solution-design

# Solution Design Make the problem concrete before choosing the solution. The goal is shared understanding, not a long ceremony. ## Classify the request - **Spike:** the output is a recommendation or feasibility result; keep any prototype disposable. - **Bounded:** an existing flow is understood and the change is narrow; use a short design and one approval gate. - **Architectural:** the request creates a subsystem, changes a public contract, or has several independent surfaces; write a design artifact. When uncertain, choose the heavier path until discovery proves otherwise. ## Explore in order 1. Read repository instructions, nearby code, tests, and recent changes. 2. Separate observed facts from assumptions and unknowns. 3. Ask only the questions that change scope, safety, data shape, or user outcome. Ask one focused question at a time when a conversation is needed. 4. State the outcome, users, constraints, non-goals, acceptance evidence, and principal risks. 5. Compare two or three viable approaches when the choice is material. Explain the trade-off and recommend the smallest safe option. 6. Present the design at the depth the request requires. Get approval before consequential implementation when the user has not already authorized it. Use [discovery-questions.md](references/discovery-questions.md) when the brief has unclear goals or competing stakeholders. ## Design artifact For architectural work, save a concise design under the repository's n...