MAD Skills

A skill framework for Claude Code. Ships 14 skills covering the full development lifecycle — from project initialization to shipping PRs and deploying — with first-class support for both GitHub and Azure DevOps.

Skills

Skill	Description	Flags / arguments
/brace	Initialize a project with a standard scaffold: specs/, context/, a project AGENTS.md (with CLAUDE.md as an @AGENTS.md pointer), .gitignore, and branch protection. Idempotent.	--force
/rig	Bootstrap a repo with lefthook hooks (including a secret-scan pre-commit check), a commit message template, a PR template, and a CI workflow. Idempotent.	--skip-system-check
/prime	Load project context before significant work. Scans AGENTS.md (or CLAUDE.md), README, specs, docs, and source structure.	[domain hints] (comma-separated directories or topics)
/speccy	Interview-driven specification builder. Reviews code and docs, interviews you in rounds, writes a spec to specs/.	<goal or feature description>
/build	Context-isolated feature pipeline. Takes a spec path or plan text and runs explore → architect → implement → review → verify → ship inside subagents.	<plan or spec path> --skip-questions --skip-review --no-ship --parallel-impl
/ship	Full PR lifecycle: sync, branch, semantic commits, push, PR, CI watch with auto-fix, squash merge, cleanup.	--pr-only --no-squash --keep-branch
/sync	Sync with origin/main. Stashes changes, pulls, restores, prunes stale branches and finished worktrees.	--no-stash --no-cleanup --no-rebase
/keel	Generate Infrastructure as Code pipelines (Terraform, Bicep, Pulumi, CDK). Plans on PR, applies on merge. Provisions what /dock deploys to.	--plan-only --skip-interview --dry-run --tool <terraform|bicep|pulumi|cdk>
/dock	Generate container release pipelines. Build once, promote immutable images dev → staging → prod. Azure Container Apps, AWS Fargate, Cloud Run, Kubernetes, Dokku, Coolify, CapRover.	--registry-only --skip-interview --dry-run
/hoist	Generate low-infrastructure release pipelines that publish directly: npm, PyPI, crates, RubyGems, NuGet, Go, GitHub Releases, static sites, serverless. OIDC/trusted publishing. The non-container sibling of /dock.	--skip-interview --dry-run --registry <name>
/distil	Generate N unique web design variations in a Vite + React + TypeScript + Tailwind project, served at /1, /2, /3.	<count> --port <port> --spec <path> --favorites <1,2,3>
/ferry	Hand a session's live state across a context reset. Writes a waybill (outside the repo by default) and arms a one-shot handoff so the next fresh session resumes from it; clean removes leftover waybills.	here | commit | clean (default: out-of-tree waybill)
/logbook	"What's on deck": computed best-practice lifecycle steps plus your committed follow-ups backlog in LOGBOOK.md.	loop | review | archive | resolve <n> | dismiss <n> | restore a<n> | add <text>
/wright	Update installed Claude Code marketplace plugins from inside a session, all of them or one by fuzzy name.	<plugin-name> --dry-run

Lifecycle Overview

Each skill produces artifacts that downstream skills consume.

graph LR
    A["/brace<br/>Project Init"] --> B["/rig<br/>Dev Tooling"]
    B --> C["/speccy<br/>Spec Builder"]
    C --> D["/build<br/>Features"]
    D --> E["/ship<br/>Merge PRs"]
    E --> F["/keel<br/>Infra (IaC)"]
    F --> G["/dock<br/>Deploy"]

    style A fill:#4a9eff,color:#fff
    style B fill:#4a9eff,color:#fff
    style C fill:#9b59b6,color:#fff
    style D fill:#2ecc71,color:#fff
    style E fill:#2ecc71,color:#fff
    style F fill:#e67e22,color:#fff
    style G fill:#e67e22,color:#fff

