# Visualize

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

## Install

```sh
agentstack add skill-marcoskichel-empire-visualize
```

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

## About

**A diagram loads two cognitive channels; prose loads one.** Verbal and visual
information travel separate paths (dual-coding theory), and working memory saturates
fast (cognitive load theory). A labeled diagram lets a reader grasp structure at a
glance and hold it longer. This skill converts a thing-with-structure into the visual
that carries it best.

Scope: structure, flow, state, sequence, hierarchy, comparison, quantity. If the
answer has no structure — a single fact, a yes/no — do NOT force a diagram. Say it.

1. **Identify what has structure.** Read the source if needed (`Read`/`Grep`/`Glob` a
   file, function, or directory). Find the entities and the relationships between them —
   that is what the diagram encodes.
2. **Match intent to format** (table below). One intent → one primary format. Do not mix
   three diagram types in one figure.
3. **Choose the render target.** Terminal/chat → ASCII. GitHub/PR/markdown viewer →
   mermaid is allowed. When unsure → ASCII (it renders everywhere).
4. **Draw it, then prune.** Apply the quality bar. Cut every element that carries no
   meaning.
5. **Add only the prose the picture cannot encode** — the _why_, a caveat, the next step.

| Intent                                | Format                             |
| ------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------- |
| Structure / architecture / layers     | ASCII box-drawing                  |
| File / module / type hierarchy        | Indented tree                      |
| Control flow / decisions / algorithm  | ASCII flowchart (boxes + arrows)   |
| State / lifecycle transitions         | ASCII state diagram                |
| Request path / call order             | Numbered sequence or `A → B → C`   |
| Options / trade-offs / feature matrix | Markdown table                     |
| Quantities / distribution / progress  | ASCII bars (`█████░░░`) or a table |

- MUST default to ASCII / Unicode box-drawing + Markdown tables. They render in the
  Claude Code terminal TUI, IDE panels, and GitHub.
- MUST use a ` ```mermaid ` block ONLY when output targets GitHub, a PR, or a markdown
  viewer. The terminal TUI does NOT render mermaid — it prints the raw source. Never
  make mermaid the sole representation in a terminal reply. When both terminal and
  GitHub are in play, lead with ASCII; offer mermaid as an addition if asked.
- SHOULD keep box-drawing characters consistent within one figure: `┌ ┐ └ ┘ ├ ┤ ┬ ┴ ┼ │ ─`
  for boxes, `→ ← ↑ ↓` for flow.

Badly built diagrams read as visual noise — worse than prose. Enforce:

- **Coherence** — exclude every element that does not carry meaning. Fewer nodes wins.
- **Spatial contiguity** — labels inside or directly beside what they label, never in a
  separate paragraph.
- **Size** — under ~15 nodes per figure. Bigger → split into layers or show the top
  level and drill down on request.
- **No redundancy** — do not restate in prose what the figure already shows.

For copy-ready ASCII shapes — architecture, tree, flowchart, state machine, sequence,
quantity bars — read `references/diagram-templates.md`.

## Source & license

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

- **Author:** [marcoskichel](https://github.com/marcoskichel)
- **Source:** [marcoskichel/empire](https://github.com/marcoskichel/empire)
- **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-marcoskichel-empire-visualize
- Seller: https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/marcoskichel
- 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%.