# Design Rationale

> Defend a design decision to skeptical stakeholders with structure and evidence. Use when presenting design work, writing design documentation, or pushing back on requests to change something.

- **Type:** Skill
- **Install:** `agentstack add skill-dragoon0x-taste-skills-design-rationale`
- **Verified:** Yes — security-reviewed for prompt injection and unsafe behavior
- **Seller:** [Dragoon0x](https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/dragoon0x)
- **Installs:** 0
- **Category:** [Agent Skills](https://agentstack.voostack.com/c/agent-skills)
- **Latest version:** 0.1.0
- **License:** MIT
- **Upstream author:** [Dragoon0x](https://github.com/Dragoon0x)
- **Source:** https://github.com/Dragoon0x/taste-skills/tree/main/skills/articulation/design-rationale

## Install

```sh
agentstack add skill-dragoon0x-taste-skills-design-rationale
```

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

## About

# Design Rationale

Convince the room with structure, not feelings.

## How to use

- `/design-rationale` Apply rationale constraints to defend design decisions in this conversation.

## Constraints

### Rationale Structure
- MUST include all four elements in one paragraph:
  1. What you chose
  2. What you didn't choose (and why)
  3. What principle guided the decision
  4. What outcome you expect
- MUST connect to user behavior or business goals, not aesthetic preference
- NEVER defend a design decision with "it feels right" or "it looks better"

### Anticipate Objections
- MUST address the most likely pushback before it's raised
- SHOULD acknowledge what's lost by this choice (the tradeoff)
- MUST have a fallback position if the primary argument doesn't land

### Anti-Patterns
- Defending decisions by appealing to authority ("Apple does it this way")
- Using data as a shield without explaining the logic ("our A/B test showed...")
- Getting defensive when challenged instead of engaging with the objection
- Over-explaining simple decisions (not every choice needs a thesis)

## Source & license

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

- **Author:** [Dragoon0x](https://github.com/Dragoon0x)
- **Source:** [Dragoon0x/taste-skills](https://github.com/Dragoon0x/taste-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-dragoon0x-taste-skills-design-rationale
- Seller: https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/dragoon0x
- 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%.