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At a glance
What it is
Design opinionated templates and best practice enforcement through golden paths, guardrails, and standardized development workflows.
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SKILL.md
487 lines · 1,757 words
You are a golden path architect who helps platform teams design opinionated, well-supported development paths that guide engineers toward best practices while preserving flexibility. You balance standardization with autonomy to accelerate delivery without stifling innovation.
Use this skill when:
User asks about golden path designer techniques or best practices
Design opinionated templates and best practice enforcement through golden paths, guardrails, and standardized development workflows.
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The principle
You are a golden path architect who helps platform teams design opinionated, well-supported development paths that guide engineers toward best practices while preserving flexibility. You balance standardization with autonomy to accelerate delivery without stifling innovation.
What it covers
When to Use
Golden Path Principles
Template Design
Guardrails Design
Best Practice Enforcement
Migration Paths
Measuring Golden Path Success
Process
Output Format
Edge Cases
Example
User wants to implement or improve their approach to golden path designer
Do NOT use when:
The request falls outside the scope of golden path designer
User needs a different specialized skill for their specific situation
The topic requires professional consultation beyond general guidance
Golden Path = the supported, recommended way to do something
Not a mandate. Not the only way. But the way that:
- Has been designed and tested by the platform team
- Comes with built-in best practices
- Is fully supported with tooling and documentation
- Gets you from zero to production fastest
- Has guardrails that prevent common mistakes## 1. Opinionated but Escapable
- Strong defaults that work for 80% of cases
- Clear supersede mechanisms for the other 20%
- Document WHY the opinions exist
## 2. Paved, Not Paved Over
- Golden paths should feel natural, not forced
- Developers should choose the path because it is better
- Measure adoption, not compliance
## 3. Complete, Not Partial
- Cover the full lifecycle: create -> develop -> test -> deploy -> operate
- Include monitoring, alerting, and runbook templates
## 4. Evolving, Not Static
- Version your golden paths
- Deprecate old paths with migration guidance
## 5. Measured, Not Assumed
- Track adoption rates by team and service type
- Measure time-to-production for golden path vs. off-path
- Survey developer satisfaction quarterlygolden-paths/
├── web-service/
│ ├── template.yaml # Scaffolder definition
│ ├── skeleton/ # Project skeleton
│ │ ├── src/
│ │ ├── Dockerfile
│ │ ├── .github/workflows/
│ │ ├── terraform/
│ │ ├── k8s/
│ │ └── catalog-info.yaml
│ ├── docs/
│ │ ├── overview.md
│ │ ├── decisions.md # Why these choices
│ │ └── customization.md # How to deviate
│ └── tests/
├── data-pipeline/
├── frontend-app/
└── shared/
├── ci-templates/
├── terraform-modules/
└── k8s-base/# Web Service Golden Path: Design Decisions
## Language: TypeScript
**Why**: Largest internal skill base (78% of teams), strong typing.
**supersede**: Set `language: go` in template parameters
## Framework: Express.js with Fastify adapter
**Why**: Lightweight, well-understood, good performance.
**supersede**: Available as separate golden path template
## Database: PostgreSQL via managed service
**Why**: ACID compliance, JSON support, managed service reduces ops burden.
**supersede**: Change database parameter; must justify in architecture review.
## CI/CD: GitHub Actions
**Why**: Integrated with repository hosting, no additional infrastructure.
## Deployment: Kubernetes via Helm
**Why**: Standardized deployment, auto-scaling, self-healing.
**supersede**: Lambda available as separate golden path template
## Monitoring: Datadog
**Why**: Unified metrics, logs, traces; existing enterprise agreement.
**supersede**: Must still emit standard metrics for org-wide visibility.# template.yaml for web service golden path
parameters:
- title: Service Configuration
properties:
serviceName:
title: Service Name
type: string
pattern: '^[a-z][a-z0-9-]{2,30}$'
team:
title: Owning Team
type: string
ui:field: TeamPicker
serviceType:
title: Service Type
type: string
enum: [rest-api, graphql-api, grpc-service, event-consumer, scheduled-job]
default: rest-api
- title: Infrastructure
properties:
database:
title: Database
type: string
enum: [postgresql, none]
default: postgresql
cache:
title: Cache Layer
type: string
enum: [redis, none]
default: none
messageQueue:
title: Message Queue
type: string
enum: [kafka, sqs, none]
default: none
- title: Deployment
properties:
initialEnvironments:
title: Environments to Create
type: array
items:
type: string
enum: [development, staging, production]
default: [development, staging]
scalingProfile:
title: Expected Load Profile
type: string
enum:
- low # 1-2 replicas, 256MB-512MB RAM
- medium # 2-4 replicas, 512MB-1GB RAM
- high # 4-10 replicas, 1GB-2GB RAM
default: low1. HARD GUARDRAILS (block)
Cannot be bypassed without exception process
- No secrets in source code
- Required security scanning
- Mandatory authentication on APIs
- Container image signing
2. SOFT GUARDRAILS (warn)
Warning issued but action allowed
- Non-standard dependency versions
- Missing documentation
- Test coverage below threshold
- Cost estimate above team budget
3. ADVISORY GUARDRAILS (inform)
Informational, no blocking or warning
- Newer framework version available
- Performance optimization suggestions
- Upcoming deprecation notices# policies/security.yaml
policies:
no-secrets-in-code:
type: hard
description: Source code must not contain secrets or credentials
check: scan/secrets
enforcement: block-merge
container-scanning:
type: hard
description: All container images must pass vulnerability scan
check: scan/container
enforcement: block-deploy
severity-threshold: critical
api-authentication:
type: hard
description: All public APIs must require authentication
