Connect
ComposioHQ/awesome-claude-skills
Connect Claude to any app. An agent skill from ComposioHQ/awesome-claude-skills.
Write rationale connecting decisions to user needs, business goals, and principles.
MITAuto-check passed
Install Design Rationale
$ npx skills add Owl-Listener/designer-skills --skill design-rationale -a claude-codeProject install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.
$ gh skill install Owl-Listener/designer-skills design-rationale --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/Owl-Listener/designer-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/designer-toolkit/skills/design-rationale .claude/skills/design-rationale && 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 "design-rationale" agent skill from https://github.com/Owl-Listener/designer-skills/tree/main/designer-toolkit/skills/design-rationale into .claude/skills/design-rationale/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "design-rationale", 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/Owl-Listener/designer-skills/tree/main/designer-toolkit/skills/design-rationaleType 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 Owl-Listener/designer-skills --skill design-rationale -a codexProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.codex/skills/.
$ gh skill install Owl-Listener/designer-skills design-rationale --agent codexProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/Owl-Listener/designer-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .agents/skills && cp -r skills-src/designer-toolkit/skills/design-rationale .agents/skills/design-rationale && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.agents/skills/ instead of .agents/skills for a personal install.
Codex skills documentation · loads skills from .agents/skills/
Install the "design-rationale" agent skill from https://github.com/Owl-Listener/designer-skills/tree/main/designer-toolkit/skills/design-rationale into .agents/skills/design-rationale/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "design-rationale", 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 Owl-Listener/designer-skills --skill design-rationale -a cursorProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.cursor/skills/.
$ gh skill install Owl-Listener/designer-skills design-rationale --agent cursorProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/Owl-Listener/designer-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .cursor/skills && cp -r skills-src/designer-toolkit/skills/design-rationale .cursor/skills/design-rationale && 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 "design-rationale" agent skill from https://github.com/Owl-Listener/designer-skills/tree/main/designer-toolkit/skills/design-rationale into .cursor/skills/design-rationale/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "design-rationale", 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/Owl-Listener/designer-skills.git --path designer-toolkit/skills/design-rationale--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 Owl-Listener/designer-skills --skill design-rationale -a gemini-cliProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.gemini/skills/.
$ gh skill install Owl-Listener/designer-skills design-rationale --agent gemini-cliProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/Owl-Listener/designer-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .gemini/skills && cp -r skills-src/designer-toolkit/skills/design-rationale .gemini/skills/design-rationale && 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 "design-rationale" agent skill from https://github.com/Owl-Listener/designer-skills/tree/main/designer-toolkit/skills/design-rationale into .gemini/skills/design-rationale/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "design-rationale", 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 Owl-Listener/designer-skills design-rationaleInstalls 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 Owl-Listener/designer-skills --skill design-rationale -a github-copilotProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.copilot/skills/.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/Owl-Listener/designer-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .github/skills && cp -r skills-src/designer-toolkit/skills/design-rationale .github/skills/design-rationale && 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 "design-rationale" agent skill from https://github.com/Owl-Listener/designer-skills/tree/main/designer-toolkit/skills/design-rationale into .github/skills/design-rationale/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "design-rationale", 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 Owl-Listener/designer-skills --skill design-rationale -a opencodeOpenCode documents no install command of its own. Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.config/opencode/skills/.
$ gh skill install Owl-Listener/designer-skills design-rationale --agent opencodeProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/Owl-Listener/designer-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .opencode/skills && cp -r skills-src/designer-toolkit/skills/design-rationale .opencode/skills/design-rationale && 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 "design-rationale" agent skill from https://github.com/Owl-Listener/designer-skills/tree/main/designer-toolkit/skills/design-rationale into .opencode/skills/design-rationale/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "design-rationale", 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
design-rationale- GitHub stars
- 2.9k
- Used in
- 1 other repo
- Token cost
- ~465 tokens
- SKILL.md length
- 224 words
- Files
- 1
- Skills in repo
- 107
- Repo updated
- First seen
- Licence
- MIT
At a glance
Write rationale connecting decisions to user needs, business goals, and principles.
- Works in 7 steps: Decision → Context → Options Considered → …
- A decision needs defending in writing
- SKILL.md covers What You Do, Rationale Structure, When to Write Rationale and Rationale Quality Checklist, plus 1 more section
- Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md
What it does
Design Rationale is an agent skill from Owl-Listener/designer-skills. Write rationale connecting decisions to user needs, business goals, and principles. Use when a decision needs defending in writing. For a live conversation, use design-negotiation.
Its SKILL.md is about 470 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: Designer Skills Collection: agentic skills, commands, and plugins for design — from research to systems, UI, interaction, and delivery. The licence is MIT.
When your agent uses it
- A decision needs defending in writing
Example prompts
- “/design-rationale”
Workflow steps
7 steps, taken from the step headings in SKILL.md.
What it can do on your machine
Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 9a6930c. 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
Design Rationale loads about 465 tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 50 tokens; SKILL.md has 224 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 Owl-Listener/designer-skills at commit 9a6930c, republished under its MIT licence (© Owl-Listener). 224 words, ~465 tokens.
