Architecture Review

What it does

This skill analyzes project architectures to identify potential issues and suggest improvements based on established best practices. It focuses on key principles like clear boundaries, colocation of related code, and incremental migration strategies. The skill maps existing structures, identifies problems (such as circular dependencies or leaky abstractions), and proposes target architectures with actionable migration plans.

When to use it

• When onboarding new developers to a project and needing to assess the codebase's navigability.
• During refactoring efforts to ensure improvements align with best practices for maintainability.
• To proactively identify architectural bottlenecks or areas of technical debt before they impact development velocity.
• After significant feature additions to evaluate if the architecture remains sound.
• When experiencing difficulties in maintaining a codebase due to complex dependencies or unclear structure.

Key capabilities

• Maps project directory structures and dependency graphs.
• Identifies issues like circular dependencies, "god modules," leaky abstractions, and deep nesting.
• Classifies identified issues by severity (critical, high, medium/low).
• Proposes target architectures with incremental migration plans.
• Provides references to analysis techniques, refactoring patterns, structural patterns, and dependency management strategies.

Example prompts

• "Analyze the current project structure and identify any circular dependencies."
• "Assess this codebase for maintainability issues and suggest improvements based on best practices."
• "Can you map out the directory structure and highlight areas with high complexity?"

Tips & gotchas

• The skill relies on a clear understanding of the existing project structure. Providing initial context or documentation can improve accuracy.
• The suggested migration plans are intended as guidance; thorough testing is crucial after each incremental change.
• The skill focuses on structural aspects and may not cover all potential architectural concerns (e.g., performance, security).