SDD Design Orchestrator

VerifiedSafe

Coordinates specialist skills to produce complete design documents. Creates structure, assigns sections to specialists, and merges their contributions into unified design.

Sby Skills Guide Bot
DocumentationAdvanced
3/1/2026
Claude Code
#design-document#spec-driven#orchestration#requirements-traceability#multi-agent

Recommended for

Automated summary

This skill orchestrates design document creation by generating a skeleton, delegating each section to specialist skills (frontend, UI/UX, security, performance), and then merging their outputs.

Strengths

  • Breaks design work into explicit phases: skeleton, parallel specialists, merge
  • Requirement traceability through @derives annotations and a REQ-to-section mapping table
  • Includes a decisions log and a cross-cutting concerns table with owner and reviewer per concern
  • Bootstraps a YAML state file that tracks the status of each section

Limitations

  • The skill makes no design decisions itself and depends entirely on the referenced specialist skills being available
  • The provided text is truncated at the merge phase, so the detailed merge steps are not described
  • Assumes a specific file layout and spec format (packages/{package}/spec/, .sdd/state.yaml)
When to use it

Use it when starting the design phase of a package and you need a structured document covering architecture, UI/UX, security, and performance.

When not to use it

Avoid it when the specialist skills are not installed, or for a small change that does not warrant a multi-section design document.

Security analysis

Safe
Quality score78/100

The skill is a pure documentation-orchestration workflow: it reads a requirements file, scaffolds a design markdown skeleton, delegates sections to named specialist skills, merges outputs, and records progress in a YAML state file. No shell execution, network calls, credential handling, obfuscated payloads, or destructive file operations appear anywhere. The only side effects are creating/updating files under packages/{package}/spec/ and .sdd/state.yaml, which is consistent with its stated purpose. No allowed-tools are declared, so the agent's default permissions bound its behavior.

No concerns found

How this analysis is made

Examples

Start the design phase
Start the design phase for packages/auth and create the design skeleton from its requirements document.
Merge specialist outputs
Merge the design sections produced by the specialists into packages/auth/spec/auth.design.md and resolve any conflicts.
Map requirements to sections
Read the requirements for packages/core and fill in the @derives annotations for each section of the design skeleton.

name: sdd-design description: | Orchestrate design document creation using specialist skills. Use when: starting design phase, merging specialist outputs, resolving design conflicts. Triggers: "create design", "design phase", "merge design", "design skeleton"

SDD Design Orchestrator

Coordinate specialist skills to produce a complete design document.

Role

| Do | Don't | |----|-------| | Create skeleton structure | Write implementation details | | Assign sections to specialists | Make design decisions | | Map REQs to sections | Choose libraries or patterns | | Merge specialist outputs | Override specialist decisions | | Resolve conflicts between specialists | Skip specialist review |

Specialists

| Skill | Domain | Invocation | |-------|--------|------------| | sdd-design-frontend | Component architecture, state, patterns | After skeleton | | sdd-design-uiux | Layout, responsive, accessibility | After skeleton | | sdd-design-security | Threats, sandboxing, validation | After skeleton | | sdd-design-perf | Bundle size, lazy loading, caching | After skeleton |

Workflow

Phase 1: Skeleton
    │
    ├─→ Phase 2: Specialists (parallel)
    │       ├── frontend
    │       ├── uiux  
    │       ├── security
    │       └── perf
    │
    └─→ Phase 3: Merge

Instructions

Phase 1: Create Skeleton

  1. Read requirements document

    packages/{package}/spec/{package}.requirements.md
    
  2. Create design file

    packages/{package}/spec/{package}.design.md
    
  3. Write skeleton using template:

---
title: "{Package} Design"
author: Claude
date: {YYYY-MM-DD}
version: 1.0.0
status: draft
depends_on:
  - packages/{package}/spec/{package}.requirements.md@{version}
---

# {Package} Design

## Overview

Brief description of the design approach.

@derives: (list all REQ IDs)

**Status:** draft

## Component Architecture

@derives: {REQ-IDs}

<!-- sdd-design-frontend writes this section -->

**Status:** pending

## UI/UX Design

@derives: {REQ-IDs}

<!-- sdd-design-uiux writes this section -->

**Status:** pending

## Security Considerations

@derives: {REQ-IDs}

<!-- sdd-design-security writes this section -->

**Status:** pending

## Performance Strategy

@derives: {REQ-IDs}

<!-- sdd-design-perf writes this section -->

**Status:** pending

## Decisions Log

| ID | Decision | Rationale | Owner |
|----|----------|-----------|-------|
| | | | |

## Cross-Cutting Concerns

> **Note:** Extension to sdd-guidelines for specialist coordination.

| Concern | Primary | Reviewer | Status |
|---------|---------|----------|--------|
| Accessibility | uiux | frontend | pending |
| Error handling | frontend | security | pending |
| Loading states | uiux | perf | pending |
  1. Initialize state file
# .sdd/state.yaml (add to existing)
documents:
  design:
    status: draft
    sections:
      component-architecture:
        status: pending
        owner: sdd-design-frontend
      uiux:
        status: pending
        owner: sdd-design-uiux
      security:
        status: pending
        owner: sdd-design-security
      perf:
        status: pending
        owner: sdd-design-perf
  1. Map REQs to sections

    Read each requirement and determine which section(s) address it:

    | Section | Typical REQs | |---------|--------------| | Component Architecture | Structure, data flow, patterns | | UI/UX Design | Layout, interaction, responsive | | Security | User input, code execution, XSS | | Performance | Loading, bundle size, caching |

  2. Fill @derives for each section

Phase 2: Invoke Specialists

Invoke all specialists in parallel. Each specialist:

