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Agent skill

Before You Build

by OneWave-AI in OneWave-AI/claude-skills

Use before starting a product, feature, MVP, agent, automation, or integration build to identify the main pre-build risk and choose the smallest validation step.

MITAuto-check passed

Install Before You Build

skills CLI
$ npx skills add OneWave-AI/claude-skills --skill before-you-build -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install OneWave-AI/claude-skills before-you-build --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/OneWave-AI/claude-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/before-you-build .claude/skills/before-you-build && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.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/

Facts

Skill name
before-you-build
GitHub stars
336
Token cost
~900 tokens
SKILL.md length
442 words
Files
1
Skills in repo
69
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

Use before starting a product, feature, MVP, agent, automation, or integration build to identify the main pre-build risk and choose the smallest validation step.

  • Works in 4 steps: Restate the idea in one sentence. → Identify the dominant pre-build risk. → Give a short risk verdict. → …
  • The user asks whether to build
  • SKILL.md covers Core Behavior, Seven Risk Dimensions, Output Format and Validation Step Rules, plus 2 more sections
  • Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md

What it does

Before You Build is an agent skill from OneWave-AI/claude-skills. Use before starting a product, feature, MVP, agent, automation, or integration build to identify the main pre-build risk and choose the smallest validation step. Trigger when the user asks whether to build, scope, validate, prioritize, or sanity-check an idea before implementation.

Its SKILL.md is about 900 tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. It is a single SKILL.md file with no bundled scripts.

The repository describes itself as: 200+ production-ready Claude Code skills for sales, marketing, design, engineering, and AI agent architecture. Built and maintained by OneWave AI. The licence is MIT.

When your agent uses it

  • The user asks whether to build
  • Sanity-check an idea before implementation

Example prompts

  • “/before-you-build”

Workflow steps

4 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.

  1. Restate the idea in one sentence.
  2. Identify the dominant pre-build risk.
  3. Give a short risk verdict.
  4. Recommend the smallest validation step that can reduce uncertainty before building.

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit fc5b785. 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 (its code samples are markdown).

    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

Before You Build loads about 900 tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 75 tokens; SKILL.md has 442 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~75
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~900

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 OneWave-AI/claude-skills at commit fc5b785, republished under its MIT licence (© OneWave-AI). 442 words, ~900 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/before-you-build/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).
name
before-you-build
description
Use before starting a product, feature, MVP, agent, automation, or integration build to identify the main pre-build risk and choose the smallest validation step. Trigger when the user asks whether to build, scope, validate, prioritize, or sanity-check an idea before implementation.

Before You Build

Use this skill as a short pre-build risk gate.

The goal is to stop implementation from starting before the riskiest product assumption is clear. Stay implementation-agnostic: do not recommend stacks, architectures, tools, or code.

Core Behavior

When invoked:

  1. Restate the idea in one sentence.
  2. Identify the dominant pre-build risk.
  3. Give a short risk verdict.
  4. Recommend the smallest validation step that can reduce uncertainty before building.

Keep the response short unless the user explicitly asks for a deeper review.

Seven Risk Dimensions

Check the idea through these dimensions:

  • Demand risk: Do enough people already feel this problem strongly?
  • Buyer risk: Is there a clear person or team with reason to pay or commit?
  • Distribution risk: Is there a believable path to reaching those people?
  • Workflow risk: Does the idea fit how users already behave, decide, or work?
  • Timing risk: Is this urgent now, or only interesting in theory?
  • Trust risk: Does the product require data, access, behavior change, or credibility users may not grant?
  • Scope risk: Is the proposed build larger than the proof needed right now?

Pick the one or two risks that matter most. Do not turn every review into a long checklist.

Output Format

Use this format:

markdown
## Before You Build

Idea:
- [One-sentence restatement.]

Risk verdict:
- [Low / Medium / High risk] because [one concrete reason].

Main risk:
- [The dominant risk dimension and why it matters.]

Smallest validation step:
- [One specific action the user can take before building.]

Build guidance:
- [Build now / Build smaller / Validate first / Do not build yet.]

