# System Design

Design systems, services, and architectures.

- Repository: https://github.com/TencentCloud/Octop (11420 stars)
- Category: Design
- License: MIT
- Last updated: 2026-11-01
- Runs scripts: no, instructions only

## Install

Claude Code: `npx skills add TencentCloud/Octop --skill system-design -g -a claude-code -y`
Codex: `npx skills add TencentCloud/Octop --skill system-design -g -a codex -y`
Cursor: `npx skills add TencentCloud/Octop --skill system-design -g -a cursor -y`
Gemini CLI: `npx skills add TencentCloud/Octop --skill system-design -g -a gemini-cli -y`

## Description

Design systems, services, and architectures. Trigger with "design a system for", "how should we architect", "system design for", "what's the right architecture for", or when the user needs help with API design, data modeling, or service boundaries.

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

# System Design

Help design systems and evaluate architectural decisions.

## Framework

### 1. Requirements Gathering
- Functional requirements (what it does)
- Non-functional requirements (scale, latency, availability, cost)
- Constraints (team size, timeline, existing tech stack)

### 2. High-Level Design
- Component diagram
- Data flow
- API contracts
- Storage choices

### 3. Deep Dive
- Data model design
- API endpoint design (REST, GraphQL, gRPC)
- Caching strategy
- Queue/event design
- Error handling and retry logic

### 4. Scale and Reliability
- Load estimation
- Horizontal vs. vertical scaling
- Failover and redundancy
- Monitoring and alerting

### 5. Trade-off Analysis
- Every decision has trade-offs. Make them explicit.
- Consider: complexity, cost, team familiarity, time to market, maintainability

## Output

Produce clear, structured design documents with diagrams (ASCII or described), explicit assumptions, and trade-off analysis. Always identify what you'd revisit as the system grows.