# Prototype

> Build a throwaway prototype to flush out a design before committing. 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",…

- **Type:** Skill
- **Install:** `agentstack add skill-belchman-claude-skills-prototype`
- **Verified:** Yes — security-reviewed for prompt injection and unsafe behavior
- **Seller:** [belchman](https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/belchman)
- **Installs:** 0
- **Category:** [Agent Skills](https://agentstack.voostack.com/c/agent-skills)
- **Latest version:** 0.1.0
- **License:** MIT
- **Upstream author:** [belchman](https://github.com/belchman)
- **Source:** https://github.com/belchman/claude-skills/tree/master/plugins/agentic-engineering/skills/prototype

## Install

```sh
agentstack add skill-belchman-claude-skills-prototype
```

Requires the [AgentStack CLI](https://agentstack.voostack.com/docs/cli). Works with Claude Code, Cursor, and any MCP-compatible agent.

## About

# prototype

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

## Pick a branch

Identify the question — from the user's prompt, surrounding code, or by asking:

- **"Does this logic / state model feel right?"** → [LOGIC.md](LOGIC.md). Tiny interactive terminal app that pushes the state machine through cases hard to reason about on paper.
- **"What should this look like?"** → [UI.md](UI.md). Several radically different UI variations on a single route, switchable via URL search param + a floating bottom bar.

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

## Rules that apply to both

1. **Throwaway from day one, and clearly marked as such.** Locate the prototype next to the module/page it's for so context is obvious — but name it so a casual reader sees it's a prototype, not production. For throwaway UI routes, follow the project's existing routing convention; don't invent a new top-level structure.
2. **One command to run.** Whatever the project's task runner supports — `pnpm `, `python `, `bun `. The user must start it without thinking.
3. **No persistence by default.** State lives in memory. Persistence is the thing the prototype is *checking*, not something it depends on. If the question explicitly involves a DB, use a scratch DB or local file with a clear "PROTOTYPE — wipe me" name.
4. **Skip the polish.** No tests, no error handling beyond what makes the prototype runnable, no abstractions. Learn fast, then delete.
5. **Surface the state.** After every action (logic) or variant switch (UI), print or render the full relevant state so the user sees what changed.
6. **Delete or absorb when done.** Once the prototype has answered its question, delete it or fold the validated decision into real code. Don't leave it rotting.

## When done

The *answer* is the only thing worth keeping. Capture it somewhere durable (commit message, ADR, issue, or a `NOTES.md` next to the prototype) along with the question it answered. 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.

## Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

- **Author:** [belchman](https://github.com/belchman)
- **Source:** [belchman/claude-skills](https://github.com/belchman/claude-skills)
- **License:** MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.

## Pricing

- **Free** — Free

## Security capabilities

Automated source analysis of v0.1.0 — what this tool can access:

- **Network access:** no
- **Filesystem access:** no
- **Shell / process execution:** no
- **Environment & secrets:** no
- **Dynamic code execution:** no

*"Yes" means the capability is present in the source — more access means more to trust, not that it is unsafe.*


## Versions

- **0.1.0** — security scan: passed — Imported from the upstream source.

## Links

- Listing page: https://agentstack.voostack.com/l/skill-belchman-claude-skills-prototype
- Seller: https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/belchman
- Browse the marketplace: https://agentstack.voostack.com/browse

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Listed on AgentStack — the marketplace for AI agent skills and MCP servers. Every listing is security-reviewed. Creators keep 70%.