gh-tachyon-beep-skillpacks-plugins-meta-skillpack-maintenance/skills/using-skillpack-maintenance/analyzing-pack-domain.md

Analyzing Pack Domain

Purpose: Investigative process to establish "what this pack should cover" from first principles.

Adaptive Investigation Workflow

Sequence: D → B → C → A (conditional)

Phase D: User-Guided Scope

Ask user:

• "What is the intended scope and purpose of [pack-name]?"
• "What boundaries should this pack respect?"
• "Who is the target audience? (beginners / practitioners / experts)"
• "What depth of coverage is expected? (overview / comprehensive / exhaustive)"

Document:

• User's vision as baseline
• Explicit boundaries (what's IN scope, what's OUT of scope)
• Success criteria (what makes this pack "complete"?)

Phase B: LLM Knowledge-Based Analysis

Leverage model knowledge to map the domain:

1. Generate comprehensive coverage map:

   • What are the major concepts/algorithms/techniques in this domain?
   • What are the core patterns practitioners need to know?
   • What are common implementation challenges?

2. Identify structure:

   • Foundational concepts (must understand first)
   • Core techniques (bread-and-butter patterns)
   • Advanced topics (expert-level material)
   • Cross-cutting concerns (testing, debugging, optimization)

3. Flag research currency:

   • Is this domain stable or rapidly evolving?
   • Stable examples: Design patterns, basic algorithms, established protocols
   • Evolving examples: AI/ML, security, modern web frameworks
   • If evolving → Flag for Phase A research

Output: Coverage map with categorization (foundational/core/advanced)

Phase C: Existing Pack Audit

Read all current skills in the pack:

1. Inventory:

   • List all SKILL.md files
   • Note skill names and descriptions
   • Check router skill (if exists) for specialist list

2. Compare against coverage map:

   • What's covered? (existing skills matching coverage areas)
   • What's missing? (gaps in foundational/core/advanced areas)
   • What overlaps? (multiple skills covering same concept)
   • What's obsolete? (outdated approaches, deprecated patterns)

3. Quality check:

   • Are descriptions accurate?
   • Do skills match their descriptions?
   • Are there broken cross-references?

Output: Gap list, duplicate list, obsolescence flags

Phase A: Research (Conditional)

ONLY if Phase B flagged domain as rapidly evolving.

Research authoritative sources:

1. For AI/ML domains:

   • Latest survey papers (search: "[domain] survey 2024/2025")
   • Current textbooks (check publication dates)
   • Official library documentation (PyTorch, TensorFlow, etc.)
   • Research benchmarks (Papers with Code, etc.)

2. For security domains:

   • OWASP guidelines
   • NIST standards
   • Recent CVE patterns
   • Current threat landscape

3. For framework domains:

   • Official documentation (latest version)
   • Migration guides (breaking changes)
   • Best practices (official recommendations)

Update coverage map:

• Add new techniques/patterns
• Flag deprecated approaches in existing skills
• Note version-specific considerations

Decision criteria for Phase A:

• Skip research for: Math, algorithms, design patterns, established protocols
• Run research for: AI/ML, security, modern frameworks, evolving standards

Outputs

Generate comprehensive report:

1. Domain Coverage Map

Foundational:
- [Concept 1] - [Status: Exists / Missing / Needs enhancement]
- [Concept 2] - [Status: Exists / Missing / Needs enhancement]

Core Techniques:
- [Technique 1] - [Status: ...]
- [Technique 2] - [Status: ...]

Advanced Topics:
- [Topic 1] - [Status: ...]
- [Topic 2] - [Status: ...]

Cross-Cutting:
- [Concern 1] - [Status: ...]

2. Current State Assessment

Existing skills: [count]
- [Skill 1 name] - covers [domain area]
- [Skill 2 name] - covers [domain area]
...

3. Gap Analysis

Missing (High Priority):
- [Gap 1] - foundational concept not covered
- [Gap 2] - core technique missing

Missing (Medium Priority):
- [Gap 3] - advanced topic not covered

Duplicates:
- [Skill A] and [Skill B] overlap on [topic]

Obsolete:
- [Skill C] uses deprecated approach [old pattern]

4. Research Currency Flag

Domain stability: [Stable / Evolving]
Research conducted: [Yes / No / Not needed]
Currency concerns: [None / List specific areas needing updates]

Proceeding to Next Stage

After completing investigation, hand off to reviewing-pack-structure.md for scorecard generation.

Common Mistakes

Mistake	Fix
Skipping user input (Phase D)	Always start with user vision - they define scope
Over-relying on LLM knowledge	For evolving domains, run research (Phase A)
Skipping gap analysis	Compare coverage map vs. existing skills systematically
Treating all domains as stable	Flag AI/ML/security/frameworks for research
Vague gap descriptions	Be specific: "Missing TaskGroup patterns" not "async needs work"