Phase	Skills	What happens
Setup	/brace → /rig	Initialize project structure, install hooks, templates, CI workflows
Develop	/speccy → /build → /ship	Spec features, implement in isolated subagents, merge via the PR lifecycle
Deploy	/keel → /dock or /hoist	Provision cloud infrastructure, then deploy containers (/dock) or publish artifacts directly (/hoist)
Utility	/sync · /prime · /ferry · /logbook · /wright · /distil	Sync with main, load context, hand off across /clear, review what's on deck, update plugins, explore web designs

Skills call each other where it makes sense: /build and /speccy load context via /prime, /build ends by invoking /ship, /ship invokes /sync after merging, and /dock, /keel, and /rig sync before scanning. Deterministic stages (sync, CI polling, merge) run as bundled bash scripts; LLM subagents are used only where reasoning is needed (commit and PR authoring, CI fix analysis, code exploration).

For a step-by-step tour of a Node.js app going from an empty folder to a deployed container, see docs/walkthrough.md.

What Each Skill Generates

Skill	Key artifacts	Consumed by
/brace	AGENTS.md (+ CLAUDE.md pointer), project skeleton	All other skills
/rig	.github/workflows/ci.yml or azure-pipelines.yml, lefthook.yml, .gitmessage, PR template	/ship (CI checks)
/speccy	specs/<feature>.md + build handoff	/build
/build	Branch, worktree, draft PR, feature code, tests, LOGBOOK.md follow-ups	/ship
/ship	Commits, PR, merged code	CI pipeline, /dock triggers
/keel	infra/ (IaC), infra.yml workflow	/dock (infrastructure outputs)
/dock	Dockerfile, deploy.yml, deploy/ config	CI/CD system
/hoist	Release workflow, publish config	CI/CD (publish)
/sync	Clean working tree	Any skill (pre-work)
/prime	Domain context in memory	/build, /speccy
/distil	Multiple web design variations	/build (chosen design)
/ferry	waybill (session state, stored under ~/.claude/session-guard/handoff)	A fresh session (resume)
/logbook	LOGBOOK.md (follow-ups backlog)	You (review/resolve)
/wright	Updated plugin installs	You

Session Guard

With the plugin installed, a session-guard hook runs at session start and before each prompt. It checks:

• Git repository — not a repo, nested-git, or a git root several levels above the working directory that does not look like a monorepo.
• AGENTS.md presence and staleness — AGENTS.md is canonical; a legacy CLAUDE.md is detected and the guard offers to migrate its content. Seven weighted signals (file age, directories not mentioned, package and Python dependency drift, config file drift, commits since last update, lock file drift). A score of 3 or more prompts you to refresh it; lower scores are logged silently.
• Task list and branch state — surfaced before your first prompt.
• Lifecycle recommendation — a 🧭 lifecycle-next hint computed from repo state (for example, "run /rig: no hooks or CI detected"). Dismissible and rate-limited; /logbook shows the full picture on demand.
• Follow-ups — an open-item count from LOGBOOK.md, and a warning if the ledger has uncommitted changes.
• Ferry waybill — after /clear or a compaction, a pending handoff (/ferry waybill or /speccy build) is injected once so the new session resumes where the last one stopped; waybills ferry created are cleaned up automatically.

Platform Support

Skills detect the hosting platform from the git remote and adapt. Both are first-class:

Capability	GitHub	Azure DevOps
CLI tooling	gh	az devops (REST API with PAT fallback)
CI templates	GitHub Actions	Azure Pipelines
Container registry	ghcr.io	Azure Container Registry
Secrets	GitHub Secrets	Azure Key Vault
PR workflow	gh pr create/merge	az repos pr / REST

Platform-aware skills: /ship, /brace, /rig, /dock, /keel, /hoist. The rest are platform-agnostic.

Works With Superpowers

MAD Skills is the deterministic ops/infra spine: scaffolding, tooling, CI, IaC, container pipelines, session governance, and dual-platform support. Where it overlaps with Superpowers on methodology (plan → build → finish), it defers to Superpowers when that plugin is installed and falls back to its own pipeline when it is not:

• /speccy uses superpowers:brainstorming for requirements exploration but still owns the specs/ artifact.
• /build routes its plan and implement stages to superpowers:executing-plans / superpowers:subagent-driven-development.
• /ship hands the final integration to superpowers:finishing-a-development-branch.

