great-cto

aesthetic-instrument

great_cto's own committed aesthetic — the instrument panel. Dark five-step surface ladder, exactly one accent, two faces divided by MEANING (Geist speaks, Geist Mono is machine-truth), tabular numerals, and a dash that is not a nought. Twelve checkable rules measured from packages/board and greatcto.systems, not designed for this file. Use when building or extending any great_cto surface — the board, the site, a report, a share page.

anti-patterns

Catalogue of known SDLC anti-patterns that great_cto agents must actively reject when reviewing architecture, plans, code, or post-mortems. Used by architect (pre-impl), pm (planning), senior-dev (impl), l3-support (post-incident).

Web & Frontend Solid

anydesign

Analyze images, websites, and Figma files to extract their design and generate a `design.md` with token system, component inventory, and reconstruction notes. Use this skill whenever the user wants to understand, document, replicate, or audit the design of something visual: a screenshot, a URL, a Figma link, a Pinterest reference, a mockup, a competitor's site, a component, a dashboard, a landing page. Also when they ask 'extract the design system from X', 'document the style of Y', 'analyze this visually', 'convert this image into tokens', 'help me replicate this design', 'what palette does this site use', 'how is this built'. Also for single elements: 'copy this navbar', 'recreate this illustration', 'give me a prompt to regenerate this graphic' — element mode outputs a focused element.md, with token-grounded image-model prompts when the element is visual art. If the user brings any visual source and wants to understand it at a design level — this skill should activate.

archetype-review-base

Shared review framework that every domain reviewer (pci, oracle, gov, edtech, healthcare, mlops, etc.) MUST follow. Defines the output artifact (TM-{slug}.md), mandatory sections, severity scale, verdict format, the workflow scaffold (when-invoked, Step-0 read-inputs, HANDOFF), and the "domain heuristic vs generic check" boundary. Eliminates duplication across the ~30 reviewer prompts.

brainstorming

Structured idea generation + multi-LLM debate for the product-owner stage. Diverge (generate genuinely different bets), debate (a 4-persona panel on 4 models argues over 2 rounds), converge (synthesize a recommendation). Used by product-owner before architect; available to architect for design-space exploration.

committed-aesthetic

How to write — and how to use — a skill that IS one aesthetic rather than a catalogue of them. A catalogue lets an agent pick, and it picks the modal option; a committed aesthetic makes it execute one thing precisely, against rules you can check. Use when a design keeps coming out competent and forgettable, when starting a new brand surface with no reference, or when authoring a house style you want executed the same way twice.

cost-model

Standardized cost-estimation framework for great_cto plans. Forces explicit LLM cost, infra cost, human-supervision time, and the (defensible) human-equivalent comparison. Output format is parsable by the board's /api/cost path — must follow exactly.

crystallize

Distils repeating patterns from session logs and lessons.md into draft skill files. Run after ≥10 sessions to extract durable knowledge. Output: draft skills/ files + promotion report.

decision-eval

Spawns the decision-scorer agent after architect proposes 2+ variants in an ADR. Produces a weighted scoring table and recommended choice saved to docs/decisions/.

discovery

Structured pre-design questioning to surface hidden constraints before any architecture decision is locked in. Forces the architect/auditor/reviewer to enumerate what they DON'T know before proposing.

done-blocked

Reusable reporting contract for any agent that hands work back to the pipeline. Forces ONE of two terminal statuses (DONE or BLOCKED) with a specific evidence shape. Stops vague "probably finished" and "kind of stuck" verdicts.

great_cto

Use when the CTO describes a feature, task, or project goal. Orchestrates the full SDLC pipeline automatically based on project type.

