consult-guidelines
Review relevant guidelines before starting a task
When & Why to Use This Skill
The consult-guidelines skill is a specialized utility designed to ensure AI-driven development adheres to project-specific standards. It automates the process of reviewing and internalizing coding guidelines, Git workflows, and architectural best practices before a task begins. By mapping specific task types (like Python development or refactoring) to relevant documentation, it minimizes errors, reduces technical debt, and maintains high consistency across the codebase.
Use Cases
- Development Pre-flight Check: Automatically summarize Python-specific standards and type-hinting rules before writing new modules to ensure immediate compliance.
- Workflow Standardization: Review Git workflow protocols before commits to ensure branch naming and message formats align with organizational requirements.
- Refactoring Guardrails: Analyze anti-pattern documentation and DRY principles prior to code cleanup to prevent the introduction of known architectural flaws.
- Onboarding & Consistency: Help new contributors or agents quickly adapt to a project's unique style guides and 'must-follow' constraints without manual oversight.
| name | consult-guidelines |
|---|---|
| description | Review relevant guidelines before starting a task |
Overview
Read and internalize the coding guidelines relevant to the current task. This ensures consistent application of standards across all work.
Parameters
- task_type (optional): "python", "git", "refactor", "debug", "review", or "all"
Steps
1. Determine Relevant Guidelines
Based on task type, identify which guidelines to review.
Mapping:
python→ coding-standards.md, python-standards.mdgit→ git-workflow.mdrefactor→ coding-standards.md, anti-patterns.mddebug→ coding-standards.md (TDD section)review→ anti-patterns.md, coding-standards.mdall→ all guidelines
Constraints:
- You MUST read
guidelines/coding-standards.mdfor any code changes - You MUST read
guidelines/python-standards.mdfor Python work - You MUST read
guidelines/git-workflow.mdbefore any commits - You SHOULD read
guidelines/anti-patterns.mdbefore code review or refactoring
2. Summarize Key Points
Extract the 3-5 most relevant rules for the current task.
Constraints:
- You MUST highlight any MUST/MUST NOT constraints
- You SHOULD note any task-specific gotchas
3. Apply During Work
Keep these guidelines in mind while executing the task. Reference them when making decisions.
Constraints:
- You MUST cite the relevant guideline when it influences a decision
- You SHOULD flag if you discover a case not covered by guidelines
Examples
User: "I'm about to refactor the auth module" Agent: Reads coding-standards.md and anti-patterns.md, summarizes DRY principles and slop patterns to avoid, proceeds with refactor while citing guidelines.
User: "/consult-guidelines python" Agent: Reviews coding-standards.md and python-standards.md, extracts key rules about ruff, type hints, and path management.