Identify Stack Slots Agent Skill

Use this skill at the very start of a brand new coding project of any kind (CLI, web app, API service, library, mobile app, desktop app…

Context cost
4.6k tokensestimated from the bundle, loaded when it triggers
Bundle
2 files · 18.3 kBtext throughout, nothing executable
Licence
not declarednone named by its author
Last change
—no release on file
Servers it uses
Noneruns standalone

What it does

Use this skill at the very start of a brand new coding project of any kind (CLI, web app, API service, library, mobile app, desktop app, server, etc.) to figure out the categories of technology decisions the project's stack is composed of. Trigger this whenever a user is kicking off a new project and needs to plan their stack, asks "what do I need to decide" / "help me set up the stack" / "I'm starting a new X project", or whenever you're about to scaffold a project and haven't yet established which decision categories apply.

What this skill changes about the agent has not been set out here as a list. Its SKILL.md, shown below, says it in the author’s own words.

productivity

The skill itself

A skill is instructions the model reads, so you can see what you are getting: below is the start of its SKILL.md. The front matter loads with every session, the body loads when the skill triggers, and the whole file comes with the install.

SKILL.md9.5 kB · preview
--- name: identify-stack-slots ---
6# Identify Stack Slots
7
8Help a user starting a brand new coding project identify the **stack slots** their project requires. A stack slot is a *category* of decision (e.g. "web framework", "test framework", "database"), not a concrete choice (e.g. "Next.js", "Jest", "Postgres"). The YAML output is consumed by a later stage that fills each slot, so do not recommend or select specific tools here.
9
10## Objective
11
12Through conversation, determine the minimal, complete set of slots this project's stack is composed of. The set depends entirely on what the project is, so understand the project, research how its class of application is built, and derive the slots from both.
13
14## Process
15
16Run discovery and research as interleaved passes, not separate phases. This matters because knowing the application class early lets you ask sharper questions and skip irrelevant ones.
17
181. **Identify the project type.** Ask what the user is building. Get just enough to determine project type and target platform(s).
192. **First research pass.** As soon as you know the application class, consult authoritative sources online for how it's built today. Let this shape your next questions. Knowing the application type reveals which ambiguities actually change the slot list.
203. **Ask sharper follow-ups.** Use what you learned to ask only slot-determining questions. Examples: Does it persist data? Does it expose an API or just consume one? UI, service, library, or CLI? Single platform or cross-platform? Browser, server, on-device, or mixed? Phrase every question in terms of a capability or architecture fork, never a specific tool or format; naming a product here is the decide stage's job (see Rules).
214. **Targeted research as needed.** When an answer opens a new concern (e.g. "yes it handles payments"), do a focused search on best practice for that concern before deciding whether it adds a slot.
225. **Stop** once the slot list is complete and grounded. Don't gather preferences about *which* tool fills a slot. That's the next stage's job.
23
24Don't interrogate the user. When the answer is a matter of standard practice and not user preference, resolve it through research instead of asking.
This is a preview of SKILL.md. Download or install the skill to get the whole thing.
In the file
SKILL.md1,424 words
Files2
Licencenot declared
Why you can read it

Nothing in a skill executes. The client loads the text and the model follows it, so a skill can be audited the way a runbook is — by reading it.

What it costs in context

Skills are not billed by the call. They are paid for in context: every token the instructions occupy is a token your code, your diff and your conversation cannot use. Here is what this one takes and when it takes it.

≈190
always loaded
The name and description, so the model knows the skill exists and when to reach for it.
4,385
on trigger
The instruction body and 1 supporting file, read only when the skill fires.
2.3%
of a 200k window
Ten skills this size would take about 23% of the window before you open a file.
050k100k150k200k context window

4.6k tokens, estimated from the bundle at four bytes to the token, held for the rest of the session once it triggers. Heavy. Teams tend to install this one per project rather than globally, and load it only when the job comes up.

Servers bill, skills cost

A server charges by the month. A skill charges once per session, in context, and then keeps charging it for as long as the session lives.

Before and after

The same question, put to the same model twice: once as it comes, and once with these instructions loaded.

No worked example has been published for this skill yet.

The procedure it runs

The procedure has not been set out here step by step. It is in the body of its SKILL.md: the start of it is shown above, and the whole file comes with the install.

Prose, not code

These steps are written for a model to follow, not executed by a runtime. It can still be told to skip one, and it will say so when it does.