Show all 40 bundled skills

lifecycle-messaging

Email/SMS lifecycle and deliverability framework for SMB Product-Builder products that send transactional or lifecycle messages (booking reminders, CRM sequences, receipts, win-back). Codifies provider selection (Resend/Postmark/Twilio/SendGrid), domain auth (SPF/DKIM/DMARC), consent and compliance (TCPA, CAN-SPAM, CASL, quiet hours, double opt-in), suppression-list discipline, and the transactional-vs-marketing split. Applied by integrations-engineer and senior-dev whenever a feature sends messages — so deliverability and consent are designed in, not bolted on after the first spam complaint.

local-seo

Local-business SEO and structured-data framework for content-platform Product-Builder products that need to be found (storefronts, restaurant online-ordering, real-estate listings, service-business sites). Codifies schema.org structured data (LocalBusiness/Product/Menu/RealEstateListing), Core Web Vitals as a ranking input, local on-page signals (NAP consistency, Google Business Profile alignment), sitemap/robots/canonical hygiene, and listing syndication. Applied by senior-dev when building public pages and checked by cms-reviewer. cms-reviewer reviews SEO; this skill is how you BUILD it right the first time.

API & Backend Featured

migration-ready-schema

Data-model rules that make a schema importable from day one, so the migration-import-engineer is never blocked on missing columns. Every SMB Product-Builder product must let a customer bring their data from an incumbent (ServiceTitan/Toast/Mindbody/Shopify) — that requires provenance (source_ref) and rollback (import_batch_id) on importable entities, and modelling real-world actors as entities rather than inline fields. Applied by architect when writing the data model in ARCH-{slug}.md, and checked by migration-import-engineer. One cheap rule set prevents the migration↔architecture seam gap from recurring across all 40 products.

observability-baseline

Scaffold-time observability so a shipped product is not blind in prod from day one — error capture (Sentry), request-id structured logging, and /healthz + /readyz endpoints. stack-baseline pins Sentry but nothing wires it; this is the wiring. Loaded by app-scaffolder (bake into the scaffold), infra-provisioner (prod env + probes), and consumed by l3-support (traces) and devops (deploy gate).

opportunity-solution-tree

Build an Opportunity Solution Tree (OST) to structure product discovery — map a desired outcome to customer opportunities, possible solutions, and experiments. Based on Teresa Torres' Continuous Discovery Habits. Use when the team is unclear what to build next, when multiple opportunities compete, or before writing a PRD for a complex feature space.

outcome-roadmap

Transform an output-focused roadmap (feature list) into an outcome-focused one. Rewrites initiatives as outcome statements reflecting user and business impact. Use when a roadmap lists features instead of results, when making a roadmap more strategic, or when communicating what success looks like vs what will be built.

pm-planning

Decomposition methodology for pm agent — turns an approved ARCH document into a Beads task list with explicit dependencies, time-boxes, and acceptance criteria. The pipeline can only orchestrate work it can see; this skill defines what "seeable work" looks like.

pre-mortem

Imagine the project has already shipped and failed catastrophically — work backwards from the failure to identify the most likely causes BEFORE building. Forces concrete risk identification, not vague "what could go wrong" lists.

product-economics

Does this product make money at a price someone will pay? Forces contribution margin, a price with a stated basis, and a bottom-up market size — each number labelled measured / assumed / unknown, so a guess can never be read as a calculation.

prose-style

Reusable writing-style contract for agent outputs (reports, ARCH docs, verdicts, threat models). Forces direct prose with concrete evidence, no marketing voice, no hedge words. The single most-referenced skill across the pipeline — used by 28 agents.

quant-validation

The methods a financial-ML result has to survive before it is evidence — purged cross-validation with an embargo, triple-barrier labelling, sample uniqueness under overlapping labels, fractional differentiation, meta-labelling, and multiple-testing correction. Written because the invariants were required of quant-researcher and nothing in the project explained how to satisfy them: a rule without a method produces either an invention or a block. Applied whenever a backtest, a feature or a label is being designed or judged.

skeptical-triage

Reusable 3-round self-challenge + arbiter pattern for filtering false positives from findings/verdicts. Use when the cost of a false-positive gate block exceeds the cost of ~4 extra LLM turns.

stack-baseline

The pinned default technology stack for SMB Product-Builder products. One source of truth so the architect, app-scaffolder, auth-engineer, and senior-dev never re-decide the stack per build — they build ON it. Covers framework, ORM/DB, auth, UI, payments/email/SMS, files, jobs, testing, hosting, and observability, with the chosen default + the one sanctioned alternative for each. Applied whenever a new product is scaffolded or a stack choice would otherwise be improvised. Re-deciding the stack every build is the biggest silent time sink; this kills it.