  • Reads the skeleton
  • Reads assigned REQs
  • Writes their section
  • Adds decisions to Decisions Log

Invocation format:

Use sdd-design-{specialist} to write the {Section Name} section 
for packages/{package}/spec/{package}.design.md

Phase 3: Merge

After all specialists complete:

  1. Collect outputs

    • Each specialist's section content
    • Decisions added to log
  2. Check conflicts

    | Conflict Type | Detection | Resolution | |---------------|-----------|------------| | Library choice | Same need, different lib | Perf wins unless security concern | | Pattern choice | Same problem, different pattern | Frontend decides | | Layout vs Perf | UX wants X, Perf says too heavy | UX for primary flow, Perf for edge | | Any vs Security | Security flags risk | Security wins, find alternative |

  3. Review cross-cutting concerns

    For each concern:

    • Primary owner wrote the approach
    • Reviewer validates from their perspective
    • Mark status: approved or needs-revision
  4. Ensure consistency

    • Terminology matches across sections
    • No contradicting decisions
    • All REQs have @derives coverage
  5. Update status

    • If no conflicts: status: verified
    • If unresolved: status: blocked + note

Example: react-sample

Skeleton REQ Mapping

| Section | REQs | |---------|------| | Component Architecture | REQ-REACT-001, 002, 003, 004 | | UI/UX Design | REQ-REACT-002, 003, 005 | | Security Considerations | REQ-REACT-004 | | Performance Strategy | REQ-REACT-003, 004 |

Cross-Cutting for react-sample

| Concern | Primary | Reviewer | Notes | |---------|---------|----------|-------| | Accessibility | uiux | frontend | Keyboard nav for playground | | Error handling | frontend | security | Editable code errors | | Loading states | uiux | perf | Code viewer lazy load | | Code display | frontend | perf | Syntax highlighter choice | | User input | frontend | security | Props playground inputs |

Verification

After merge:

  • [ ] All REQs appear in at least one @derives
  • [ ] No section has placeholder comments
  • [ ] Decisions Log has entries from each specialist
  • [ ] Cross-cutting concerns all approved
  • [ ] No contradicting decisions
  • [ ] Frontmatter complete (title, version, depends_on)

Conflict Escalation

If specialists can't resolve:

  1. Document both options in Decisions Log
  2. Set decision status to escalated
  3. Flag for human review:
    > ⚠️ **Escalated:** {description}
    > Options: A) {option1} B) {option2}
    > Blocked until human decision.
    

References

From the file to a first result

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View the source and supporting files

This download contains SKILL.md only. Any scripts, references, templates and dependencies are not included. Get the required files from the source, preserving their directory structure, before continuing.

1. Download the file

Download SKILL.md

From the root of a test project, save the file as .skill-downloads/sdd-design-orchestrator-mm78no5w/SKILL.md, or use the command below. This folder is for inspecting the skill before installation.

Command for macOS/Linux or WSL: requires a POSIX shell and curl. On Windows without WSL, use the download button and create the folder manually.

mkdir -p '.skill-downloads/sdd-design-orchestrator-mm78no5w' && curl --fail --show-error --location 'https://skills-guides.com/api/skills/sdd-design-orchestrator-mm78no5w/download' --output '.skill-downloads/sdd-design-orchestrator-mm78no5w/SKILL.md.part' && mv '.skill-downloads/sdd-design-orchestrator-mm78no5w/SKILL.md.part' '.skill-downloads/sdd-design-orchestrator-mm78no5w/SKILL.md'

2. Check prerequisites

Read SKILL.md before using it. If it references scripts or external services, inspect them and prepare the required access in your test environment.

No recognized prerequisites section in this file. This does not mean it is self-contained: libraries, tools and access requirements may be mentioned elsewhere in the content or source repository.

The platforms on this page are catalog indications. The paths below follow tool documentation; they do not prove this skill has been run in those tools. No minimum tool version is confirmed for this listing.

3. Load the skill

After inspection, copy the complete folder into your project using one of the commands below, then open a new tool session. The command stops if a folder with the same name already exists: compare the files before replacing it.

Claude Code
test -f '.skill-downloads/sdd-design-orchestrator-mm78no5w/SKILL.md' && test -s '.skill-downloads/sdd-design-orchestrator-mm78no5w/SKILL.md' && mkdir -p '.claude/skills' && test ! -e '.claude/skills/sdd-design' && cp -R '.skill-downloads/sdd-design-orchestrator-mm78no5w' '.claude/skills/sdd-design'

OpenSkills

OpenSkills must already be installed. The local install/read procedure is checked with OpenSkills 1.5.0, which requires Node.js ≥ 20.6.0. Catalog slugs are not resolved automatically.

Official OpenSkills installation
openskills install './.skill-downloads/sdd-design-orchestrator-mm78no5w'

openskills read 'sdd-design-orchestrator-mm78no5w'

Reading should display the installed file content and its base directory. It does not run the skill or install its dependencies.

For an agent that reads AGENTS.md, then sync the index. This command changes AGENTS.md: review the diff before using it.

openskills sync

Manual method or another tool: attach SKILL.md to a conversation, or open it in an agent that can read files. Include any required supporting resources. No universal folder is recognized by every tool.

4. Try a first task

Use a short, synthetic input: an API endpoint, a small document or an interface brief. In a new conversation, attach the file or give the agent its path, then adapt this request:

Read .skill-downloads/sdd-design-orchestrator-mm78no5w/SKILL.md and apply its instructions to this example: [describe a test input]. Identify any missing files, dependencies or access. Produce the result requested by the skill without inventing data or running unreviewed scripts.

Expected result: output matching the skill instructions, or a precise list of missing prerequisites. A read confirmation alone does not validate a first use. If an external resource is unavailable, that path remains untested.

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