forgecad-design-spec
Create a ForgeCAD design brief, HLD, or LLD before coding by walking through use, assembly, interfaces, decisions, and verification.
npx skills add ForgeCAD/forgecad-public-kit --skill forgecad-design-spec --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.
# Design Spec The design document — a git-committed, diff-reviewed markdown file — is the source of truth. Not the code, not the chat, not your head. You iterate it by commit-and-review, and the `git diff` is the review artifact. **Validate the design by mentally operating the thing, step by step.** Walk it as someone assembles, uses, or moves it. The step with no answer — *"how does the servo get inside the housing?"* — is the real design gap. A spec that reads complete on the page can still hide a hole that only surfaces when you try to put it together in your head. State each gap falsifiably: not "tolerances might be tight" but "the 12mm arm cantilevers under gripping load, may flex >0.5mm." **Every number has a reason; the narrative comes before the numbers.** Describe the object as if over the phone, then derive each value and show its math: `wallThickness = 2.4mm = 6 × 0.4mm nozzle`. The design is **implementation-blind** — shaped by the object, never by what the ForgeCAD API makes easy. **Manufacturing process is one of those reasons** — a design decision you weigh, never a default you inherit (never assume FDM/printing). **A vague request is a set of decisions you make hone
- Altitude — three phases, one document trail
- Phase 1 — Intake (fuzzy request → concrete brief)
- Phase 2 — High-Level Design (HLD)
- Phase 3 — Low-Level Design (LLD)
- Review via git
- Pipeline
What does the forgecad-design-spec skill do?
Create a ForgeCAD design brief, HLD, or LLD before coding by walking through use, assembly, interfaces, decisions, and verification.
How do I install it?
Run `npx skills add ForgeCAD/forgecad-public-kit --skill forgecad-design-spec --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 ForgeCAD/forgecad-public-kit, a repository with 915 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.