Testing & QA Featured

test-strategy

Coverage-design method for qa-engineer — pyramid ratios per archetype, equivalence/boundary/property case selection, mutation score as the real coverage signal, and a flake-quarantine policy. Turns "coverage is 90%" (a number with no method) into a defensible test plan. Emits TEST-STRATEGY-{slug}.md, which the QA gate checks exists.

Web & Frontend Solid

ui-ux-pro-max

UI/UX design intelligence for web and mobile. Includes 50+ styles, 161 color palettes, 57 font pairings, 161 product types, 99 UX guidelines, and 25 chart types across 10 stacks (React, Next.js, Vue, Svelte, SwiftUI, React Native, Flutter, Tailwind, shadcn/ui, and HTML/CSS). Actions: plan, build, create, design, implement, review, fix, improve, optimize, enhance, refactor, and check UI/UX code. Projects: website, landing page, dashboard, admin panel, e-commerce, SaaS, portfolio, blog, and mobile app. Elements: button, modal, navbar, sidebar, card, table, form, and chart. Styles: glassmorphism, claymorphism, minimalism, brutalism, neumorphism, bento grid, dark mode, responsive, skeuomorphism, and flat design. Topics: color systems, accessibility, animation, layout, typography, font pairing, spacing, interaction states, shadow, and gradient. Integrations: shadcn/ui MCP for component search and examples.

vertical-construction

Domain knowledge for the construction vertical (contractors, field crews) so architect and pm don't spec construction products naively. Covers the vocabulary (bid vs estimate, takeoff, retainage, change order, AIA G702/G703, lien waiver, draw schedule), the non-obvious money rules that incumbents like Procore price out of reach for small contractors, what a naive build gets wrong (no assemblies, ignored retainage, ungated sub payments), and the entities that must be modelled. Applied by architect when writing ARCH-{slug}.md and by pm when writing PLAN-{slug}.md for any of the four construction products (bid-builder, project-mgmt, subcontractor-portal, field-docs).

vertical-creator

Domain-knowledge primer for the marketing & creator vertical (creators, newsletter writers, podcasters, course sellers) so architect/pm don't spec naively against incumbents (Substack ~10%, Patreon 8–12%, Kajabi $149+, beehiiv, Buffer/Hootsuite/Later). Supplies the vocabulary, the non-obvious take-rate/red-ocean rules, the entities a real scheduler/analytics/monetization/sponsorship product must model, and the per-product wedge — with sponsorship-crm flagged as the white-space wedge. Applied by architect/pm during spec authoring for any of the four products in this vertical — content-scheduler, analytics, monetization, sponsorship-crm.

vertical-fintech-mobile

Domain-knowledge pack for money on a phone — wallets, payments, custody and signing, transaction lifecycle, KYC/AML gates, and offline reconciliation. The rules that separate a payments app from a CRUD app with a currency symbol: a balance is a claim about a server, an idempotency key must outlive the process that made it, keys never enter JavaScript memory, and a device clock may not order financial events. Applied by architect/pm/design-advisor when specing a mobile product that moves money, and by mobile-app-builder while implementing it.

vertical-fitness

Domain-knowledge pack for fitness & wellness (boutique studios, gyms, coaches, on-demand brands) — the membership vocabulary, non-obvious billing/booking rules, and retention realities a builder must know so fitness products aren't speced naive. Covers the four products this niche ships (class-booking, coaching, churn-prevention, on-demand-video), how they wedge against Mindbody / PushPress / Zen Planner / Wodify / WellnessLiving, and the must-model entities (membership with freeze, recurring class template, waitlist, no-show policy, access tier). Applied by architect/pm during spec authoring so the schema and flows reflect how a studio actually bills and books, not a generic CRUD app.