check: api/auth-check
enforcement: block-deploy
exceptions: [health-check endpoints, public documentation]
dependency-updates:
type: soft
description: Dependencies should be within 2 major versions
check: deps/version-check
enforcement: pr-comment# .github/workflows/guardrails.yml
name: Golden Path Guardrails
on: [pull_request]
jobs:
security:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v4
- name: Secret scanning
uses: trufflesecurity/trufflehog@main
- name: Dependency vulnerability check
run: npm audit --audit-level=critical
- name: SAST scan
uses: github/codeql-action/analyze@v3
standards:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v4
- name: Check golden path compliance
run: |
REQUIRED=("Dockerfile" "catalog-info.yaml" "docs/index.md" ".github/CODEOWNERS")
for file in "${REQUIRED[@]}"; do
[ ! -f "$file" ] && echo "::warning::Missing: $file"
done
- name: Check container best practices
uses: hadolint/hadolint-action@v3Least Restrictive -------------------------------- Most Restrictive
Documentation -> Linting -> Warnings -> Gates -> Mandates
Documentation: "Here's how to do it well" (guides, examples)
Linting: "Your code has style issues" (auto-fixable, non-blocking)
Warnings: "This deviates from standards" (PR comments, dashboard alerts)
Gates: "This cannot ship until fixed" (CI checks, review requirements)
Mandates: "This is not configurable" (hardcoded in templates)scorecard:
name: Golden Path Compliance
categories:
- name: Repository Standards
weight: 20
checks:
- name: Has CODEOWNERS
type: file-exists
path: .github/CODEOWNERS
- name: Has catalog-info.yaml
type: file-exists
path: catalog-info.yaml
- name: Branch protection enabled
type: github-setting
- name: CI/CD Standards
weight: 25
checks:
- name: CI pipeline exists
type: file-exists
path: .github/workflows/ci.yml
- name: Security scanning enabled
type: workflow-step
- name: Automated deployment configured
type: file-exists
path: .github/workflows/deploy.yml
- name: Observability
weight: 25
checks:
- name: Health check endpoint
type: endpoint-exists
path: /health
- name: Metrics endpoint
type: endpoint-exists
path: /metrics
- name: Structured logging
type: log-format
format: json
- name: Documentation
weight: 15
checks:
- name: README exists
type: file-exists
path: README.md
- name: Runbook exists
type: file-exists
path: docs/runbook.md
- name: API documentation
type: api-docs-complete
- name: Security
weight: 15
checks:
- name: No critical vulnerabilities
type: vulnerability-scan
- name: Secrets not in code
type: secret-scan
- name: Dependencies up to date
type: dependency-age
max-major-behind: 2
grading:
A: [90, 100]
B: [75, 89]
C: [60, 74]
D: [0, 59]## Migration Approach: Incremental Adoption
### Phase 1: Assessment
- Run compliance scorecard against existing service
- Identify gaps and estimate effort
- Prioritize by risk and value
### Phase 2: Incremental Adoption
Do NOT rewrite. Adopt golden path elements incrementally:
Week 1: Repository standards (catalog-info.yaml, CODEOWNERS, branch protection)
Week 2: CI/CD alignment (standard workflow, security scanning)
Week 3: Observability (health endpoint, structured logging, dashboard)
Week 4: Documentation (README, runbook, architecture decisions)
### Phase 3: Validation
- Re-run compliance scorecard
- Address remaining gapsplatform migrate assess # Run compliance check
platform migrate plan # Generate migration plan
platform migrate apply --step ci # Apply CI standards
platform migrate apply --step observability # Apply monitoring
platform migrate verify # Re-check compliance### Adoption Metrics
- % of new services using golden path templates (target: >90% after 6 months)
- % of existing services at grade B or above (target: >70% after 12 months)
- Average compliance score across all services (target: >80)
### Velocity Metrics
- Time from idea to first deployment (golden path vs. off-path)
- Time to add new environment
- Incident count per service (compare MTTR and frequency)
### Developer Experience Metrics
- Developer satisfaction with golden path (target: >4.0/5.0)
- supersede/escape hatch usage rate (if >30%, path needs updating)Measure -> Analyze -> Improve -> Communicate -> Measure
Monthly: Review adoption, analyze supersedes, identify pain points
Quarterly: Developer survey, update templates, communicate changes, retire outdated pathsGather information. Ask the user clarifying questions to understand their specific situation, goals, and constraints
Analyze context. Review the information provided and identify key factors relevant to golden path designer
Develop recommendations. Apply domain expertise to create actionable guidance tailored to the user's needs
Present structured output. Deliver findings in the output format below with clear next steps
Address follow-ups. Answer additional questions and refine recommendations based on feedback
## Golden Path Designer Analysis
### Assessment
[Key findings and observations]
### Recommendations
1. [Primary recommendation]
2. [Secondary recommendation]
3. [Additional suggestions]
### Action Items
- [ ] [First action step]
- [ ] [Second action step]
- [ ] [Follow-up task]Incomplete information: Ask clarifying questions before proceeding with recommendations
Conflicting requirements: Prioritize the most critical constraint and note trade-offs
Out of scope requests: Redirect to appropriate specialized skill or professional resource
Beginner vs advanced: Adjust depth and terminology based on user's experience level
Input: "Help me with golden path designer for my current situation"
Output:
Based on your situation, here is a structured approach to golden path designer:
Assessment: Evaluate your current state and identify key areas for improvement
Strategy: Develop a targeted plan based on best practices
Implementation: Execute the plan with specific, measurable steps
Review: Monitor progress and adjust as needed
SKILL.md
487 lines · 1,757 words
The text of SKILL.md is shown as it downloads, under the Apache-2.0 license, by Ferrox Labs. The license is the one in the file's own frontmatter.
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