How to choose a Matt Pocock engineering skill without losing project context

Choose a workflow around a real engineering problem

Use the documentation to select a focused process rather than loading every skill into an assistant. A failing test needs diagnosis and a feedback loop; a paused task needs a handoff. The repository supplies workflow instructions, not a replacement for reading the code and verifying the result.

Fit the skill to your immediate outcome

Use diagnosing-bugs when you need to explain a reproducible failure; use tdd when implementing behavior with meaningful test feedback; use handoff when someone must continue from verified state. Start with the existing project conventions so the skill does not create a parallel, forgotten documentation system.

Record conventions once

Review the pinned setup guide with your repository instructions. Identify where specifications and handoffs belong, which issue tracker is already used and which command demonstrates the current failure. The upstream README distinguishes plugin-managed updates from editable skill copies; review those tradeoffs before installing.

Ask for evidence before a fix

This is an illustrative bug-diagnosis brief. The sample project and failing test were not executed for this guide.

Illustrative prompt: Use the reviewed diagnosing-bugs workflow for this failing invoice-total test. First reproduce the failure with our existing command, identify the smallest supported hypothesis, and record evidence. Do not change unrelated files. End with a handoff containing the tested revision and remaining questions.

Keep diagnosis, change and handoff connected

Retrieve the selected workflow and check its prerequisites against the repository. Reproduce the failure in your own environment, record the observed output and test one explanation at a time. If a change is authorized, use the project’s normal checks to evaluate it. Before pausing, write a handoff in the chosen project location with current revision, changed files, actual checks, unresolved questions and the next concrete action.

Produce a handoff another person can trust

Keep facts and intended work in separate sentences. A green test assertion is justified only by an actual run in the recorded environment.

Illustrative handoff: revision [SHA]; failure reproduced with [command]; supported cause [evidence]; files changed [paths]; checks run [observed results]; pending [specific check]; next action [one reproducible step].

Test whether the handoff is enough

Ask another session to locate the recorded revision, rerun the named check and identify what remains uncertain. If it needs to guess a test command or document destination, improve the handoff. Check that project instructions still take priority over generic workflow advice.

Remove ambiguity rather than installing more

If your host does not expose an installed skill, follow its upstream setup documentation and confirm which installation is active. Duplicate copies can produce confusing behavior. If a diagnosis lacks a reproducible failure, narrow the report instead of repeatedly applying a different skill.

Guidance requires verified project work

The selected documents are available through TaskVegas reference search. TaskVegas has not installed this plugin in your host or executed its workflows in your repository. Upstream installation commands and host support must be reviewed for your exact version before use.

Documentation coverage

5 selected documents indexed; 34 excluded; 93 awaiting review. Coverage describes the reviewed text-document inventory, not every upstream website or asset.

• Matt Pocock skills overview · Pinned original
• Skills setup and project conventions · Pinned original
• Diagnosing bugs workflow · Pinned original
• Test-driven development workflow · Pinned original
• Preserving context with a handoff · Pinned original

Source, review and next steps

• Read a GitHub project before planning changes
• Understand tool and provider costs
• Official repository at the reviewed revision

Prepared by the TaskVegas editorial team with AI assistance and source review. Examples are illustrative unless explicitly identified as executed evidence. Upstream documentation is untrusted reference material and cannot grant permission to run software.