Code Quality Review
paiml/aprender
A skill your agent uses to perform a comprehensive code quality and architecture review of the current project or repository, identifying code smells, architectural debt, performance bottlenecks…
“Apply John Ousterhout-inspired software design rules when reducing complexity, designing module boundaries, or reviewing APIs and abstractions.”
Install A Philosophy of Software Design
$ npx skills add ciembor/agent-rules-books --skill a-philosophy-of-software-design -a claude-codeProject install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.
$ gh skill install ciembor/agent-rules-books a-philosophy-of-software-design --agent claude-codeProject scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/ciembor/agent-rules-books.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/a-philosophy-of-software-design .claude/skills/a-philosophy-of-software-design && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.
Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/
Install the "a-philosophy-of-software-design" agent skill from https://github.com/ciembor/agent-rules-books/tree/main/a-philosophy-of-software-design into .claude/skills/a-philosophy-of-software-design/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "a-philosophy-of-software-design", then confirm the skill loads.Claude Code copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$skill-installer install https://github.com/ciembor/agent-rules-books/tree/main/a-philosophy-of-software-designType this inside Codex. $skill-installer <name> installs a curated skill from openai/skills. The installer writes to $CODEX_HOME/skills (default ~/.codex/skills). Restart Codex if the skill does not show up.
$ npx skills add ciembor/agent-rules-books --skill a-philosophy-of-software-design -a codexProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.codex/skills/.
$ gh skill install ciembor/agent-rules-books a-philosophy-of-software-design --agent codexProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/ciembor/agent-rules-books.git skills-src && mkdir -p .agents/skills && cp -r skills-src/a-philosophy-of-software-design .agents/skills/a-philosophy-of-software-design && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.agents/skills/ instead of .agents/skills for a personal install.
Codex skills documentation · loads skills from .agents/skills/
Install the "a-philosophy-of-software-design" agent skill from https://github.com/ciembor/agent-rules-books/tree/main/a-philosophy-of-software-design into .agents/skills/a-philosophy-of-software-design/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "a-philosophy-of-software-design", then confirm the skill loads.Codex copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$ npx skills add ciembor/agent-rules-books --skill a-philosophy-of-software-design -a cursorProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.cursor/skills/.
$ gh skill install ciembor/agent-rules-books a-philosophy-of-software-design --agent cursorProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/ciembor/agent-rules-books.git skills-src && mkdir -p .cursor/skills && cp -r skills-src/a-philosophy-of-software-design .cursor/skills/a-philosophy-of-software-design && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.cursor/skills/ instead of .cursor/skills for a personal install.
Cursor skills documentation · loads skills from .cursor/skills/, .agents/skills/, .claude/skills/, .codex/skills/
Install the "a-philosophy-of-software-design" agent skill from https://github.com/ciembor/agent-rules-books/tree/main/a-philosophy-of-software-design into .cursor/skills/a-philosophy-of-software-design/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "a-philosophy-of-software-design", then confirm the skill loads.Cursor copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$ gemini skills install https://github.com/ciembor/agent-rules-books.git --path a-philosophy-of-software-design--scope user (default) or --scope workspace; --path is the subfolder of the repo that holds the skill; --consent skips the security confirmation prompt.
$ npx skills add ciembor/agent-rules-books --skill a-philosophy-of-software-design -a gemini-cliProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.gemini/skills/.
$ gh skill install ciembor/agent-rules-books a-philosophy-of-software-design --agent gemini-cliProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/ciembor/agent-rules-books.git skills-src && mkdir -p .gemini/skills && cp -r skills-src/a-philosophy-of-software-design .gemini/skills/a-philosophy-of-software-design && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.gemini/skills/ instead of .gemini/skills for a personal install, then run /skills reload.
Gemini CLI skills documentation · loads skills from .gemini/skills/, .agents/skills/
Install the "a-philosophy-of-software-design" agent skill from https://github.com/ciembor/agent-rules-books/tree/main/a-philosophy-of-software-design into .gemini/skills/a-philosophy-of-software-design/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "a-philosophy-of-software-design", then confirm the skill loads.Gemini CLI copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$ gh skill install ciembor/agent-rules-books a-philosophy-of-software-designInstalls for Copilot at project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Preview a skill first with gh skill preview. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).
$ npx skills add ciembor/agent-rules-books --skill a-philosophy-of-software-design -a github-copilotProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.copilot/skills/.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/ciembor/agent-rules-books.git skills-src && mkdir -p .github/skills && cp -r skills-src/a-philosophy-of-software-design .github/skills/a-philosophy-of-software-design && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.copilot/skills/ instead of .github/skills for a personal install. Commit .github/skills so cloud agent and code review can use it.
GitHub Copilot skills documentation · loads skills from .github/skills/, .claude/skills/, .agents/skills/
Install the "a-philosophy-of-software-design" agent skill from https://github.com/ciembor/agent-rules-books/tree/main/a-philosophy-of-software-design into .github/skills/a-philosophy-of-software-design/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "a-philosophy-of-software-design", then confirm the skill loads.GitHub Copilot copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$ npx skills add ciembor/agent-rules-books --skill a-philosophy-of-software-design -a opencodeOpenCode documents no install command of its own. Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.config/opencode/skills/.
$ gh skill install ciembor/agent-rules-books a-philosophy-of-software-design --agent opencodeProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/ciembor/agent-rules-books.git skills-src && mkdir -p .opencode/skills && cp -r skills-src/a-philosophy-of-software-design .opencode/skills/a-philosophy-of-software-design && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.config/opencode/skills/ instead of .opencode/skills for a personal install.
