think-like-architect

think-like-architect is a skill for Codex from ttttstc/ni-skill. It costs 158 tokens per session (2,398 once invoked), scanned A, original, MIT.

An early-stage architecture planning assistant that turns requirements or project context into a first system design. It focuses on system boundaries, data ownership, trust boundaries, major decisions, trade-offs, risks, and ways to validate them.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it for greenfield systems or changes to existing systems when you need architecture choices, system boundaries, technology trade-offs, or an architecture review. It is not a detailed implementation plan or code generator.
Why use it?
It helps avoid jumping from a feature request straight to detailed APIs, database tables, or code. It separates known facts from assumptions and delays low-impact decisions until more information is available.

Skill for Codex

Written for Codex: agents/openai.yaml present.

Good fit Use it for greenfield systems or changes to existing systems when you need architecture choices, system boundaries, technology trade-offs, or an architecture review. It is not a detailed implementation plan or code generator.

Compare 6 skills from other repositories ↓
Install with agentmods
npx agentmods add skills/ttttstc/ni-skill/think-like-architect
Install

Getting it into your agent

One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.

Any agent
npx skills add ttttstc/ni-skill --skill think-like-architect
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/ttttstc/ni-skill

Made for: Codex.

Wrote this? Show the measurements

A badge with what this costs and how it scanned, read live from this page, so it follows the numbers instead of freezing them. Markdown for a README, HTML for a documentation site or a project page.

agentmods badge for think-like-architect

README.md
[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/ttttstc/ni-skill/think-like-architect/github.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/skills/ttttstc/ni-skill/think-like-architect)
Your own site
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/ttttstc/ni-skill/think-like-architect"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/ttttstc/ni-skill/think-like-architect/github.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>

Or the 80×15 button, for a site that already has a row of RSS and ATOM ones. Only the verdict fits; the numbers stay here.

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Your own site · 80×15
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/ttttstc/ni-skill/think-like-architect"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/ttttstc/ni-skill/think-like-architect.svg" alt="Reviewed on agentmods" width="80" height="20"></a>
Per session 158 Skills are progressive disclosure: only the name and description are preloaded; the body loads when the skill is used.
When invoked 2,398 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan A 0 findings. A grade says what 26 rules found in the file — not that it is safe.
Origin original No closer match found in the catalogue.
Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

ModelPer sessionOnce invoked
Fable 5.1 $0.00158 $0.02398
Opus 5.5 $0.00063 $0.00959
Sonnet 5.5 $0.00032 $0.00480
Haiku 4.5 $0.00016 $0.00240

Measured 7d ago against content hash 3f8a249729c5, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-10-07, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

think-like-architect scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 7d ago.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Nothing flagged

None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.

skills/think-like-architect/SKILL.md · 193 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 193 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

Think Like an Architect

把架构当作当前约束下的高价值决策,不把它当作技术组件清单。

从真实目标、不可变事实、硬约束和成功标准推导方案。先决定高影响、跨边界、难逆转的事项;延迟可逆且等待能获得更多信息的事项。输出可检验、可演进的首层架构假设,不输出最终蓝图。

工作边界

  • 只处理会改变系统边界、业务边界、数据所有权、信任边界、质量属性、团队所有权或演进成本的事项。
  • 不展开 API 字段、表结构、类、函数、部署脚本和任务拆解,除非某个细节本身构成难逆转的首层决策。
  • 不把 PRD 中的技术建议当作事实。把它还原为目标、约束或待验证假设。
  • 不依赖 ni-unknown-first,不启动子代理,不自动持久化状态。
  • 默认在对话中交付。用户确认导出前,不创建方案文件。

不可跳过的流程

严格按以下状态推进,不得压缩、合并或跳过门禁:

接收上下文
  -> 建立事实底座
  -> 判断信息充分性
       -> 信息不足且可在已授权项目内发现:定向检查项目
       -> 信息不足且需超出已授权范围:提交调研提案并停止
       -> 信息仍不足:每轮最多提出 3 个高价值问题
  -> 提炼架构驱动力
  -> 筛选高价值决策
  -> 必要时生成结构性不同的选项
  -> 形成首层边界、风险和验证路径
  -> 输出完整 Architecture First Cut
  -> 询问是否导出 Markdown

