Using GDD
This is the bootstrap discipline contract for every Get Design Done session. Read it first; it tells you how to find and apply the right GDD skill before you act.
The 1% rule
If you think there is even a 1% chance a skill might apply, you ABSOLUTELY MUST invoke the skill.
In GDD, almost every request maps to a pipeline stage - brief, explore, plan, design, verify - or to a cross-cutting skill (discuss, audit, style, darkmode). When in doubt, search for and read the skill's body. The cost of reading a skill is trivial; the cost of free-handing a stage is rework, scope creep, and a broken pipeline state.
Red flags - Thought → Reality
When you catch yourself thinking any of the following, STOP and check for a skill.
| Thought | Reality |
|---|---|
| This is just a simple design question. | Questions are tasks. Check for a skill. |
| I'll just tweak the CSS directly. | Token changes go through the pipeline - check {{command_prefix}}design. |
| I already know the codebase, skip explore. | Explore probes connections you haven't re-checked this cycle. |
| This change is too small to plan. | Plan-skipped tasks blow scope per cycle telemetry. Run {{command_prefix}}plan. |
| I can write the brief later. | No brief means no shared problem statement - {{command_prefix}}brief comes first. |
| The user clearly wants X, I'll skip discuss. | Ambiguity hides here. {{command_prefix}}discuss surfaces the real constraint. |
| I'll verify by eyeballing it. | Verification is a stage with criteria - run {{command_prefix}}verify, don't guess. |
| It's obviously a dark-mode tweak. | Color-scheme work has its own skill - check {{command_prefix}}darkmode. |
| Let me just compare these two designs quickly. | Comparison is an audit task - {{command_prefix}}compare has the rubric. |
| This is a one-off, no skill needed. | "One-off" is the most common rationalization in the telemetry. Check anyway. |
| I'll refactor the style tokens by hand. | {{command_prefix}}style owns token edits so the pipeline stays consistent. |
| The audit can wait until after I ship. | An un-audited cycle is an unverified cycle - {{command_prefix}}audit before close. |
Skill priority order
When more than one skill could apply, resolve in this order:
- Process - brief / explore / discuss. Establish the problem and context first.
- Implementation - design / style / darkmode. Only after process is settled.
- Audit - verify / compare / audit. Close the loop before declaring done.
Never run an Implementation skill before the Process skills that gate it have produced their artifact. Never declare a cycle complete without an Audit skill.
Instruction priority
When instructions conflict, obey this precedence (highest first):
- The user's CLAUDE.md - project- and user-level directives always win.
- GDD skills - the skill body is the source of truth for how a stage runs.
- Defaults - your own general training and habits come last.
If a GDD skill contradicts the user's CLAUDE.md, the CLAUDE.md wins and you flag the conflict. If your instinct contradicts a GDD skill, the skill wins.
GDD pipeline flow
The core flow is Brief → Explore → Plan → Design → Verify, with branch points:
- Brief captures the problem (
{{command_prefix}}brief). Branch: a rough idea can sketch or spike off the brief before exploration; a changed problem loops back via--re-brief. - Explore scans the codebase and connections (
{{command_prefix}}explore) - even on a familiar repo, because connections drift each cycle. - Plan decomposes work into tasks (
{{command_prefix}}plan). Skipping it is the top cause of scope blow-up; small tasks still get a plan. - Design implements (
{{command_prefix}}design, with{{command_prefix}}styleand{{command_prefix}}darkmodeas implementation peers). Implementation never runs ahead of an approved plan. - Verify checks against criteria (
{{command_prefix}}verify), then{{command_prefix}}audit/{{command_prefix}}compareclose the loop. On pass the cycle completes; on fail it loops back to the failing stage.
{{command_prefix}}discuss runs alongside any stage to resolve ambiguity before it propagates.
