decompose
The greenfield decomposition interview. Routed to at startup when .codearbiter/CONTEXT.md lacks the <!--INITIALIZED--> body marker and no source code exists, or when the user invokes /decompose. A senior-architect persona drives a six-layer interview, persists every layer to disk so a context reset loses nothing, then populates .codearbiter/ and locks it initialized. No project-state doc is written before the layers are solid; orchestration does not resume until the lock is set.
npx skills add arbiterForge/codeArbiter --skill decompose --agent claude-code
Same command for any agent — swap --agent for codex, cursor, copilot.
Weekly change comes from our own snapshots, not the repository page — it measures attention, not adoption.
# decompose Spec the project before a line of code exists. Routed to at greenfield startup, or by `/decompose`. ## Pre-flight Run these ordered checks. Each passes silently or hard-stops with a routing action — never guess: 1. Read `{{PROJECT_DIR}}/.codearbiter/CONTEXT.md`. If it already carries the `<!--INITIALIZED-->` body marker on its own line, STOP — context exists. Route to normal operation. 2. Scan for meaningful source code: any file outside `.git/`, `.codearbiter/`, `.claude/`, `ORCHESTRATOR.md`, `AGENTS.md`, `CLAUDE.md`, `README.md`, `LICENSE`, `.gitignore`, `.gitmodules`, and standard tooling dotfiles. If any exist, STOP and route to `/create-context`. 3. Confirm `{{PROJECT_DIR}}/.codearbiter/` exists and is writable. If not, surface the gap and STOP. All three pass → proceed to Phase 1. Later phases consume this pass-status; they do not re-run it. ## Phase 1 — Persona adoption · gate: BLOCK Announce the role switch to the user, verbatim: > "Switching to decomposition mode. For this session I operate as a senior software architect and technical lead, decomposing your project vision into a complete, unambiguous specification before any code is written. Vague language will
- Pre-flight
- Phase 1 — Persona adoption · gate: BLOCK
- Phase 2 — Draft persistence (or resume) · gate: BLOCK
- Phase 3 — Layered interview · gate: BLOCK
- Phase 4 — Synthesis · gate: BLOCK
- Phase 5 — project-state population · gate: BLOCK
- Phase 6 — Initialization lock & cleanup · gate: BLOCK
- Hard rules
What does the decompose skill do?
The greenfield decomposition interview. Routed to at startup when .codearbiter/CONTEXT.md lacks the <!--INITIALIZED--> body marker and no source code exists, or when the user invokes /decompose. A senior-architect persona drives a six-layer interview, persists every layer to disk so a context reset loses nothing, then populates .codearbiter/ and locks it initialized. No project-state doc is written before the layers are solid; orchestration does not resume until the lock is set.
How do I install it?
Run `npx skills add arbiterForge/codeArbiter --skill decompose --agent claude-code` — it drops the skill into your project so the agent can pick it up. Swap the --agent value for codex, cursor or copilot if you use one of those.
Where does this skill come from?
From arbiterForge/codeArbiter, a repository with 138 stars. We read it straight from the repository tree rather than a submitted listing, so what you see here is what is actually published.
Is a popular skill a good skill?
Not necessarily. Stars measure attention, not adoption — a repository can trend for a week and be abandoned. That is why we show the weekly change from our own snapshots next to the total, instead of a single flattering number.