Servers it uses

None. This skill calls no MCP servers at all.

Everything it needs is in the instructions, so it works in a project with nothing connected — the model reads the file and changes how it works with what it can already reach.

Its SKILL.md does not declare which tools it asks the agent for, so what it touches is whatever the instructions themselves ask for — read them before you install it.

What it asks for
Writes filesnot declared
Network accessnot declared

This SKILL.md carries no allowed-tools line, so neither is declared. A skill grants no permissions of its own — it can only ask for tools your client already has.

What it will not do

Every skill is narrow, and the useful ones say where they stop. These are the jobs this one is the wrong tool for.

What this skill is not for has not been published here. Nothing is implied by that: it is a section the author has not filled in.

What is in the bundle

2 files, 18.3 kB on disk. A bundle is text throughout: the instructions the model reads, plus the templates it fills in.

  • SKILL.md9.5 kB
  • evals/evals.json8.8 kB
What is not in it

No dependencies and nothing executable: a skill is text the agent reads, so the bundle is 2 files you can review in full before installing.

Install

Installing copies the bundle into your project. Nothing runs at install time — the files sit on disk until the model reads them.

# Identify Stack Slots · 4.6k tokens when loaded · macOS, Linux mkdir -p .claude/skills && t=$(mktemp -d) && curl -fsSL -o "$t/bundle.tar.gz" https://mcprush.com/api/skills/identify-stack-slots/bundle.tar.gz && tar -xzf "$t/bundle.tar.gz" -C "$t" && [ -d "$t/identify-stack-slots" ] && { [ ! -e .claude/skills/identify-stack-slots ] || { mv .claude/skills/identify-stack-slots "$t/.previous" && echo "Previous copy moved to $t/.previous"; }; } && mv "$t/identify-stack-slots" .claude/skills/ && echo "Installed .claude/skills/identify-stack-slots"
On Windows, or any OS with Node 20+
npx mcprush@latest skill add pricklywiggles/identify-stack-slots

Windows PowerShell says 'running scripts is disabled on this system'? Run Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope CurrentUser RemoteSigned once, or type npx.cmd instead of npx (codex.cmd, gemini.cmd, grok.cmd likewise). PowerShell 7 needs neither. Writes to .claude/skills/identify-stack-slots/ in the current project. For every project instead, run mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && t=$(mktemp -d) && curl -fsSL -o "$t/bundle.tar.gz" https://mcprush.com/api/skills/identify-stack-slots/bundle.tar.gz && tar -xzf "$t/bundle.tar.gz" -C "$t" && [ -d "$t/identify-stack-slots" ] && { [ ! -e ~/.claude/skills/identify-stack-slots ] || { mv ~/.claude/skills/identify-stack-slots "$t/.previous" && echo "Previous copy moved to $t/.previous"; }; } && mv "$t/identify-stack-slots" ~/.claude/skills/ && echo "Installed ~/.claude/skills/identify-stack-slots" (macOS, Linux) — or add --global to the npx line. The curl line replaces .claude/skills/identify-stack-slots/ only after the download succeeds, so files left there by another skill of the same name, or by an older release, do not mix in. A copy already there is moved aside, not deleted, and the line prints where.

Which clients pick it up on their own

A skill is a folder of text. Most of these read a skills folder and pick it up without being told; the rest take the same folder another way — an upload in the app, a parameter on an API call — and then choose it by its description just the same.

Claude Code.claude/skills/
Claude DesktopCustomize › Skills
ChatGPTSkills › Create › Upload
Cursor.cursor/skills/
VS Code.github/skills/
Codex CLI.agents/skills/
Gemini CLI.gemini/skills/
Grok Build.grok/skills/
Microsoft CopilotSkills › Upload a skill
PerplexityComputer › Skills › Upload a skill
DeepSeek Harness.dsh/skills/
Zed.agents/skills/
Devin Desktop.devin/skills/
Windsurf (legacy).windsurf/skills/
OpenAI Agents SDKInstructions or sandbox Skills
HTTP / APIa request parameter
This release
Versionnot versioned
Publishedno release date on file
PriceFree
Referencepricklywiggles/identify-stack-slots

Versions

Its author publishes no version number, so there is nothing here to pin to: what you install is the folder as it stands today. Instructions change more often than APIs do — a skill can be rewritten entirely without anything it depends on moving.

Pinning

Nothing to pin to: this skill carries no version number of its own. What you install is what the folder holds on the day you install it.

Reviews

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