consort

System-level engineering canon, the architecture counterpart to software-design-principles. Layered architecture + dependency direction, ports and adapters (repository / ORM-as-adapter), the twelve-factor app for cloud-native development, evolutionary architecture with fitness functions, and evolutionary database design (schema that evolves by migration on paired branches). Imported by workflow skills (consort, lakebase-scm-workflows). Use when: shaping a system boundary, deciding what is a backing service, mapping config to the environment, or authoring the fitness functions that keep the architecture honest as it evolves.

Consort, a spec-first, test-driven agent framework for Lakebase-paired projects: a deterministic orchestrator drives role agents through a spec-first design lane (Spec Driven Development) and a Test Driven Development build lane (RED-GREEN-REFACTOR) that runs against a live copy-on-write branch of a real, governed Lakebase database, composed with paired-branch primitives (cheap experiments, parent-aware schema diff, real per-branch databases). The controls are code the agent cannot edit: gates fail closed, tests are immutable within a unit of work, and a green result is a real test run against real data. Spec-first means the spec is drafted, reviewed, and frozen at gates before any build cycle runs; the spec, the architecture, and the database all evolve increment over increment. Use when planning a new feature, running design-spec gates, running TDD cycles, comparing parallel experiments, or detecting build bad smells. Imports software-design-principles canon. Builds on lakebase-scm-workflows.

Foundational engineering canon – SOLID, DRY, clean code, layered architecture, cross-cutting concerns, NFRs. Imported by workflow skills (consort, lakebase-scm-workflows). Use when designing a module, reviewing a PR, planning a refactor, mapping cross-cutting concerns to layers, or arguing about API shape.

Experience-level engineering canon, the UI/UX counterpart to software-design-principles (code-level) and architectural-design-principles (system-level). Usability heuristics, visual hierarchy, accessibility, interaction and feedback, information architecture, design systems and tokens, and testable UI. Imported by the consort UX Designer (authoring design-guide.{md,json} + ia.md and the adherence gate) and by the Driver building UI. Use when: shaping a design guide or information architecture, reviewing a user-facing surface, choosing a UI framework, or making the UI testable.