Skill Introduction

Overview

Build a throwaway prototype to flesh out a design before committing to it. Routes between two branches — a runnable terminal app for state/business-logic questions, or several radically different UI variations toggleable from one route. Use when the user wants to prototype, sanity-check a data model or state machine, mock up a UI, explore design options, or says "prototype this", "let me play with it", "try a few designs".

Core value

Turns reusable Testing know-how into an installable skill, helping users complete github, community work faster.

Target users

Developers, testers, and maintainers who handle Testing tasks in Focus Code.
Teams that already trust workflows or content from mattpocock.
Users who want standardized prompts, steps, or conventions instead of repeating setup work.

Best practices

Read the skill content first to confirm required inputs, expected outputs, and dependencies.
Try it on a small task before relying on it for critical work.
Add project-specific constraints such as coding style, target platform, test expectations, and delivery format.
For external sources, verify the source link, version, and recent maintenance activity.

Best use cases

Tasks related to github, community that need a reusable execution flow.
Converting a community repo, team convention, or personal workflow into day-to-day assistance.
Starting from a proven skill instead of writing prompts or procedures from scratch.

Limits and boundaries

Results depend on the quality of the original skill content and may need human correction.
It does not replace code review, tests, security review, or professional judgment.
External tools, APIs, account permissions, and local dependencies still need separate setup.

Differentiation

Structured around Testing, making it easier to discover and reuse than loose prompt snippets.
Marked as GitHub, which helps users judge trust and maintenance expectations.
Keeps the original source link available for repository, documentation, or discussion follow-up.
Tagged with github, community, so it can be filtered by concrete task intent.

Install and use

Install

Copy Install Command

focus install prototype-2655f1

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SKILL.md

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name: prototype description: Build a throwaway prototype to flesh out a design before committing to it. Routes between two branches — a runnable terminal app for state/business-logic questions, or several radically different UI variations toggleable from one route. Use when the user wants to prototype, sanity-check a data model or state machine, mock up a UI, explore design options, or says "prototype this", "let me play with it", "try a few designs".

Prototype

A prototype is throwaway code that answers a question. The question decides the shape.

Pick a branch

Identify which question is being answered — from the user's prompt, the surrounding code, or by asking if the user is around:

"Does this logic / state model feel right?" → LOGIC.md. Build a tiny interactive terminal app that pushes the state machine through cases that are hard to reason about on paper.
"What should this look like?" → UI.md. Generate several radically different UI variations on a single route, switchable via a URL search param and a floating bottom bar.

The two branches produce very different artifacts — getting this wrong wastes the whole prototype. If the question is genuinely ambiguous and the user isn't reachable, default to whichever branch better matches the surrounding code (a backend module → logic; a page or component → UI) and state the assumption at the top of the prototype.

Rules that apply to both

Throwaway from day one, and clearly marked as such. Locate the prototype code close to where it will actually be used (next to the module or page it's prototyping for) so context is obvious — but name it so a casual reader can see it's a prototype, not production. For throwaway UI routes, obey whatever routing convention the project already uses; don't invent a new top-level structure.
One command to run. Whatever the project's existing task runner supports — pnpm <name>, python <path>, bun <path>, etc. The user must be able to start it without thinking.
No persistence by default. State lives in memory. Persistence is the thing the prototype is checking, not something it should depend on. If the question explicitly involves a database, hit a scratch DB or a local file with a clear "PROTOTYPE — wipe me" name.
Skip the polish. No tests, no error handling beyond what makes the prototype runnable, no abstractions. The point is to learn something fast and then delete it.
Surface the state. After every action (logic) or on every variant switch (UI), print or render the full relevant state so the user can see what changed.
Delete or absorb when done. When the prototype has answered its question, either delete it or fold the validated decision into the real code — don't leave it rotting in the repo.

When done

The answer is the only thing worth keeping from a prototype. Capture it somewhere durable (commit message, ADR, issue, or a NOTES.md next to the prototype) along with the question it was answering. If the user is around, that capture is a quick conversation; if not, leave the placeholder so they (or you, on the next pass) can fill in the verdict before deleting the prototype.

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