architect
- Use it when:
- You're about to start non-trivial work and jumping straight to code would lock in the wrong shape.
- It does:
- Grounds itself with how, and with why when ownership or layering changes, has arena runners sketch two or more structurally different designs with stub bodies, then writes the code.
- You get:
- The caller's usage, a file of types and signatures or a module map, a rationale with the synthesis decision, then the implementation.
- Checkpoint:
- Only if you ask for one; otherwise it goes straight from the chosen sketch to code.
- Runs:
- Only when you call it, with /architect or "architect this".
Skill 3 of 14 in the pstack bundle, after why and before arena.
Only works inside its bundle: Runs the how and why skills to ground the design, and the arena skill to sketch it. Install pstack instead.
Written for Cursor's subagents and model names; the pstack plugin for Claude Code installs an adapted copy.
TL;DR
It first builds a real mental model of every system the new code touches, running pstack's how skill, and why when the design changes ownership or layering; it skips this only for greenfield work. Arena runners then sketch types, signatures and module boundaries with not-implemented bodies and pseudocode. Each sketch is screened against a list of design red flags, assuming the next contributor is an agent that sees only the files it opened and copies the nearest example, and among viable designs it prefers the one that hides more behind a smaller public surface. The sketch is the contract: a parameter it didn't anticipate is a question to raise, not friction to absorb. When implementation keeps fighting the sketch, such as the same workaround across unrelated code, special-case branches for unrelated edge cases, types that need any or casts, or callers who must know internal rules, it scraps it: reruns how over what's built, redesigns as if the new constraints were there from day one, subtracts before adding, and sketches again. For adversarial pressure on the design before implementing, it points to pstack's interrogate skill.
Summarizes the skill at 8ecfb19.
npx skills add https://github.com/cursor/plugins --skill architect skills.sh pageSource on GitHubAll skills from cursor/plugins
- Total Downloads
- 5,500 on skills.sh, Nov 9, 2026
- Repo stars
- 15,776 cursor/plugins
- First seen
- May 23, 2026 on skills.sh
Weekly values
| Week to | Installs |
|---|---|
| Sep 21 | 300 |
| Sep 28 | 373 |
| Oct 5 | 429 |
| Oct 12 | 433 |
| Oct 19 | 411 |
| Oct 26 | 482 |
| Nov 2 | 381 |
| Nov 9 | 314 |
| Category |
Make the agent question you and write the plan down before it writes code. Test-first work, implementation from specs, git hygiene and scope control. Everything for building software: planning, coding, debugging, design, frameworks, cloud, agents and skills. |
|---|---|
| Type |
A multi-step process the agent follows: interview, debug, run a TDD loop, review. |
| Effect |
Its own steps create or change files, git state or local tools. |
| Needs |
Relies on the agent being able to spawn subagents. |
| Publisher |
Everyone else. Unverified vendor claims default to community. |
| Topics |
SKILL.md
From cursor/plugins at 8ecfb19. Checked daily, last changed Nov 6, 2026.
Frontmatter
name: architect
description: "Sketch types, signatures, and module structure before code, then stay in the loop while implementation fills in. Use for /architect, 'architect this', 'design this', or non-trivial work where jumping to code would lock in the wrong shape."
disable-model-invocation: trueArchitect
Sketch types, function signatures, class shapes, and module boundaries with not implemented bodies and pseudocode. Synthesize across multiple model perspectives, then fill in code against the chosen sketch.
Start
Open a todolist with one entry per phase before starting.
- Ground
- Sketch
- Agree
- Implement
- Scrap
Phase A: Ground the problem
Build a real mental model of every system the new code touches. Run the how skill over the relevant subsystems. Naming a file isn't grounding. Produce the architectural explanation how prescribes. If the design redefines ownership or layering, also run the why skill on the existing shape so the rationale becomes a constraint, not a guess.
Skip Phase A only when the work is genuinely greenfield with no surrounding system to integrate.
Phase B: Sketch
Run the arena skill with the design-sketch task and the Phase A grounding artifacts. Pass references/runner-prompt.md as each runner's prompt.
Take the runners from the architect runners line in the pstack-models.mdc rule, in place of the arena runners line. If the rule or that line is missing, use claude-opus-5-5-xhigh and grok-4.7-xhigh-fast. Alias and rejected entries follow the runner rules in the arena skill's Phase A.
Design it twice. Require at least two structurally distinct candidates before synthesis, even when the first looks sufficient. This is the exhaust-the-design-space principle skill made concrete. Whole-shape alternatives, not point fixes inside one shape.
Screen every candidate against references/design-red-flags.md before synthesis. Assume the next contributor is an agent that sees only the files it opened, copies the nearest example, and takes the shortest path that compiles. Prefer the design where a change that looks right from one file is right for the whole repo.
Compare viable candidates on interface depth. Prefer the design that hides more complexity behind a smaller, simpler public surface. A rich interface can keep call chains short by concentrating capability instead of scattering it across layers.
Arena returns one synthesized design package. Its synthesis decision fills the rationale's "Synthesis decision" section.
Phase C: Agree (opt-in)
Default: proceed directly to implementation with the synthesized design. No human checkpoint.
Opt in to a checkpoint when the invoker explicitly asks: "/architect with checkpoint," "stop and show me before implementing," or similar. Then surface the synthesized design and pause for sign-off.
The synthesis can ship as its own commit either way, as the "scaffold first" mode of the foundational-thinking principle skill. Planned and scoped breakage during fill-in is fine, per the outcome-oriented-execution principle skill. For adversarial pressure on the design before implementing, run the interrogate skill on the synthesized sketch.
If the human pushes back on the shape (in a checkpoint or after the fact), treat that as Phase A evidence. Re-ground and re-run Phase B before writing more code.
Phase D: Implement against the sketch
Replace not implemented bodies with code, pseudocode with logic. The synthesized sketch is the contract. Deviations from it are signal to surface, not friction to absorb silently. If a function needs a parameter the sketch didn't anticipate, ask whether the sketch was wrong, the requirement was missed, or the implementation is overreaching.
Phase E: Scrap when the architecture is wrong
If implementation keeps producing friction the sketch can't absorb, throw the sketch out. Don't bolt fixes onto a wrong design, per the redesign-from-first-principles and fix-root-causes principle skills.
The signal is a pattern, not single instances. Tells:
- The same shape of workaround appearing repeatedly across unrelated code.
- Multiple unrelated edge cases that all need special-case branches.
- Types that need escape hatches (
any, casts, optional fields always set in practice) to compile. - The "we need a lock" reflex when the sketch said the state wasn't shared.
- Callers having to know the abstraction's internal rules to use it.
- Two or more independent Phase D deviations of the same shape across the implementation.
Use judgment. A few edge cases don't condemn an architecture. Some problems are legitimately complex. Complexity in the data is not complexity in the design.
When you scrap:
- Re-run the how skill over what's been built.
- Redesign as if the new constraints had been day-one assumptions, per redesign-from-first-principles.
- Subtract before adding, per the subtract-before-you-add principle skill. The new sketch should be smaller than the old one before it grows.
- Return to Phase B and re-run arena.
Outputs
The caller's usage is written first and the type sketch derived from it. One file with new types and signatures for small changes. Module map plus type definitions for larger work. The rationale ships alongside, shaped per references/rationale-template.md, including the usage sketch and the synthesis decision.