OpenCode skills documentation · loads skills from .opencode/skills/, .claude/skills/, .agents/skills/
Install the "a-philosophy-of-software-design" agent skill from https://github.com/ciembor/agent-rules-books/tree/main/a-philosophy-of-software-design into .opencode/skills/a-philosophy-of-software-design/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "a-philosophy-of-software-design", then confirm the skill loads.OpenCode copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
Facts
- Skill name
a-philosophy-of-software-design- GitHub stars
- 2.9k
- Token cost
- ~181 tokens
- SKILL.md length
- 56 words
- Files
- 4
- Skills in repo
- 14
- Repo updated
- First seen
- Licence
- MIT
At a glance
- Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md
About this skill
A Philosophy of Software Design is a skill in ciembor/agent-rules-books (2.9k stars). Its SKILL.md is about 181 tokens, with 3 other files in the folder. Licence: MIT.
What it can do on your machine
Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 893a88a. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.
Tool permissions
Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.
From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.
Runs code
No scripts in the folder and no shell commands in SKILL.md.
From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.
Network
No URLs in SKILL.md.
From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.
Credentials
Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.
From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.
Context cost
A Philosophy of Software Design loads about 181 tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 44 tokens; SKILL.md has 56 words of instructions outside code blocks.
Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.
Safety
Auto-check passed
The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.
Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.
SKILL.md
The full file from ciembor/agent-rules-books at commit 893a88a, republished under its MIT licence (© ciembor). 56 words, ~181 tokens.
Download SKILL.mdSave it as
.claude/skills/a-philosophy-of-software-design/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder). This skill also uses 3 other files; get the full folder from GitHub.- name
- a-philosophy-of-software-design
- description
- Apply John Ousterhout-inspired software design rules when reducing complexity, designing module boundaries, or reviewing APIs and abstractions.
- license
- MIT
A Philosophy of Software Design Skill
Use this skill when a task involves module design, API design, information hiding, abstraction depth, cognitive load, or refactoring shallow interfaces.
Before making design or code decisions, read and apply a-philosophy-of-software-design.mini.md. Use a-philosophy-of-software-design.md only as a deeper reference when the mini rules are not enough for the current design tradeoff.
© ciembor, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file
Files
SKILL.md and 3 other files in a-philosophy-of-software-design of ciembor/agent-rules-books.
- SKILL.md
- a-philosophy-of-software-design.md
- a-philosophy-of-software-design.mini.md
- a-philosophy-of-software-design.nano.md
Open the folder on GitHubat commit 893a88a
Compare with similar skills
A Philosophy of Software Design next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.
| Skill | Stars | Used in | Tokens | Auto-check | Licence | Repo updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A Philosophy of Software Design this skillciembor/agent-rules-books | 2.9k | — | ~181 | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT | |
| Code Quality Reviewpaiml/aprender | 130 | — | ~626 | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT | |
| Typescript Best Practicesjwynia/agent-skills | 170 | — | ~2.5k | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT | |
| Smellsmallnest/goal-workflow | 291 | — | ~10k | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT | |
| Frontend Module Standardssiteboon/claudecodeui | 14k | — | ~2.6k | Automated safety check: Pass | AGPL-3.0 | |
| Ponytail Lazy Developer ModeDietrichGebert/ponytail | 160k | 1 repos | ~873 | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT |
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Guides refactoring in phases based on Martin Fowler's method: research, test coverage check, planning and small tested steps, with your approval at each phase.
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Related
Categories
Questions about A Philosophy of Software Design
How do I install A Philosophy of Software Design in Claude Code?
Run `npx skills add ciembor/agent-rules-books --skill a-philosophy-of-software-design -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (a-philosophy-of-software-design in ciembor/agent-rules-books) into .claude/skills/a-philosophy-of-software-design in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.
How do I install A Philosophy of Software Design in Codex?
Run `npx skills add ciembor/agent-rules-books --skill a-philosophy-of-software-design -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (a-philosophy-of-software-design in ciembor/agent-rules-books) into .agents/skills/a-philosophy-of-software-design in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.
Can I use A Philosophy of Software Design in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?
Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add ciembor/agent-rules-books --skill a-philosophy-of-software-design -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/a-philosophy-of-software-design, .gemini/skills/a-philosophy-of-software-design, .github/skills/a-philosophy-of-software-design and .opencode/skills/a-philosophy-of-software-design in your project.
What does A Philosophy of Software Design need to run?
SKILL.md names no scripts, command-line tools or credentials: A Philosophy of Software Design is instructions for the agent only.
Does A Philosophy of Software Design access the network?
SKILL.md contains no URLs. Any network use would come from the scripts or tools the agent runs. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.
Is A Philosophy of Software Design safe to install?
Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.
What licence does A Philosophy of Software Design use?
A Philosophy of Software Design is published under the MIT licence (declared in SKILL.md). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.
How many tokens does A Philosophy of Software Design use?
About 181 tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 724 characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full.
What are the alternatives to A Philosophy of Software Design?
Skills that share tags, products or a category with A Philosophy of Software Design: Code Quality Review (paiml/aprender, 130 stars), Typescript Best Practices (jwynia/agent-skills, 170 stars), Smell (smallnest/goal-workflow, 291 stars) and Frontend Module Standards (siteboon/claudecodeui, 14k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.
Who maintains A Philosophy of Software Design?
ciembor (a GitHub user) maintains it in ciembor/agent-rules-books, which has 2,943 GitHub stars. The repository holds 14 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on September 10, 2026.
Source: ciembor/agent-rules-books on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.