Time-boxed technical spikes: resolve decisions before building
Create time-boxed technical spike documents for researching critical decisions before implementation — research questions, investigation plans, success criteria, evidence-based recommendations
- What
- Create time-boxed technical spike documents for researching critical decisions before implementation — research questions, investigation plans, success criteria, evidence-based recommendations
- Cost
- Free
- Needs
- a critical technical decision to research — the skill is a document template and methodology the agent follows, not software to install
- Install
- Copy the installer prompt below into your Muse — your agent does the rest.
Curated by Skill Harbor — @github's skill for creating time-boxed technical spike documents that resolve critical decisions before implementation: one question per spike, with a full document template — Summary (spike objective, why it matters, timebox, decision deadline), Research Questions (primary + secondary), Investigation Plan (research tasks with a checklist, success criteria: the spike is complete only when a clear recommendation is documented and a proof of concept completed where applicable), Technical Context (related components, dependencies on other spikes/decisions, constraints), Research Findings (investigation results, prototype/testing notes, external resources), Decision (recommendation, rationale, implementation notes, follow-up actions), and Status History (🔴 Not Started → 🟡 In Progress → 🟢 Complete). File naming `[category]-[short-description]-spike.md` in a spikes directory; categories covered (API integration, architecture & design, performance & scalability, platform & infrastructure, security & compliance, UX); agent best practices (evidence-based decisions, clear recommendations, dependency tracking, outcome-focused — every spike must end in an actionable decision); and a 3-phase research strategy (gather → validate → decide). Honest caveats: methodology and template only — the agent still has to run the actual research; the tool references (search, fetch, codebase, runTasks, editFiles, vscodeAPI) are Copilot-agent conventions — adapt them to your own agent's tools. MIT licensed. Skill Harbor never reviews the code, review it yourself before use. Discovered via skills.sh.
Version:
Install
Prerequisites: a critical technical decision to research — the skill is a document template and methodology the agent follows, not software to install Install "Time-boxed technical spikes: resolve decisions before building" for me. It gives my agent @github's technical-spike workflow: one question per spike; the full document template (Summary with objective/timebox/decision deadline, Research Questions, Investigation Plan with success criteria, Technical Context, Research Findings, Decision with recommendation and rationale, Status History); file naming [category]-[short-description]-spike.md; categories (API integration, architecture, performance, platform, security, UX); agent best practices (evidence-based, outcome-focused, one spike per question); and the 3-phase research strategy (gather → validate → decide). MIT-licensed. Repository: https://github.com/github/awesome-copilot/blob/main/skills/create-technical-spike/SKILL.md 1. Fetch the SKILL.md file (and any helper files) from the repository path into a temporary folder and summarize what it does in one or two sentences. 2. Safety check: review the SKILL.md and scripts for anything suspicious (unexpected network calls, shell commands, credential harvesting). This repo should contain zero secrets in code, credentials only via the secure vault, allowed hosts declared in the SKILL.md. Verify that holds here; STOP on any red flag and tell me. 3. Install it as a skill: copy SKILL.md and its helper files into the agent's skills directory, in a folder named "create-technical-spike". 4. Verify with no network calls: frontmatter valid, files in place. 5. Report what was installed, where, and what I still need to do myself (e.g. hand the agent the technical decision to research, the category, and the timebox; adapt the Copilot-agent tool references to your own agent's tools). GitHub is optional: if I have a GitHub account or the gh CLI, you may use it; otherwise public access is fine. Never require it unless it's in the prerequisites above. Rules: don't touch anything outside the temp folder and the install target. If anything looks off, stop and ask me.
Questions
How do I install a build?
Every product page includes a copy-paste install prompt. Paste it into your Muse and it sets the build up for you — no manual configuration.
Where does my money go?
Straight to the seller. Skill Harbor never processes payments: checkout happens on the seller’s own page, usually Stripe.
What does the ✓ next to a creator’s name mean?
It means we confirmed the identity of the person behind the listing. It says nothing about the code itself — always check a build before installing it.