Design Docs

Design Docs plugin

The design-docs plugin (requires: developer-workflows) surfaces the design-doc and ADR authoring workflow as an installable unit: the adr skill (ADR format discipline + when-to-write) and the /design command (the author → translate → sequence pipeline, delegating to developer-workflows).

⚡ Quick Reference

Aspect	Value
Plugin slug	design-docs
Version	0.1.0
Requires	developer-workflows
Primitives	adr skill · /design command (delegation wrapper)
Hosts	Claude Code · Antigravity

Primitives

adr skill

Encodes when to write an Architecture Decision Record, the canonical 5-section shape, and the re-audit-trigger discipline. The skill is a standing instruction — it fires whenever the agent encounters an architectural decision, not only when you invoke it explicitly.

The 5-section shape:

Section	What goes here
Opening block	> [!NOTE] with Status: accepted|superseded|rejected + Date
Context	The open question the ADR resolves; relevant constraints; prior art
Decision	One-sentence decision + rationale; "why not the alternative" is required per call
Consequences	Positive bullets · Negative bullets · Load-bearing assumptions with explicit re-audit triggers
Related	Cross-refs to other ADRs, design docs, plans, issues

Re-audit triggers are what separate a living record from a tombstone — each assumption names the condition under which the decision must be reconsidered.

ADR skill vs /document-decision command: the adr skill teaches the agent the format and discipline of ADR writing. The /document-decision command (in developer-workflows) is the workflow trigger — it prompts you to write an ADR at the right moment in a decision process and enforces the "write before implementing" contract. Both work together; the skill is always present, the command is invoked at the decision point.

/design command (delegation wrapper)

Provides the /design command surface to design-docs users without duplicating the implementation. The full author → translate → sequence pipeline lives in developer-workflows; this wrapper surfaces it so the /design verb is discoverable in the design-docs plugin catalog entry.

Three sub-verbs, strictly ordered:

Verb	What it does
author	Walk the 10-section design-doc template to Status: final; the only verb that sets final
translate	Split a Status: final doc into parts/ files
sequence	Topo-sort parts/ into named plans (first activated, rest queued)

If developer-workflows is not installed, this command has no implementation.

Install

claude plugin install design-docs@crickets

Requires developer-workflows as a base. Both plugins must be enabled for the command and skill to load.

See also

• How to author a design — the step-by-step guide for /design author → translate → sequence.
• How to record an architectural decision — the step-by-step guide for /document-decision (the ADR workflow trigger).
• developer-workflows plugin — owns the /design and /document-decision implementations.
• ADR 0024 — why /design lives in developer-workflows and design-docs wraps it.
• Customization Types — what kind: skill and kind: command are.