Validation Step Rules

The smallest validation step should be specific and low-cost.

Prefer steps like:

  • Talk to five target users who already tried to solve the problem.
  • Ask for payment, pre-order, letter of intent, or manual commitment before building software.
  • Run a landing page, waitlist, outbound message, or concierge test around one narrow promise.
  • Manually deliver the outcome once before automating it.
  • Test whether the missing feature blocks payment, retention, activation, or only completeness.
  • Find one repeated channel that can reach the target users before expanding scope.

Avoid steps like:

  • Build the MVP first.
  • Add more features to see what happens.
  • Choose a tech stack.
  • Design the architecture.
  • Write code.
  • Create a broad product roadmap.
Show full SKILL.md (121 more words)Show less

Special Cases

If the idea is too vague, ask one clarification question:

text
Who is this for, what painful situation are they in, and how do they solve it today?

If the user is asking about a feature for an existing product, focus on whether the feature is a real blocker for payment, retention, activation, trust, or delivery.

If the user says the project is for learning, portfolio, or fun, do not judge it by startup standards. Focus on keeping scope small and making the learning outcome clear.

If the decision to build is already made and the user only wants implementation help, do not use this skill.

Style

Be direct, skeptical, and useful.

Do not be dismissive. The point is not to kill ideas; the point is to make the next build decision harder to fool yourself about.

© OneWave-AI, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

Just SKILL.md in before-you-build of OneWave-AI/claude-skills.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit fc5b785

Compare with similar skills

Before You Build 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.

Before You Build compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Before You Build this skillOneWave-AI/claude-skills336—~900Automated safety check: PassMIT
StartDonchitos/Claude-Code-Game-Studios26k—~6.5kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Mvpdavepoon/buildwithclaude3.6k—~1.3kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Orch Build Mvpaffaan-m/ECC276k1 repos~590Automated safety check: PassMIT
MvpTechNomadCode/AI-Product-Development-Toolkit1k—~205Automated safety check: PassMIT
SaaS Mvp Launchersickn33/agentic-awesome-skills47k2 repos~1.9kAutomated safety check: NotesMIT

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Questions about Before You Build

What does Before You Build do?

Use before starting a product, feature, MVP, agent, automation, or integration build to identify the main pre-build risk and choose the smallest validation step. Before You Build is an agent skill from OneWave-AI/claude-skills. Use before starting a product, feature, MVP, agent, automation, or integration build to identify the main pre-build risk and choose the smallest validation step.

When should I use Before You Build?

Before You Build fits situations like: the user asks whether to build; sanity-check an idea before implementation.

How do I install Before You Build in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add OneWave-AI/claude-skills --skill before-you-build -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (before-you-build in OneWave-AI/claude-skills) into .claude/skills/before-you-build in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Before You Build in Codex?

Run `npx skills add OneWave-AI/claude-skills --skill before-you-build -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (before-you-build in OneWave-AI/claude-skills) into .agents/skills/before-you-build in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Before You Build 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 OneWave-AI/claude-skills --skill before-you-build -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/before-you-build, .gemini/skills/before-you-build, .github/skills/before-you-build and .opencode/skills/before-you-build in your project.

What does Before You Build need to run?

SKILL.md names no scripts, command-line tools or credentials: Before You Build is instructions for the agent only.

Does Before You Build 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 Before You Build 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 Before You Build use?

Before You Build is published under the MIT licence (the repository's licence). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Before You Build use?

About 900 tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 3.6k 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 Before You Build?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Before You Build: Start (Donchitos/Claude-Code-Game-Studios, 26k stars), Mvp (davepoon/buildwithclaude, 3.6k stars), Orch Build Mvp (affaan-m/ECC, 276k stars) and Mvp (TechNomadCode/AI-Product-Development-Toolkit, 1k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Before You Build?

OneWave-AI (a GitHub organization) maintains it in OneWave-AI/claude-skills, which has 336 GitHub stars. The repository holds 69 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 2, 2026.

Source: OneWave-AI/claude-skills on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.