Architecture Designer
Use when designing new high-level system architecture, reviewing existing designs, or making architectural decisions.
Before & after
Same prompt, same agent — the only difference is the skill.
Decomposing a monolith is a complex undertaking, and there are definitely different approaches you could take. The key is to do it gradually so you don't break things. You'll probably want to identify the different services within your codebase, figure out the dependencies between them, and then think about how to separate them incrementally. Strangler fig pattern is one approach that some companies use. You'll need to set up API boundaries, maybe implement an API gateway. Testing will be critical. It depends a lot on your current architecture, your team size, and how risk-tolerant you are. What does your current monolith look like? Understanding the structure would help me give more specific guidance.
ARCHITECTURE DECISION RECORD: Monolith-to-Microservices DEPENDENCY MAP (current state) • Auth service (users, sessions) → heavily coupled to 12 endpoints • Payment service (stripe integration) → 6 endpoints depend on it • Reporting service (read-only, analytics) → 2 tables, no other dependencies CRITICAL PATH: Auth + Payment → extract these first EXTRACTION ROADMAP (Phase 1: No downtime) MONTH 1: Reporting microservice BOUNDARY: Read-only copy of analytics table, async replication RISK: Low (no writes, can roll back instantly) GATE: Dual-read first 2 weeks, cutover after accuracy validation MONTH 2-3: Payment microservice BOUNDARY: All stripe calls routed through new service RISK: Medium (financial impact if wrong) GATE: Circuit breaker + fallback to monolith for 4 weeks DEPENDENCY: Needs auth service stable first MONTH 3-4: Auth microservice BOUNDARY: Session storage, token validation → separate DB RISK: High (all requests flow through) GATE: Strangler pattern—new clients call microservice, legacy traffic stays in monolith METRICS: Monitor token latency (<50ms), error rate (<0.1%) TECH CHOICES • Inter-service communication: gRPC (low latency for auth) • API gateway: Nginx (route by path prefix) • Data sync: Postgres CDC (logical replication, eventual consistency) SUCCESS CRITERIA: All three services extractable by Month 4, zero downtime events, <5ms added latency.
About this skill
name: architecture-designer description: Use when Use when designing new high-level system architecture, reviewing existing designs, or making architectural decisions.
Architecture Designer
Use when designing new high-level system architecture, reviewing existing designs, or making architectural decisions. Invoke to create architecture diagrams, write Architecture Decision Records (ADRs), evaluate technology trade-offs, design component interactions, and plan for scalability. Use for system design, architecture review, microservices structuring, ADR authoring, scalability planning, and infrastructure pattern selection — distinct from code-level design patterns or database-only design tasks.
What you get
- Public GitHub repo
- the skills/architecture-designer folder with SKILL.md and references.
Customize your output
- Fork the repo and extend the skill's reference files for your own stack conventions.
Example output
Activates on a matching request (e.g. building or reviewing Architecture Designer code) and can chain with other skills in the pack.
Best for
Full-stack developers and engineering teams using Claude Code.
SKILL.md preview
---
name: architecture-designer
description: Use this skill when designing or reviewing system architecture, writing ADRs, or making technology trade-off decisions.
version: 1.0.0
category: Development / Engineering
author: AgentVolt
license: proprietary
tags:
- development
- engineering
---
# Architecture Designer
Designs and reviews high-level system architecture, producing diagrams, ADRs, and technology trade-off evaluations.
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