Using humane
Announce at start: "I'm using the humane:using-humane skill to route this to the skill that owns it."
Scope
This skill routes design work. It does not claim authority over unrelated tasks — a bug fix, a deploy, or a shell question has no humane owner, and routing one here is a false positive. If nothing below matches, say so and move on rather than stretching a design skill over a non-design task.
The two questions it answers
"Where do I start?" — match the intent to an entry point (table below).
"I just finished X, what now?" — do not recall the cycle from memory. Ask the graph:
bashpython3 scripts/graph.py --from layout-rules # what it hands to, and when python3 scripts/graph.py --to ux-writing # who hands in here, and when python3 scripts/graph.py # the whole graph python3 scripts/graph.py --mermaid # the graph as a diagram
The script reads the frontmatter of every skill in the plugin. It is stdlib-only and has no dependencies, so it runs anywhere the plugin is checked out.
Entry points
| The user says | Start with | Not with |
|---|---|---|
| "something's missing / nothing works / fresh machine" | humane:setup | anything else — it diagnoses first |
| "what should I build", "what are people hiring this for" | humane:jtbd | a review skill; there is nothing to review yet |
| "mock this up", "show me the flow", "wireframe this" | humane:prototype | humane:design-tokens — the structure is not settled yet |
| "implement this with Astryx", "fit this to our design system" | humane:design-frameworks | humane:prototype — use the adapter after the product decision is settled enough to fit |
| "we need a brand / an identity" | humane:brandkit | humane:design-tokens — the tokens do not exist yet |
| "set up tokens", "compile to CSS", "check contrast" | humane:design-tokens | humane:layout-rules, which only flags the pair |
| "pick a font", "does this font have Cyrillic" | humane:type-specimen | humane:design-tokens, until a family is chosen |
| "generate on-brand images" | humane:brand-illustrate | humane:brandkit, which explores rather than produces |
| "what should this button say", "rewrite this error" | humane:ux-writing | — |
| "polish this text", "fix typography", "add nonbreaking spaces" | humane:typography | humane:ux-writing if the wording itself is still open |
| "add meaningful feedback", "design this micro-interaction", "make this state change satisfying" | humane:semantic-micro-interactions | humane:sound-effects, which owns audio assets rather than the interaction meaning |
| "turn these ideas into a scroll story", "build a scrollytelling sequence" | humane:narrative-scrollytelling | humane:semantic-micro-interactions, which owns bounded component feedback rather than narrative order |
| "generate UI sounds", "make a feedback sound palette" | humane:sound-effects | humane:semantic-micro-interactions when the state-change meaning is still open |
| "how does this land", "test this tagline" | humane:respondent-panel | humane:persona-review — strangers, not experts |
| "review this PRD as an engineer / investor" | humane:persona-review | humane:respondent-panel — experts, not strangers |
| "review this UI", "check this dashboard" | humane:layout-rules | — |
| "usability audit", "heuristic evaluation" | humane:nielsen-heuristics | — |
| "can someone actually complete this", "test this flow" | humane:walkthrough | humane:nielsen-heuristics — attempt, not inspect |
| "what's the transformation" | humane:before-after | — |
| "review this properly", "full review", "holistic audit" | humane:review | any single domain skill |
When more than one row matches, humane:review wins — it is the one skill
allowed to run several domains and consolidate them into a single verdict. When
the user names a skill explicitly, their words win over this table.
What the graph keys mean
Three keys, three different relationships. Do not collapse them.
handoffs:— a peer route across an ownership boundary, with thewhen:that opens it.humane:layout-ruleshands a contrast pair tohumane:design-tokensbecause it does not own the fix.accepts:— the receiving skill's acknowledgement of that route. Every handoff has one; the repo's test suite fails the build if it does not.orchestrates:— a call, not a handoff.humane:reviewruns its domain skills and consolidates their findings. No reciprocity is owed, and the domain skills are unaware of it.
Cycles are legal and deliberate. humane:ux-writing and
humane:respondent-panel route both ways: writing hands copy out for reactions,
reactions hand the rewrite back.
Honesty guards
- A handoff is a condition, not an instruction. Each edge carries a
when:. If the condition did not occur, the cycle ends here — do not run the next skill for completeness. Ahumane:layout-rulespass that found no contrast issue does not hand tohumane:design-tokens. - Ask before continuing. A handoff names what could come next. The user decides whether it runs.
- The graph is not coverage. Following every edge is not a full review, and saying "I ran the cycle" is only true for the skills that actually ran. Name the ones that did not.
- Never invent an edge. If
scripts/graph.pyshows no route, there is no route. Add one to the frontmatter — on both sides — rather than improvising it in conversation.
Claude Code extras: the skills are invoked as
humane:<skill>. Announce each one as it starts, so a multi-skill cycle narrates itself.In pi: there is no namespace prefix, so invoke a skill by its bare name —
/skill:jtbdrather than/skill:humane:jtbd. Keep announcing each one as it starts. Install the whole package withpi install git:github.com/glebis/humane-agentic-design.
