Skills as atomic building blocks — refactor skills/templates architecture

[codevibesmatter]

Summary

Refactor the skills/template architecture so that skills become atomic, reusable methodology modules with gates, and templates become thin YAML skeletons that wire skills together.

Problem

7 of 12 current skills duplicate their template's content (phase flows, orchestration instructions, step-by-step guidance). Claude gets double context. Mode skills exist because other communities use skills AS modes — but we have kata infrastructure (templates, tasks, gates, stop hooks) so skills should provide methodology, not duplicate workflow.

Proposed Architecture

• Templates = thin YAML skeletons (~30 lines): phases, ordering, expansion patterns, skill references
• Skills = atomic methodology modules: instructions + gates, reusable across modes
• mode_skill = top-level role loaded on mode entry (e.g. orchestration)
• skill: on steps = per-step methodology injection (e.g. tdd, code-review)
• Skills own their gate conditions (co-located with instructions)
• Dynamic expansion (spec phases, VP steps, interviews) stamps out steps with skill references

Research

See planning/research/2026-04-06-skills-structure-deep-research.md

Key Changes

1. Replace 7 mode skills with ~15 cross-cutting atomic skills
2. Add gate: field to skill frontmatter
3. Strip template step instructions to 1-2 lines + skill reference
4. Keep existing expansion patterns (spec phases, VP steps, interview categories)

[codevibesmatter]

Spec approved

Spec: planning/specs/45-skills-as-atomic-building-blocks.md
Branch: feature/42-skills-based-methodology
Commit: 9e995bf

Summary

• 11 atomic cross-cutting skills replace 7 mode-mirroring skills
• Templates become thin YAML skeletons (~30-50 lines) with skill: refs
• Gates stay deterministic in templates; skills provide methodology
• All modes except freeform get mode_skill: orchestration
• 4 implementation phases: skill library → thin templates → task factory updates → eval + cleanup

[codevibesmatter]

Spec Rewritten and Approved

The spec at planning/specs/45-skills-based-methodology.md replaces the original 45-skills-as-atomic-building-blocks.md with a revised two-tier architecture:

• Step Library (steps.yaml with $ref+vars) for reusable procedural steps
• 8 Atomic Skills for methodology (replacing 7 mode-mirroring + tdd)
• Unified kata setup — no more separate batteries command
• Orchestration as global rule, not a skill

Supersedes the original #45 spec based on blocks+skills research findings.