kevin-engineering-flow

Router for Kevin's engineering flow. Use when Kevin invokes /kevin-engineering-flow, asks which engineering skill or flow fits, or wants a path through grill-with-docs, prototype, PRD, issues, implement, triage, and architecture improvement.

Category
Engineering
Skill
091 of 261
Source
Kevin wiki

You don't remember every skill, so ask.

A flow is a path through the skills. Most paths run along one main flow, and two on-ramps merge onto it. Everything else is standalone.

The main flow: idea → ship

The route most work travels. You have an idea and want it built.

  1. /grill-with-docs — sharpen the idea by interview. Start here when you have a codebase: it's stateful, retaining what it learns in CONTEXT.md, wiki pages, and ADRs. No codebase? Use the same questioning loop without writing repo docs.
  2. Branch — can you settle every question in conversation? If a question needs a runnable answer (state, business logic, a UI you have to see), detour through a prototype, bridged by /handoff in both directions (see Crossing sessions): · /handoff out, then open a fresh session against that file, · /prototype to answer the question with throwaway code, · /handoff back what you learned, and reference it from the original idea thread.
  3. Branch — is this a multi-session build? · Yes/to-prd (turn the thread into a PRD) → /to-issues (split the PRD into independently-grabbable issues). Because the issues are independent, start a fresh session per issue and kick off /implement by passing it the PRD and the single issue to work on. · No/implement right here, in the same context window.

Context hygiene

Keep steps 1–3 in one unbroken context window — don't compact or clear until after /to-issues — so the grilling, PRD, and issues all build on the same thinking. Each /implement then starts fresh, working from the issue.

The limit on this is the smart zone: the window (~120k tokens on state-of-the-art models) within which the model still reasons sharply. If a session approaches it before /to-issues, don't push on degraded — /handoff and continue in a fresh thread.

On-ramps

A starting situation that generates work, then merges onto the main flow.

  • Bugs and requests piling up/triage. It moves issues through triage roles and produces agent-ready issues, which /implement later picks up.

Triage is only for issues you didn't create — bug reports, incoming feature requests, anything that arrives raw. Issues that /to-issues produced are already agent-ready, so don't triage them.

Codebase health

Not feature work — upkeep.

  • /improve-codebase-architecture — run whenever you have a spare moment to keep the codebase good for agents to operate in. It surfaces deepening opportunities; picking one generates an idea you can take into the main flow at /grill-with-docs.

Crossing sessions

  • /handoff — when a thread is full or you need to branch off (e.g. into a /prototype session), this compacts the conversation into a markdown file. You don't continue in place — you open a new session and reference that file to carry the context across. It's the bridge between context windows, in either direction. Use it when you want a fresh session but need the current conversation preserved.
  • /compact (built-in) — stay in the same conversation, letting the earlier turns be summarized. Use it at intentional breaks between phases, when you don't mind losing the verbatim history. Don't compact mid-phase — the agent can lose its way. /handoff forks; /compact continues.

Standalone

Off the main flow entirely.

  • /grill-with-docs without repo writes — the same interview loop, but for plans that do not live in a codebase.
  • /wizard — generate a human-run bash wizard for third-party setup, secret capture, .env writes, GitHub secrets/vars, one-off migrations, or A-to-B transitions where a human must drive browser/auth steps.
  • /teacher-mode — learn a concept over multiple sessions.
  • /skill-creator — write, tighten, or prune skills. This owns the imported writing-great-skills pattern locally.
  • /no-sus-code-doctor/autoreview/gstack-review — local review path after implementation.

Precondition

/setup-kevin-engineering-flow — run before your first engineering flow to configure the issue tracker, triage labels, and doc layout the other skills assume. Custom issue trackers also work.

Kevin Notes

  • This is a router, not a replacement for SKILL-RESOLVER.
  • Use agent-docs when the repo needs durable AGENTS.md / SKILL.md scaffolding.
  • Use loop-me when the work is recurring and should become an automation or skill.
  • If a route touches live services, run the relevant service skill or CLI safety gate before mutation.

Upstream provenance: adapted from github.com/mattpocock/skills/skills/engineering/ask-matt/SKILL.md at 5d78bd0903420f97c791f834201e550c765699f8.