Swan Design

What it does

The Swan Design skill helps AI agents create technical specifications and documentation in a unique style inspired by nature. It guides the agent through a structured process – Vision, Sketch, Refine – to produce well-defined documents that blend technical precision with poetic descriptions, often incorporating ASCII art and diagrams. This is particularly useful for documenting Grove systems and transforming technical plans into accessible formats.

When to use it

• When you need to "write a spec" or "create a specification."
• To "document this feature" or "design this system."
• Specifically, when creating technical specifications for Grove systems.
• For adding ASCII art and diagrams to text-heavy documents.

Key capabilities

• Structured Specification Creation: Guides the agent through phases of Vision, Sketch, and Refine.
• Nature Metaphor Integration: Incorporates nature metaphors (Heartwood, Wisp, Patina) into specifications.
• ASCII Art & Diagram Generation: Creates ASCII art headers and flow diagrams for visual clarity.
• YAML Frontmatter Creation: Automatically generates the required YAML frontmatter for specifications.
• Reference Material Loading: Provides access to templates and palettes for consistent formatting (spec-template.md, diagram-patterns.md, ears-format.md).

Example prompts

• "Create a specification for the new backup system using the Patina metaphor."
• "/swan-design document this feature with an ASCII art header."
• “Write a spec for the authentication module and include a flow diagram.”

Tips & gotchas

• The skill relies on specific reference files (spec-template.md, diagram-patterns.md, ears-format.md) to ensure consistent formatting and content. Ensure these are accessible to the agent.
• Consider pairing this skill with "owl-archive" for refinement of voice and text within the generated specifications.