using-se-skills

Using SE Skills

Overview

SE Skills is a collection of workflow skills for chip vendor System Engineers (Application Architects), organized by the SE workflow phase. Each skill encodes a specific process that senior SEs follow — from raw requirements decomposition through architecture design, formal specification authoring, cross-department review, and traceability validation.

This meta-skill helps you discover and apply the right skill for your current SE task.

When to Use

• Starting a new chip application project and unsure which skill to apply first
• You know the SE workflow exists but don't know which phase you're in
• A task spans multiple SE phases and you need to know the correct sequence
• A colleague asks "which SE skill should I use for this?"
• You want a quick reference for the full SE skill lifecycle

When NOT to use:

• You already know exactly which skill to invoke (just invoke it directly)
• The task is not SE-related (e.g., pure software implementation, hardware design, mechanical engineering)

Pipeline Conduction (Automatic Phase Detection)

This is the conductor. When invoked (either explicitly or via CLAUDE.md Pipeline Mode), you do not just discover one skill — you guide the user through the entire SE workflow, one phase at a time. After each skill completes, you return here to present the next logical step.

Phase Detection Protocol

Before responding, scan docs/ with Glob (docs/*/). The presence of artifact directories determines the current phase:

Artifacts Present	Phase	Status
(none)	Define	Start here
docs/requirements/	Design	Requirements ready, need architecture
docs/architecture/	Document	Architecture ready, need specs
docs/spec/	Verify	Specs ready, need review
docs/reviews/	Validate	Reviews done, need cross-check

Option Generation by Phase

Define Phase (no docs/requirements/):

Your project is at the starting point. The first step:

1. Requirements decomposition — transform PRD/datasheet/standards into structured, traceable requirements (requirements-decompose)
2. Skip requirements — I already have structured requirements (proceed to Design phase)
3. Something else — tell me what you need