Clean Architecture

What it does

This skill equips AI agents with the ability to design and implement software systems following Clean Architecture principles, ensuring separation of concerns and independence from frameworks. It enables agents to structure code where business rules remain decoupled from external entities like databases, user interfaces, and external libraries.

When to use it

• Refactoring legacy monolithic applications into modular, maintainable structures with clear dependency boundaries.
• Designing new backend systems that require long-term scalability and ease of testing without framework lock-in.
• Generating code skeletons where business logic must remain independent of database drivers or UI frameworks.
• Creating unit tests that isolate core business rules from external infrastructure dependencies.

Key capabilities

• Enforces strict dependency rules where inner layers (business logic) have no knowledge of outer layers (frameworks, DB).
• Structures projects with distinct interfaces for use cases, entities, and external adapters.
• Promotes high cohesion by grouping related functionality into dedicated packages or modules.
• Facilitates easy swapping of infrastructure components without altering core business rules.

Example prompts

• "Generate a Clean Architecture project structure for a Python backend handling user authentication."
• "Refactor this legacy service to adhere to Clean Architecture principles, separating business logic from the database layer."
• "Create a use case interface and its implementation for transferring funds, ensuring it remains independent of the payment gateway library."

Tips & gotchas

Ensure your AI agent understands that outer layers (like controllers or repositories) must depend on interfaces defined in inner layers. Avoid letting the agent introduce direct dependencies from business logic to specific database drivers or HTTP frameworks, as this violates core Clean Architecture tenets.