Phase Data Flow

Phase N output → stored in memory/​variable → Phase N+1 input
                  └─ or written to session file for persistence

Each phase receives outputs from prior phases via:

• In-memory variables (sessionId, contextPath, etc.)
• Session directory files (.workflow/​active/​{sessionId}/​...)
• Planning notes (accumulated constraints document)

Pattern 4: Conditional Phase Execution

Phase N output contains condition flag
  ├─ condition met → Execute Phase N+1
  └─ condition not met → Skip to Phase N+2

Pattern 5: Input Structuring

User input (free text) → Structured format before Phase 1:

GOAL: [objective]
SCOPE: [boundaries]
CONTEXT: [background/​constraints]

Execution Flow

Phase 1: Requirements Analysis
   └─ Ref: phases/​01-requirements-analysis.md
      ├─ Input source: commands, descriptions, user interaction
      └─ Output: workflowConfig (phases, data flow, agents, conditions)

Phase 2: Orchestrator Design (SKILL.md)
   └─ Ref: phases/​02-orchestrator-design.md
      ├─ Input: workflowConfig
      └─ Output: .claude/​skills/​{name}/​SKILL.md

Phase 3: Phase Files Design
   └─ Ref: phases/​03-phase-design.md
      ├─ Input: workflowConfig + source content
      └─ Output: .claude/​skills/​{name}/​phases/​0N-*.md

Phase 4: Validation & Integration
   └─ Ref: phases/​04-validation.md
      └─ Output: Validated skill package

Phase Reference Documents (read on-demand):

Input Sources

This meta-skill accepts workflow definitions from multiple sources:

Frontmatter Conversion Rules

When converting from command format to skill format:

Orchestrator Content Mapping

What goes into SKILL.md vs what goes into phase files:

SKILL.md (Coordinator)

Phase Files (Execution Detail)

Critical Rule: Phase files must be content-faithful to their source. Do NOT summarize, abbreviate, or simplify. The phase file IS the execution instruction - every bash command, every agent prompt, every validation step must be preserved.

SKILL.md Template

---
name: {skill-name}
description: {description}. Triggers on "{trigger1}", "{trigger2}".
allowed-tools: {tools}
---

# {Title}

{One-paragraph description of what this skill does and what it produces.}

## Architecture Overview

{ASCII diagram showing phases and data flow}

## Key Design Principles

1. **{Principle}**: {Description}
...

## Auto Mode

When `--yes` or `-y`: {auto-mode behavior}.

## Execution Flow

{Phase sequence with Ref: markers}

**Phase Reference Documents** (read on-demand when phase executes):

| Phase | Document | Purpose |
|-------|----------|---------|
| 1 | [phases/​01-xxx.md](phases/01-xxx.md) | ... |
...

## Core Rules

1. {Rule}
...

## Input Processing

{How user input is converted to structured format}

## Data Flow

{Inter-phase data passing diagram}

## TodoWrite Pattern

{Attachment/​collapse lifecycle description with examples}

## Post-Phase Updates

{State updates between phases}

## Error Handling

{Failure recovery rules}

## Coordinator Checklist

{Pre/​post phase action list}

## Related Commands

{Prerequisites and follow-ups}

Phase File Template

# Phase N: {Phase Name}

{One-sentence description of this phase's goal.}

## Objective

- {Goal 1}
- {Goal 2}

## Execution

### Step N.1: {Step Name}

{Full execution detail: commands, agent prompts, code}

### Step N.2: {Step Name}

{Full execution detail}

## Output

- **Variable**: `{variableName}` (e.g., `sessionId`)
- **File**: `{output file path}`
- **TodoWrite**: Mark Phase N completed, Phase N+1 in_progress

## Next Phase

Return to orchestrator, then auto-continue to [Phase N+1: xxx](0N+1-xxx.md).

Design Decision Framework

When designing a new workflow skill, answer these questions: