ask-matt · Skill Details

Mechanism

When It Triggers · How It Works · What It Produces

Breaks down how the skill works and what it produces, so you can quickly judge whether it fits your scenario and value.

Trigger: Invoked manually when the user types /ask-matt, unsure which skill to use or wanting an overview of the skillset structure. Any "what should I use?" scenario triggers it.
Mechanism: Reads its own SKILL.md's flow map, organizing skills along the "idea → ship" main flow, including on-ramps, codebase health, vocabulary layers, and standalone skills. Each skill is annotated with when to use it and its relationship to other skills. No actual work is performed — only recommendations and guidance.
Output: A structured skill usage guide that tells the user which skill or workflow path to invoke for their specific situation, preventing navigation confusion across many skills.

Use Cases

Two Typical Use Cases

Scenario 01

First-time user navigating the skillset

A developer who just installed the mattpocock/skills skillset faces 20+ skills without knowing where to start. Invoking `/ask-matt` presents the main "idea → ship" flow and recommends when to use entry skills like triage, diagnosing-bugs, or prototype. This helps users quickly orient themselves and avoid wasted learning effort.

Scenario 02

Encountering an ambiguous work situation

During development, a vague bug arises and the developer is unsure whether to debug directly or assess the architecture first. Invoking `/ask-matt` recommends starting with `/diagnosing-bugs` to build a feedback loop, then switching to `/improve-codebase-architecture` if no good seam exists to lock down the bug. This ensures the right workflow is followed every time.

Skill Relationships

Which Skills I Use · Which Skills Use Me

Dependency relationships read as "the upper tier points to the lower tier." The current Skill sits in the middle tier — above are Skills that depend on it, below are Skills it depends on.

Tier 1 · These Skills Use Me

No explicit dependency

Tier 2 · Current Skill

ask-mattWorkflow

Tier 3 · I Use These Skills

Full Relationship Graph

Browse this skill's relationships within its skillset. Click a node to switch the side panel; use the search box to jump to any skill.

Skill File

SKILL.md

Open in GitHub ↗

SKILL.mdLoading from GitHub…

Skill Composition

Open in GitHub ↗

SKILL.md50.0%
other50.0%

▸skills/ask-matt/
▸ask-matt
- ·SKILL.md
- ▸agents
  - ·openai.yaml

Per the Agent Skills spec, SKILL.md is the only required file. The colored bars classify the rest into the three spec-aligned optional directories (scripts / references / assets) and an 'other' bucket. The full directory tree is below.

Related in Skillset

You May Also Need These Skills

code-review

A two-axis code review skill: reviews a diff (from a fixed point to HEAD) along both Standards (coding standards + Fowler smell baseline) and Spec (faithful implementation of the originating issue/PRD). Both axes run as parallel sub-agents to avoid context pollution. The report aggregates findings without merging conclusions, ensuring "passes standards but implements the wrong thing" and "implements the right thing but breaks conventions" are both surfaced independently.

Workflow

codebase-design

A shared vocabulary skill for deep module design: provides a precise set of design terms (Module, Interface, Depth, Seam, Adapter, Leverage, Locality) guiding agents and developers to design "deep modules" — a lot of behaviour behind a small interface. Includes design principles (the deletion test, the interface is the test surface) and testability guidelines. A reference skill consumed by other skills (e.g., improve-codebase-architecture, tdd) and invoked directly by engineers.

Style Guide

diagnosing-bugs

A disciplined diagnosis loop for hard bugs and performance regressions. The core idea is to first build a tight feedback loop — no hypothesis phase without one. Six phases: build feedback loop → reproduce + minimise → generate 3-5 falsifiable hypotheses → instrument by prediction → fix + regression test → cleanup + post-mortem. If the codebase architecture can't lock down the bug, it recommends handing off to the improve-codebase-architecture skill.

Workflow

domain-modeling

An active discipline for building and sharpening a project's domain model: challenges terms in real time during conversation, clarifies fuzzy language, stress-tests scenarios, cross-validates code against the model, updates CONTEXT.md inline, and sparingly creates ADRs (only when the decision is hard to reverse, surprising without context, and the result of a real trade-off). Not a static glossary — a living process that continuously polishes the domain model.

Workflow