vertical-home-services

Domain-knowledge pack for home & field services (HVAC, plumbing, cleaning, landscaping) — the trades vocabulary, non-obvious pricing/dispatch rules, and field-crew realities a builder must know so home-services products aren't speced naive. Covers the four products this niche ships (dispatch, quoting, field-booking, reviews), how they wedge against ServiceTitan / Jobber / Housecall Pro, and the must-model entities (price book, membership, job window, multi-option quote). Applied by architect/pm during spec authoring so the schema and flows reflect how a trades shop actually runs, not a generic CRUD app.

vertical-hr-recruiting

Domain-knowledge primer for the HR & recruiting vertical (ATS, onboarding, workforce scheduling, engagement). Applied by architect/pm during spec authoring so they aren't naive about hiring pipelines, the admitted offer→onboard data-carry gap, EEO/I-9 compliance, and shift-coverage rules. Stops the four products from being specced as generic CRUD when the domain has hard legal and workflow constraints.

vertical-logistics

Domain knowledge for the logistics & supply-chain vertical (SMB shipping & inventory) so architect and pm don't spec naively. Covers the vocabulary (TMS vs WMS, multi-carrier rate shopping, dimensional weight, BOL/ASN, lot/batch, reorder point), the non-obvious rules incumbents get right, what a naive build gets wrong, and the entities each of the four products (shipment-tracking, warehouse-lite, route-optimization, po-mgmt) must model. Applied by architect when writing ARCH-{slug}.md and by pm when writing PLAN-{slug}.md for any logistics product.

vertical-onboarding

Onboarding-and-switching playbook for SMB Product-Builder products. Defines the first-run experience that turns a prospect leaving an incumbent (ServiceTitan/Toast/Mindbody/Shopify/QuickBooks) into an activated user — import-first onboarding, the activation milestone, sample-data fallback, and the time-to-first-value target. Applied by migration-import-engineer and architect/pm so onboarding is designed as a funnel, not an afterthought. Our whole wedge is "low switching cost"; this skill makes that real on day one.

vertical-professional-services

Domain-knowledge primer for the professional-services vertical (agencies, consulting firms, creative studios) so architect/pm don't spec naively against PSA incumbents (Scoro, Productive, Accelo, Ruddr, BigTime). Supplies the vocabulary, the non-obvious billing/margin rules, the entities a real proposal/portal/time/profitability product must model, and the per-product wedge. Applied by architect/pm during spec authoring for any of the four products in this vertical — proposals, client-portal, time-invoicing, profitability.

vertical-real-estate

Residential-proptech domain knowledge so architect / pm aren't naive when speccing real-estate products (listings, lead-crm, transaction-coordination, property-mgmt). Codifies MLS/IDX reality, listing status lifecycle + syndication canonical-source, long-cycle lead nurture, transaction-coordination as the high-pain wedge, and the must-model entities. Applied during spec authoring so the architecture reflects how real estate actually works — not a generic CRUD assumption.

vertical-restaurants

Domain-knowledge primer for the restaurants & hospitality vertical (dine-in, pickup, delivery). Gives architect and pm the vocabulary, non-obvious operating rules, must-model entities, and incumbent landscape so a restaurant-product spec isn't naive about modifiers, 86'd items, aggregator commissions, tip law, and razor-thin margins. Covers the 4 products: online-ordering, reservations, loyalty, shift-scheduling.

vertical-retail

Retail & e-commerce domain knowledge for SMB storefront products (storefront, inventory, pricing, cart-recovery). Codifies the vocabulary (SKU vs variant, reorder point, COGS/margin, ATS, AOV), the non-obvious rules (Shopify owns the storefront — don't fight it head-on; the wedge is multichannel inventory + reorder and cart recovery), the must-model entities (Product→Variants matrix, channel-aware InventoryLevel, ReorderRule, PricingRule, AbandonedCart), and what a naive build gets wrong (no variant model, single-channel inventory, reorder without lead-time/safety-stock). Applied by architect/pm during spec authoring so they aren't naive about retail; checked implicitly by pci-reviewer + cms-reviewer.

well-architected

6-pillar architecture review framework. Adapted from AWS Well-Architected for use by great_cto's architect agent on every non-nano ARCH document. Forces explicit answers across operational excellence, security, reliability, performance, cost, and sustainability — not just feature design.