Adk Unit Design

What it does

When your agent uses it

• Asked to write a design doc for {file}
• Document the architecture of {class}
• Document the extension points of {unit}
• After adding a core class

Example prompts

• “write a design doc for {file}”
• “document the architecture of {class}”
• “document the extension points of {unit}”
• “/adk-unit-design”

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 666c26d. 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

Adk Unit Design loads about 759 tokens when it runs, and up to ~1.1k if it reads all its reference files. Until then it costs about 208 tokens; SKILL.md has 285 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it

~208

When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches

~759

With references · SKILL.md plus every file in references/, read only if the agent opens them

~1.1k

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

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 google/adk-python at commit 666c26d, republished under its Apache-2.0 licence (© google). 285 words, ~759 tokens.

name

adk-unit-design

description

Writes an as-built architecture document for one ADK code unit — purpose, execution flow, data flow, cross-class dependencies, extension points, and the parts that must not change — to `docs/design/{topic}/{unit}/index.md`. It describes the code as implemented, not a proposed design, and its reader is a developer about to change or extend that unit. Use when asked to "write a design doc for {file}", "document the architecture of {class}", "document the extension points of {unit}", or after adding a core class, node type, or plugin base. Don't use for documentation aimed at developers who only call the unit from their own application — that is a usage guide with runnable examples under `docs/guides/` (use `adk-unit-guide`). Don't use to answer a framework-wide architecture question (use `adk-architecture`).

© google, Apache-2.0. 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 1 other file (references) in .agents/skills/adk-unit-design of google/adk-python.

• SKILL.md
• references/design-template.md

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 666c26d