Worked examples
Five designs produced by the genesis skill, in recommended reading order. Each is the verbatim output of an architect session that loaded SKILL.md and applied the eight-step process. Numbers 03-05 are cold-load runs from a fresh agent context (no prior conversation, no human cleanup).
| # | Example | What it shows |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | README iteration with an alignment loop | A8 ALIGNMENT LOOP applied to README iteration. Single skill, single goal-steward thread. |
| 02 | Re-architecting a review panel | Re-architecture lesson: a multi-lens panel anti-pattern (everything in one thread) and the corrected design. |
| 03 | Release notes (minimum viable single skill) | Minimal output: 1 skill + 2 assets + 3 scripts. A9 SUPERVISED EXECUTION + S7 + S4. A1 PANEL considered and rejected (lens-count gate did not fire). |
| 04 | PR review (advisory panel) | Multi-primitive panel: 6 personas + 4 assets + 3 scripts + trigger + entrypoint + rule + evals. A6 EVENT + A1 PANEL + DISSENT-WEIGHTED arbiter. R1 SPLIT considered, applied at lens content as R3 EXTRACT. |
| 05 | PR review (verdict regime) | Same prompt as 04 with one constraint removed (verdict required). Regime change: deterministic bridges, schema gate, post-emit verifier loop, graceful tool probes. A8 ALIGNMENT LOOP, B5 ESCALATION, R1 SPLIT considered and rejected with WHEN-clause grounding. |
How 03-05 were produced
Section titled “How 03-05 were produced”A general-purpose agent received only:
- Path to SKILL.md
- The operator prompt verbatim (no genesis vocabulary)
- Instructions to load assets per progressive disclosure
- Constraints: cite patterns with WHEN-clause quotes, render mermaid, apply W6 / W6.2 / W6.3, ASCII-only, stop at step 6 handoff packet
No prior genesis context was carried in. The output is what the skill, cold-loaded, produced.
Why ship them
Section titled “Why ship them”The examples answer two questions the README cannot:
- Does the skill produce the same output every time? No. It is prompt-sensitive in a disciplined way. Compare 03 (single skill) to 04 (17 primitives) to 05 (regime change with hardened pipeline).
- Can I trust the design choices? Each example shows patterns CONSIDERED and REJECTED with WHEN-clause grounding. Most prompt engineering tools never show their rejection logic, so you cannot tell whether a design is justified or arbitrary.
How to read them
Section titled “How to read them”Each example follows the same eight-step shape:
- Operator prompt (verbatim).
- Goal restated; success criteria pinned to B4 PLAN MEMENTO.
- Architectural pattern selection with WHEN-clause quote (the Tier-3 catalogue).
- Design pattern composition (the Tier-2 catalogue).
- Refactor passes considered (Tier-4) — applied or rejected with reasoning.
- Handoff packet: primitives, dependencies, deterministic gates, anti-patterns to watch.
- (Cut at step 6 for the cold-load runs.)
Read 01 first for the smallest viable composition, then 02 for the cautionary tale that anchors most architects’ intuition for why A1 PANEL needs fan-out across threads. After that, 03-04-05 in order shows the same architect facing escalating prompt complexity.