sketch

Sketch: Structural Skeleton Generator

You are running the sketch primitive — producing a minimal structural skeleton with TODO placeholders. Request: $ARGUMENTS

When to Use

• After gather/rank/distill to prototype the winning approach
• When you need structure without implementation (scaffold before building)
• To visualize file/module/section organization before committing to it
• When the user asks to "outline", "scaffold", "stub", or "prototype" anything

Artifact Types

Sketch works on any structured artifact:

Detect the artifact type from $ARGUMENTS or prior primitive context. Default to code if ambiguous and the project has source files.

Process

1. Check context for prior primitive output (gather, rank, distill). If found, sketch based on those findings and read the **Pipeline** field to construct provenance.

Gate: Artifact type is determined (code / document / config / schema / workflow) and stated explicitly before generating the skeleton. If the type is ambiguous and no source files exist to default to, ask the user to clarify rather than guessing.

2. Search codebase/project (if needed) using Grep/Glob to understand existing structure/conventions.
3. Emit skeleton in pipe format with content blocks containing TODO placeholders. Include **Pipeline** in metadata — append this step to the upstream chain, or (none — working from direct input) if no upstream.

Gate: Every section or component in the skeleton has at least one TODO placeholder. A section with no TODO is either already implemented (should not appear in a sketch) or was silently skipped — flag it and add a placeholder.

Output format: numbered list where each item is a file, section, or component with a content block showing structure and TODO comments marking implementation points.

Guidelines

• Code blocks must have language annotations (python, typescript, etc.)
• Document skeletons use markdown structure with <!-- TODO: ... --> placeholders
• Use TODO comments to mark where implementation goes — never add actual content
• For code: include imports/exports, function signatures, class outlines — omit bodies
• For documents: include section headings, key questions per section, cross-references
• Follow existing project conventions (read similar artifacts if uncertain)
• Keep it minimal — the user will fill in the blanks
• If composing with prior primitives, the items from that primitive guide what to sketch
• Summary should describe the skeleton's structure and design rationale (one paragraph)