Superpowers is detected at runtime and never required. Pass --no-superpowers to /speccy, /build, or /ship to force the standalone pipeline.

Installation

	Plugin	npx skills
Skills (slash commands)	✅ all 14	✅ all 14
Bundled scripts (sync, CI, merge)	✅	✅
Session hooks (session-guard, ferry, logbook)	✅	❌
Cross-agent (Cursor, Cline, etc.)	❌ Claude Code only	✅
Selective skill install	❌	✅
Auto-updates	✅	❌

Plugin (recommended)

Installs skills and session hooks into ~/.claude/plugins/. Claude Code only.

claude plugin marketplace add slamb2k/mad-skills   # one-time
claude plugin install mad-skills@slamb2k

Or inside Claude Code: /plugin install mad-skills@slamb2k. To register the marketplace by hand instead, add to ~/.claude/settings.json:

"extraKnownMarketplaces": {
  "slamb2k": {
    "source": { "source": "github", "repo": "slamb2k/mad-skills" }
  }
}

Update later with /wright mad-skills.

npx skills

npx skills add slamb2k/mad-skills -g -y              # All skills, global
npx skills add slamb2k/mad-skills --skill ship -g -y  # Specific skill

Installs into ~/.claude/skills/ (and ~/.agents/skills/ for other agents). Hooks are not installed, so the session guard, ferry auto-load, and logbook hints are inactive. Use this for cross-agent compatibility or selective installs.

Dotfiles users: if ~/.claude/skills/ is a symlink into a dotfiles repo, npx skills creates broken relative symlinks. Make ~/.claude/skills/ a real directory and symlink individual custom skills into it with absolute paths instead. npx skills leaves entries it did not create untouched.

npm package

@slamb2k/mad-skills on npm is the release artifact published on every merge to main. It has no CLI and is not an install method.

Upgrading from the old CLI (npx @slamb2k/mad-skills, v2.0.x)

rm -f ~/.claude/commands/{brace,build,distil,prime,rig,ship,sync,speccy}.md
rm -f ~/.claude/.mad-skills-manifest.json
rm -f ~/.claude/skills/*/instructions.md

Then install with one of the methods above.

Repository Structure

See AGENTS.md for the maintained tree. In short: skills/<name>/ holds each skill (SKILL.md, scripts/, references/, assets/, tests/evals.json), hooks/ is the session guard, scripts/ is build and CI tooling, references/ holds shared contracts, specs/ holds feature specs from /speccy, and archive/ holds retired skills.

Development

No build step. Scripts run directly with Node.js (>=18).

npm run validate          # Structural validation of all skills
npm run lint              # SKILL.md linting
npm run test:unit         # Unit tests: scripts/lib, hooks/lib, packaging, per-skill scripts
npm run eval              # Evals (needs ANTHROPIC_API_KEY or OPENROUTER_API_KEY)
npm run build             # skills/manifest.json + .skill archives
npm test                  # validate + lint + test:unit + eval

CI/CD

One workflow, .github/workflows/ci.yml:

• Pull requests: validate, lint, and unit tests; evals when enabled, with results posted as a PR comment.
• Push to main: after validation passes, the release job bumps the patch version, publishes to npm with provenance, commits the bump with [skip ci], tags, builds .skill packages, and creates a GitHub Release.

Archive

archive/ holds inactive skills from previous versions, kept for reference only. They are not part of the release, not published, not installed, and not supported.

Name	Description
launch	OMC pipeline (hard-dependent on oh-my-claudecode)
play-tight	Browser automation (v1.x)
pixel-pusher	UI/UX design (v1.x)
cyberarian	Document lifecycle management (v1.x)
start-right	Repository scaffolding (v1.x)
graphite-skill	Git/Graphite workflows (v1.x)
example-skill	Scaffold template for new skills

License

MIT — see LICENSE