按阶段加载参考

只加载当前阶段需要的文件,不一次性读取全部参考:

当前阶段 必须读取
判断信息是否充分、是否需要项目调研 references/intake-and-research.md
提炼驱动力、边界和决策 references/methodology.md
同一高价值决策存在两个以上可行方向 references/options.md
准备输出完整结论 references/output-template.md

第一步:建立事实底座

从用户消息、已提供材料和已授权项目中提取:

  • 真实用户、业务价值和待解决问题;
  • 成功标准与明确非目标;
  • 当前系统、范围和上下游;
  • 硬约束:法规、安全、数据、时间、预算、团队和技术环境;
  • 已知变化方向与演进期限;
  • 事实、假设、Unknown 及其证据来源。

现有系统场景先检查项目文档、代码结构、配置、部署约定、数据与集成边界,再讨论新结构。只检查会影响首层决策的内容,不下钻实现细节。

已授权范围

以下内容视为已授权上下文,可以直接读取:

  • 用户粘贴、上传或明确指定的文件、URL 和资料;
  • 用户明确要求“基于当前仓库”“分析这个项目”或给出仓库链接/本地项目路径时,该仓库或项目的只读内容;
  • 当前对话已经确认的事实和决策。

读取已授权项目不需要重复申请确认。不得把这种授权扩展到其他仓库、外部系统、私有指标、日志、账号或利益相关者资料。

第二步:执行信息充分性门禁

读取 references/intake-and-research.md,逐项判断下列信息是否足以支撑首层决策:

  1. 目标、用户价值和成功标准;
  2. 范围、当前状态和明确非目标;
  3. 硬约束;
  4. 3–5 个候选业务或质量属性驱动力;
  5. 数据分类、所有权、安全与信任边界;
  6. 团队、时间、预算和运维能力;
  7. 验收标准。

缺失信息只有在可能改变首层决策时才构成阻塞。非阻塞 Unknown 记录后继续,不追求信息完美。

在已授权项目内主动获取

答案可从已授权项目中发现时,主动做最小只读检查:先看架构文档、项目入口、模块边界、配置和部署描述,再按证据缺口缩小范围。不得为了“熟悉项目”无边界扫描。

超出已授权范围的调研确认门禁

需要访问已授权范围之外的资料时,必须先输出调研提案并停止。提案必须说明:

  • 哪个首层决策缺少证据;
  • 准备获取什么信息、从哪里获取;
  • 调研范围与明确不做的内容;
  • 预期关闭哪些 Unknown;
  • 是否涉及外部访问、敏感数据、额外成本或账号权限;
  • 确认问题:是否授权我按以上范围开始调研?

用户明确确认前,不得访问新来源、启动调研工具或输出正式架构方案。

访谈门禁

项目证据仍不足时,只问会改变高价值决策的问题:

  • 每轮最多 3 个问题;
  • 先问影响最大且无法从项目发现的问题;
  • 说明答案会改变哪类决策;
  • 不询问可安全延迟到详细设计的问题。

如果用户拒绝补充或要求立即输出,允许继续,但状态必须为“暂定”,置信度不得标“高”,并显式列出关键假设、阻塞 Unknown 和最便宜的验证动作。

Read the full file on GitHub · 193 lines

Files

What ships with it

5 files beside SKILL.md in the same directory: the scripts, references and assets a skill reads on demand. Not counted in the per-session cost; read them before you install if any of them is executable.

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

  1. 7d ago First seen · 193 lines · 158 tokens per session scan A 3f8a249729c5

Subscribe to this mod's changes

think-like-architect is a skill published in the GitHub repository ttttstc/ni-skill (10 stars, last pushed 6d ago), licensed MIT. It adds 158 tokens to every session and 2,398 once invoked, about $0.0006 per session on Opus 5.5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-10-30.

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