{
 "schema": "aiblocks-page/1",
 "id": "technical-spike-planner",
 "type": "skill",
 "name": "Technical experiment planner",
 "summary": "Bring a hard technical question and a time limit. Get a short experiment, stop rule and next step.",
 "headline": "Technical experiment planner",
 "subhead": "Share the technical question, time limit and decision at stake. It plans a short experiment with steps, evidence to collect, a stop rule and a next step.",
 "job": {
  "id": "research-topics",
  "name": "Research a topic properly"
 },
 "level": "intermediate",
 "thinking": "medium",
 "tested": true,
 "updated": "2026-10-28",
 "first_published": "2026-10-25",
 "inputs": [
  {
   "type": "question",
   "required": true,
   "label": "Question",
   "what": "the problem, decision or piece of work you want help with, and what a good outcome looks like"
  },
  {
   "type": "codebase",
   "required": true,
   "label": "Codebase",
   "what": "a project's code, in a folder or repo the AI can open"
  }
 ],
 "outputs": [
  {
   "type": "plan",
   "required": true,
   "label": "Plan",
   "what": "a dated plan: what to do, in what order, with a decision rule for each step"
  },
  {
   "type": "document",
   "required": true,
   "label": "Document",
   "what": "a finished document, such as a Word file, a PDF or a page of notes"
  }
 ],
 "you_give": [
  "The blocking decision, affected code, constraints and deadline.",
  "A named owner and realistic research or prototype time budget."
 ],
 "you_get": [
  "A focused spike document with tasks, dependencies and completion criteria.",
  "A findings/decision record that separates planned experiments from actual results."
 ],
 "use_when": [
  "You want to plan a time-boxed technical spike."
 ],
 "skip_when": [
  "A question a quick read of the code or an existing decision record can answer: read those first, no spike needed.",
  "A choice that spans several teams: hold a full design review with the people affected.",
  "Work that is already decided and only needs building: write normal implementation tasks instead."
 ],
 "output_sample": {
  "input": [
   "The one technical question that blocks your work",
   "The code or system parts it affects",
   "Your time limit and decision deadline",
   "The name of the owner",
   "Known limits or requirements (optional)"
  ],
  "prerequisites": [
   "An AI that can create files if you want the spike saved as a file. Otherwise copy the text from the chat.",
   "Code tools like search, fetch and run tasks are only needed if you want your AI to research and test for you."
  ],
  "output": [
   {
    "name": "Summary",
    "contains": "The spike goal, why it matters, the time limit and the date a decision is needed."
   },
   {
    "name": "Research Question(s)",
    "contains": "The main question and up to a few smaller questions that support it."
   },
   {
    "name": "Investigation Plan",
    "contains": "A checklist of research tasks and the signs that show the spike is finished."
   },
   {
    "name": "Technical Context",
    "contains": "The parts of the system affected, what depends on this, and known limits."
   },
   {
    "name": "Research Findings",
    "contains": "Space for results, prototype notes and links to the sources you used."
   },
   {
    "name": "Decision",
    "contains": "The recommendation, why it won over other options, notes for building it and follow-up actions."
   },
   {
    "name": "Status History",
    "contains": "A dated table that tracks the spike from not started to complete."
   }
  ]
 },
 "how_to_use": [
  "Open your AI chat, or your AI coding assistant if you want it to search code and run tests.",
  "Paste the skill text, then add your blocking question, the code it touches, your time limit, the owner and the deadline.",
  "Ask your AI to write the spike document. Check that it has one question only.",
  "Run the research tasks yourself, or let your AI do them if it can run code. Fill in the findings.",
  "Write the decision, then turn the follow-up actions into implementation tasks."
 ],
 "checks": [],
 "next": [
  {
   "name": "Research project runner",
   "url": "https://useaiblocks.com/skills/research-project-runner",
   "why": "Research project runner"
  }
 ],
 "source": {
  "by": "github",
  "repo": "github/awesome-copilot",
  "url": "https://github.com/github/awesome-copilot/tree/613efc8c21d9b3ce642dff361d17006cd9967e28/skills/create-technical-spike",
  "licence": "MIT",
  "original_name": "create-technical-spike",
  "commit": "613efc8c21d9b3ce642dff361d17006cd9967e28"
 },
 "credits": [
  {
   "title": "create-technical-spike skill",
   "by": "github",
   "url": "https://github.com/github/awesome-copilot/tree/613efc8c21d9b3ce642dff361d17006cd9967e28/skills/create-technical-spike",
   "used": "Original instructions and supporting files, with attribution and the MIT licence. Display copy describes the task."
  }
 ],
 "files": [
  "LICENSE"
 ],
 "links": {
  "page": "https://useaiblocks.com/skills/technical-spike-planner",
  "markdown": "https://useaiblocks.com/skills/technical-spike-planner.md",
  "json": "https://useaiblocks.com/skills/technical-spike-planner.json",
  "instructions": "https://useaiblocks.com/skills/technical-spike-planner/SKILL.md",
  "download": "https://useaiblocks.com/skills/technical-spike-planner.zip",
  "api_item": "https://useaiblocks.com/api/v1/items/technical-spike-planner",
  "api_document": "https://useaiblocks.com/api/v1/documents/skill/technical-spike-planner",
  "mcp": "https://useaiblocks.com/mcp"
 }
}