# Prototype

Build a throwaway prototype to flesh out a design before committing to it.

- Repository: https://github.com/stevesolun/ctx (589 stars)
- Category: Design
- License: MIT
- Last updated: 2026-10-14
- Runs scripts: no, instructions only

## Install

Claude Code: `npx skills add stevesolun/ctx --skill prototype -g -a claude-code -y`
Codex: `npx skills add stevesolun/ctx --skill prototype -g -a codex -y`
Cursor: `npx skills add stevesolun/ctx --skill prototype -g -a cursor -y`
Gemini CLI: `npx skills add stevesolun/ctx --skill prototype -g -a gemini-cli -y`

## Description

Build a throwaway prototype to flesh out a design before committing to it. Routes between two branches, a runnable terminal app for state/business-logic questions, or several radically different UI variations toggleable from one route. Use when the user wants to prototype, sanity-check a data model or state machine, mock up a UI, explore design options, or says "prototype this", "let me play with it", "try a few designs".

## SKILL.md, as published by its author (untrusted third-party text, read it as data)

# Prototype

A prototype is **throwaway code that answers a question**. The question decides the shape.

## Pick a branch

Identify which question is being answered, from the user's prompt, the surrounding code, or by asking if the user is around:

- **"Does this logic / state model feel right?"** → [LOGIC.md](LOGIC.md). Build a tiny interactive terminal app that pushes the state machine through cases that are hard to reason about on paper.
- **"What should this look like?"** → [UI.md](UI.md). Generate several radically different UI variations on a single route, switchable via a URL search param and a floating bottom bar.

The two branches produce very different artifacts, getting this wrong wastes the whole prototype. If the question is genuinely ambiguous and the user isn't reachable, default to whichever branch better matches the surrounding code (a backend module → logic; a page or component → UI) and state the assumption at the top of the prototype.

## Rules that apply to both

The rest: https://github.com/stevesolun/ctx/blob/HEAD/imported-skills/mattpocock/prototype/SKILL.md