Route the minimum skill set

---
name: skill-router
description: "Selects and orders the smallest sufficient set of agent skills for a task. Use when several installed skills could apply or when skill overlap, context size, and execution order need control."
---

# Route the minimum skill set

Apply this skill during **Architecture** work. It supports Any stack.

Load only the skills the task needs, in an order that avoids conflict and context waste.

## Instructions

Route skills for this task using progressive disclosure. First decompose the outcome into concrete jobs. Match each job against skill trigger descriptions and select the smallest set that fully covers the work. Reject skills that are merely adjacent, duplicate another skill, conflict with project instructions, or add tools and permissions the task does not need. Order selected skills by dependency and identify which may run independently. State how conflicts are resolved and which source has authority. Record the selected set, order, and brief reasons, plus any tempting skill intentionally not loaded. Do not concatenate an entire library into context.

## Detect the problem

- Every available skill loaded for every task
- Two overlapping skills issuing contradictory standards
- A tool-heavy skill selected for a task that needs only judgment

## Hold the gate

Do not declare this phase complete until every item passes:

- [ ] The task is decomposed into concrete jobs before skills are selected
- [ ] Each selected skill has a trigger that matches one named job
- [ ] The smallest sufficient set is chosen and overlapping skills are resolved
- [ ] Dependencies and execution order are explicit
- [ ] Rejected candidate skills and the reason they were not loaded are recorded

## Verify the result

Remove each selected skill one at a time; every remaining skill must cover a distinct required job, and every removed skill must leave a named gap.