AI Blocks › Build and ship software
Design principles checker
Paste a spec, API or tool design. Get a score out of 100 against six design principles, with fixes.
Design principles checker is a free AI skill for the job "Build and ship software". Give the instructions to an AI assistant that supports the required files and tools, then review its output.
Free · No account · Made by AI Blocks · Level: advanced · Thinking: high
What it does
Designs that other people have to build on tend to fail in the same ways. They have too many basic parts, one hidden point everything depends on, or features that every other spec must then handle. Teams find this out after others have built on them, when changing it is expensive. This skill counts the basic building blocks and what the design can do with them. It checks that parts are tight inside and loosely linked, looks for any single point of control, and asks if it could work beside a rival design made by someone else. It finds the least powerful form that still does the job, checks the design accepts what it can but sends only what is strict, and lists any extra feature that other specs would have to handle.
You give it
- The design, as a spec, API description, file format or tool overview
- What it is for and who builds on it (optional)
- A rival design to compare against (optional)
You get
- A pass, partial or fail with reasons for each of the six principles
- A score out of 100 and how it was worked out
- Any single point of control, and the extra features that burden others
- Changes to make, in order
Use it when
- You are about to publish a spec, an API or a file format that others will build on.
- You are choosing between two designs and want a clear way to compare them.
- A tool you built is getting hard to extend and you do not know why.
How to use it
- Start a chat with the skill. Open it if you added it to your AI, or copy it and paste it in.
- Paste the design in full, or the parts that others must build on.
- Say who builds on it and what could change in the future.
- Read the failed principles first, then the single points of control.
- Make the changes, then run it again and compare scores.