# Breakdown > Produce a multi-altitude explainer of a body of work — what it is, why it matters, where it sits, and how it was learned. Trigger when the user says "break it down", "explain what we did/built", "what was this", "give me the story", "zoom out", "explain at 100k/50k/30k/10k ft", "one-sentence version", "package this up", "what's the shape of this", or asks for ASCII C4 diagrams of work just comple… - **Type:** Skill - **Install:** `agentstack add skill-lucface-claude-skills-breakdown` - **Verified:** Yes — security-reviewed for prompt injection and unsafe behavior - **Seller:** [Lucface](https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/lucface) - **Installs:** 0 - **Category:** [Agent Skills](https://agentstack.voostack.com/c/agent-skills) - **Latest version:** 0.1.0 - **License:** MIT - **Upstream author:** [Lucface](https://github.com/Lucface) - **Source:** https://github.com/Lucface/claude-skills/tree/main/skills/breakdown ## Install ```sh agentstack add skill-lucface-claude-skills-breakdown ``` Requires the [AgentStack CLI](https://agentstack.voostack.com/docs/cli). Works with Claude Code, Cursor, and any MCP-compatible agent. ## About # /breakdown — the multi-altitude explainer Turn a body of work into an explanation that a non-technical person *and* an engineer both find illuminating — and that is good enough to become seed documentation for a repo. This skill exists because: **we often build something powerful that took a long, winding path to figure out, and then the wisdom of HOW and WHY evaporates.** This captures it while it's fresh, in a shape that's legible, attractive, and reusable. ## Step 0 — Identify the subject + mine the prompt **Bare invocation (`/breakdown` with no args) — assume, don't ask.** Default to: - **Audience = Lucas, the owner** (smart, non-academic; plain language first, depth on demand). - **Heavy ASCII** throughout — this is the house style for breakdowns. - **Subject = the substantive work done in the current session.** - **Skip the prompt-coaching** (Step 0.2's "improved variant") — don't append it to a normal breakdown. Only deviate when the user names a different target, audience, or passes a flag. Never stall on a clarifying question — state any assumption in one line and proceed. 1. **Subject.** Default = the substantive work done in the *current session*. If the user names a target (a repo, a feature, a PR, a commit range, a file), use that instead. If ambiguous, state your assumption in one line and proceed (don't stall on a question). 2. **Mine the originating prompt (OPTIONAL — off by default).** Only when the user explicitly asks "how should I have asked?" or passes a `+prompt` flag: find the originating message, quote it, and write one improved variant. Otherwise skip this step entirely — the bare `/breakdown` should not lecture the user on how to prompt. ## Step 1 — Lead with the one-sentence version The first thing on screen is a single bolded sentence a layperson understands. No jargon. A metaphor is good. This is non-negotiable and goes first. ## Step 2 — Descend the altitudes (lay-person BEFORE technical) Produce four altitude sections, in this order, each headed by its altitude: - **100,000 ft — for a non-technical person.** The point, in plain language, with a vivid analogy. Why a normal person would care. Use an ASCII before/after or simple diagram here — concrete beats abstract. - **50,000 ft — strategic.** Where this fits in the bigger goal. What problem-class it solves. Any rollout/sequence/roadmap framing. - **30,000 ft — the technical shape (C4 diagrams).** ASCII C4: a Context diagram (who/what uses it), a Container diagram (the systems/repos involved + status), and at least one before→after of the core idea. Label clearly. - **10,000 ft — the engineering.** A Component (C3) ASCII diagram of the internals, plus the concrete decisions/bugs/tradeoffs. A small table of "issue found → why it mattered → fix" is ideal when there was a review process. Rules for the altitudes: - **ASCII art only, never images.** Monospace box-drawing. Keep diagrams under ~70 cols so they render in a terminal. - Each altitude must be readable on its own; someone can stop at any level and have gotten value. - Brief ≠ shallow. Depth is welcome here; this is the one place where long-form is correct. (Match length to the complexity of the work.) ## Step 3 — Where it sits (the architecture placement) Place the work inside the system's existing structure. Read and cite: - `` (the registry of reusable primitives) — which primitive is this, or does it create a new one? - `` (the 8-layer north-star) — which layer(s) does it touch? Show an ASCII placement (the relevant tier/layer slice with this work highlighted). Then state how it relates to the *adjacent* primitives (what it depends on, what depends on it, what it composes with). ## Step 4 — The seed backstory (the "why it's whole and attractive" facets) These eight facets make the explanation feel complete and make it directly reusable as a repo README. Cover each in 1-3 tight sentences: 1. **Ultimate solve** — not the mechanism, the *end state* it buys. ("Make the past queryable and trustworthy so the present can be built on without fear," not "it logs changes.") 2. **Why it matters** — the cost of NOT having it. 3. **Downstream effects** — what it unlocks elsewhere (autonomy, sellability, compounding, etc.). 4. **Best use cases** — where to reach for it; where NOT to. 5. **How we learned it** — the path: the research, the failures, the process that hardened it. 6. **What inspired it** — the intellectual lineage / prior art (name names). 7. **Source material** — specific docs, memos, transcribed videos, corpora used. If exact titles aren't to hand, name the corpus + how to pull them, and add a runbook TODO rather than inventing titles. 8. **Historical evolution** — how the idea evolved from inspiration → first instance → hardened standard. ## Step 5 — Honest gaps A short, plain list of what is NOT done / NOT in scope / known follow-ups. Never let the explainer read as "everything is perfect." If there are deferred items, name them and why they were deferred. Cross-check against `` so no claim drifts from known reality. ## Step 6 — Offer to crystallize End by offering (one line, not a paragraph) to save the explanation as: a repo `README` / a seed doc / a `HOUSE-STANDARDS.md` entry / a wiki synthesis node. Don't auto-write unless the work clearly warrants a durable home and the user's pattern is "just do it." ## Quality bar (the taste this skill enforces) - One-sentence version first. Always. - Lay-person framing before any technical content. - ASCII C4, not prose-only and not images. - Cite `file:line` and commit SHAs for anything concrete — receipts, not assertions. - Name the prior art and the source material — intellectual honesty is part of why it feels trustworthy. - Surface gaps. A breakdown that hides what's unfinished is propaganda, not documentation. ## Composition - Invoke standalone anytime ("break this down", "/breakdown"). - As a **pp2p coda**: after a perfection pass converges, run /breakdown on the hardened work so every major change ships *with* its own multi-altitude explanation. (This is the recommended default for substantial features.) ## Source & license This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code. - **Author:** [Lucface](https://github.com/Lucface) - **Source:** [Lucface/claude-skills](https://github.com/Lucface/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-lucface-claude-skills-breakdown - Seller: https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/lucface - Browse the marketplace: https://agentstack.voostack.com/browse --- Listed on AgentStack — the marketplace for AI agent skills and MCP servers. Every listing is security-reviewed. Creators keep 70%.