Download SKILL.mdSave it as
.claude/skills/design-rationale/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).- name
- design-rationale
- description
- Write rationale connecting decisions to user needs, business goals, and principles. Use when a decision needs defending in writing. For a live conversation, use `design-negotiation`.
Design Rationale
You are an expert in articulating the reasoning behind design decisions.
What You Do
You write clear design rationale that connects decisions to evidence, principles, and goals.
Rationale Structure
1. Decision
What design decision was made? Be specific about what was chosen.
2. Context
What problem or need prompted this decision? What constraints exist?
3. Options Considered
What alternatives were explored? Brief description of each.
4. Evidence
What informed the decision? User research, data, best practices, competitive analysis, usability testing.
5. Reasoning
Why this option over the alternatives? Connect to user needs, business goals, design principles, and technical feasibility.
6. Trade-offs
What are the known compromises? What was deprioritized and why?
7. Validation Plan
How will you know if this decision was right? What metrics or feedback will confirm?
When to Write Rationale
- Major design direction decisions
- Departures from established patterns
- Controversial or debated choices
- Decisions that will be questioned later
- Changes from previous approaches
Rationale Quality Checklist
- Connects to user needs (not just designer preference)
- References evidence or principles
- Acknowledges alternatives and trade-offs
- Is specific enough to be useful months later
- Written for the audience who will read it
Best Practices
- Write rationale during the decision, not after
- Keep it concise but complete
- Store rationale alongside the design files
- Reference in handoff documentation
- Use rationale in design reviews to explain choices
© Owl-Listener, 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 designer-toolkit/skills/design-rationale of Owl-Listener/designer-skills.
Open the folder on GitHubat commit 9a6930c
Used in 1 other repository
We found 2 copies of this SKILL.md (exact, near-identical or edited) in other folders, from 1 other GitHub owner. This page covers the copy in Owl-Listener/designer-skills, which our catalogue first saw on October 7, 2026.
Compare with similar skills
Design Rationale 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Design Rationale this skillOwl-Listener/designer-skills | 2.9k | 1 repos | ~465 | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT | |
| ConnectComposioHQ/awesome-claude-skills | 77k | 3 repos | ~987 | Automated safety check: Pass | None | |
| Goalscodewhale-hq/Codewhale | 41k | — | ~273 | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT | |
| Node Connectopenclaw/openclaw | 392k | — | ~1.6k | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT | |
| Agent Goal Plannerruvnet/ruflo | 74k | 2 repos | ~842 | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT | |
| Goal Planruvnet/ruflo | 74k | — | ~807 | Automated safety check: Notes | MIT |
Similar skills
Goals
codewhale-hq/Codewhale
Set, review, and update the user's goals. An agent skill from codewhale-hq/Codewhale.
Node Connect
openclaw/openclaw
Diagnose OpenClaw Control UI browser and native Android, iOS, or macOS node connection failures across route, auth, pairing, QR/setup-code, and reconnect states.
Agent Goal Planner
ruvnet/ruflo
Agent skill for goal-planner - invoke with $agent-goal-planner
Goal Plan
ruvnet/ruflo
Create and execute Goal-Oriented Action Plans (GOAP) with precondition analysis, cost optimization, and adaptive replanning
Openwork Connect
different-ai/openwork
Search and use the skills, MCP connections, and connected services available through the user's OpenWork organization.
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Questions about Design Rationale
What does Design Rationale do?
Write rationale connecting decisions to user needs, business goals, and principles. Design Rationale is an agent skill from Owl-Listener/designer-skills. Write rationale connecting decisions to user needs, business goals, and principles.
When should I use Design Rationale?
Design Rationale fits situations like: A decision needs defending in writing.
How do I install Design Rationale in Claude Code?
Run `npx skills add Owl-Listener/designer-skills --skill design-rationale -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (designer-toolkit/skills/design-rationale in Owl-Listener/designer-skills) into .claude/skills/design-rationale in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.
How do I install Design Rationale in Codex?
Run `npx skills add Owl-Listener/designer-skills --skill design-rationale -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (designer-toolkit/skills/design-rationale in Owl-Listener/designer-skills) into .agents/skills/design-rationale in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.
Can I use Design Rationale 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 Owl-Listener/designer-skills --skill design-rationale -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/design-rationale, .gemini/skills/design-rationale, .github/skills/design-rationale and .opencode/skills/design-rationale in your project.
What does Design Rationale need to run?
SKILL.md names no scripts, command-line tools or credentials: Design Rationale is instructions for the agent only.
Does Design Rationale 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 Design Rationale 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 Design Rationale use?
Design Rationale 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 Design Rationale use?
About 465 tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 1.9k 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 Design Rationale?
Skills that share tags, products or a category with Design Rationale: Connect (ComposioHQ/awesome-claude-skills, 77k stars), Goals (codewhale-hq/Codewhale, 41k stars), Node Connect (openclaw/openclaw, 392k stars) and Agent Goal Planner (ruvnet/ruflo, 74k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.
Who maintains Design Rationale?
Owl-Listener (a GitHub user) maintains it in Owl-Listener/designer-skills, which has 2,862 GitHub stars. The repository holds 107 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on September 5, 2026.
Source: Owl-Listener/designer-skills on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.