Getting started

Requirements: Node.js ≥ 18. Optional CLIs used on demand by skills: gh, az, npx playwright, npx axe.

1. Install

$ npm install developer-assistant-skills

Or clone the repo to work with the canonical library directly:

git clone https://github.com/deepakkamboj/developer-assistant-skills.git
cd developer-assistant-skills
node bin/cli.js validate      # sanity-check the skill/agent library

The canonical library lives under .developer/:

📁.developer/— canonical source of truth

📁skills/— 36 skills in 10 lifecycle groups

📁agents/— 20 critics & leads

📁config/— config.example.json + companions

📁mcp/— github · playwright · ado

📁scripts/— cli · traceability · gen-commands

📁docs/— design · skill-sources

2. Configure

The plugin reads one config.json, resolved from the DEVELOPER_CONFIG environment variable (fallback ~/.developer/config.json), plus prose companions content.md, memory.md, and notes.md.

mkdir -p ~/.developer
cp .developer/config/config.example.json  ~/.developer/config.json
cp .developer/config/content.example.md   ~/.developer/content.md
cp .developer/config/memory.example.md    ~/.developer/memory.md
cp .developer/config/notes.example.md     ~/.developer/notes.md
 
export DEVELOPER_CONFIG=~/.developer/config.json
# PowerShell: $env:DEVELOPER_CONFIG = "$HOME/.developer/config.json"

Set your profile, repos[] (provider github or ado), quality_gates, autonomy, toolchain, and test_environments. The plugin resolves configuration from these environment variables:

Variable	Required	Description	Example
DEVELOPER_CONFIG	Optional	Path to config.json. Falls back to ~/.developer/config.json when unset.	~/.developer/config.json
NEXT_PUBLIC_BASE_PATH	Optional	Base path for building this docs site for GitHub Pages.	/developer-assistant-skills
NPM_AUTH_TOKEN	Optional	CI-only secret used by the publish workflow to publish to npm.	(repo secret)

3. Invoke a skill

Claude Code

Commands live under the dev namespace (.claude/commands/dev/):

/dev:code-review
/dev:fix-bug            <issue or failing test>
/dev:a11y-scan          <url or component>
/dev:graph-repo         --query "who calls processOrder"
/dev:release-readiness

GitHub Copilot

Enable the chat.promptFiles setting, which loads .github/prompts/*.prompt.md:

/code-review
/fix-bug
/a11y-scan

Codex / any agent runner

Point the agent at .developer/AGENTS.md and reference a skill by path, e.g. .developer/skills/review/code-review/SKILL.md.

4. The CLI

node bin/cli.js list skills      # every skill (group/name)
node bin/cli.js list agents      # every agent (name · kind)
node bin/cli.js validate         # structural contract check
node bin/cli.js path fix-bug     # print a skill's SKILL.md path
node bin/cli.js doctor           # environment + config check

5. Traceability graph

node .developer/scripts/traceability.js --graph output/traceability/graph.json add-node --id REQ-1 --type Requirement
node .developer/scripts/traceability.js --graph output/traceability/graph.json add-edge --from REQ-1 --to TEST-1 --type tests
node .developer/scripts/traceability.js --graph output/traceability/graph.json impact  --node REQ-1
node .developer/scripts/traceability.js --graph output/traceability/graph.json orphans

6. Safety

Permission ladder: L0 read-only · L1 comment · L2 branch+draft-PR · L3 open PR · L4 scheduled. Merge stays human-owned.
Bounded repair: max_repair_attempts, a regression gate, and the independent repair-validator before any human merge.
Disabled by default: autonomous CI workflows are opt-in per repo via variables and only ever open draft PRs.

Architecture