Guide · Agent skill
How to use the Technical Spike Document Creator agent skill
Updated · written with AI from the project's own documentation and checked against our catalogue data
The create-technical-spike skill lets an AI agent turn an open technical question, such as which API to integrate or whether a design will scale, into a structured Markdown spike document. It is written for developers and tech leads who want risky decisions researched and recorded before implementation starts. After this guide you will know what an agent skill is, how to install this one, how to ask for a spike in plain language, and what to check before trusting the output.
Technical Spike Document Creatorgithub/awesome-copilot · MIT Download the skill Quick start
- 1Download the ZIP. Download the skill ZIP from this page and unzip it to get the create-technical-spike folder.
- 2Choose where to install. Place the folder in ~/.claude/skills/ for all projects, or in a project's .claude/skills/ folder for one project.
- 3Or upload in the Claude apps. In the Claude apps, open Settings, go to Capabilities, and upload the skill under Skills.
- 4Describe the open decision. Ask the agent for a spike on a specific technical question, naming the area of the system.
- 5Set a timebox and deadline. Include a time limit and when the decision is needed, since the template has fields for both.
- 6Review the spike file. Check the research question, tasks and success criteria in the generated Markdown file before research begins.
- 7Confirm the recommendation. Read the findings and recommendation, and have the team check the evidence before building.
What is an agent skill?
An agent skill is a folder containing a SKILL.md file. The file holds instructions that an AI agent reads when a request matches the skill's description, so the agent follows a specific workflow instead of improvising. This skill's SKILL.md is the only file listed for it.
What does the skill make the agent do?
When the skill is active, the agent creates one spike document per open question, saved in a docs/spikes folder by default. Each file uses a fixed template with a YAML header (title, category, status, priority, timebox, owner, tags) followed by sections for the summary, research questions, investigation plan, technical context, research findings, and decision.
The skill also tells the agent how to research. It suggests searching existing documentation with search and fetch tools, analysing the codebase for existing patterns and constraints, and then writing the results back into the file. The goal is a written decision before any building starts.
- Summary with objective, why it matters, timebox and decision deadline
- Primary and secondary research questions
- Research tasks and success criteria as checklists
- Technical context: related components, dependencies, constraints
- Findings, prototype notes and external resources
- Recommendation, rationale, implementation notes and follow-up actions
- Status history table with Not Started, In Progress and Complete states
How do you install the skill?
Download the ZIP file from this page and unzip it. You can install the skill in one of two ways.
For Claude Code, place the unzipped create-technical-spike folder in ~/.claude/skills/ to make it available everywhere, or in a project's .claude/skills/ folder to limit it to that project.
In the Claude apps, open Settings, go to Capabilities, and upload the skill under Skills.
~/.claude/skills/create-technical-spike/How do you trigger the skill with a natural request?
You do not need a special command. Describe the open decision and ask for a spike document, and make clear you want it written down. The skill's file naming convention suggests a category-first name, so requests that name the topic work well.
Good requests name the question, the area of the system, and any time limit you want. For example: create a spike on whether our service should use WebSockets or polling for live updates, timeboxed to three days, and save it to docs/spikes.
- Create a technical spike on whether our billing API client can handle the vendor's rate limits.
- Write a spike document for choosing between a monolith and separate services for the reporting module, one week timebox.
- Make a spike on the performance of our real-time audio processing pipeline and record the findings.
What does the skill need to run?
The skill needs a Markdown-capable agent environment that can create files in your repository. Search and fetch tools are optional but useful, because the research strategy relies on them for online documentation. The skill does not run scripts and does not use the network itself; any web lookups depend on the search and fetch tools your agent has access to.
Safety notes: scripts and network
According to the skill's listing, it runs no scripts and uses no network. Its instructions do mention running prototypes and validation tests, and the tools list includes runTasks and vscodeAPI, so the agent may execute code when it builds a proof of concept. Review any prototype code the agent writes before running it, and check which tools your agent environment allows it to use.
Tips for getting useful spikes
Ask one question per spike. The skill's own guidance is that each document should focus on a single decision. Give a timebox and a decision deadline, because the template expects both. Review the success criteria before the agent starts researching, and treat the recommendation as a draft until someone on the team has checked the evidence.
- Keep one question per file and use the suggested naming pattern, such as api-copilot-chat-integration-spike.md
- Ask the agent to link related spikes under dependencies
- Have the agent update the status history as work moves from not started to complete
What people use it for
- Deciding whether a third-party API supports the rate limits and authentication your service needs
- Testing whether a system design such as a voice processing pipeline can meet a latency target
- Comparing architecture options for a module before the team commits to one
- Recording security or compliance constraints that affect how a feature is built
- Creating a written decision record that other developers can read later
Frequently asked questions
How do I install the create-technical-spike skill?
Download the ZIP from this page and unzip it. For Claude Code, put the create-technical-spike folder in ~/.claude/skills/ or in a project's .claude/skills/ folder. In the Claude apps, go to Settings, then Capabilities, and upload it under Skills.
Is the create-technical-spike skill free?
The skill is released under the MIT licence, according to its listing. Check the repository's licence file for the full terms.
What do I need to use this skill?
You need a Markdown-capable agent environment that can create files in your repository. Search and fetch tools are optional but help with online research.
Does the skill run scripts or use the internet?
The listing says it runs no scripts and uses no network. The agent may still run prototypes or use search and fetch tools if your environment provides them, so review what it executes.
Who is this skill not for?
It is heavyweight for simple questions that do not need a written decision record. It also assumes knowledge of software architecture and development workflows, so non-technical users will find the output hard to use.
How is this different from just asking an agent to research something?
A plain request might return a chat answer that disappears. This skill makes the agent save a structured Markdown file with a timebox, success criteria, findings and a recommendation, which the team can keep in the repository.
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Our verdict
Use this skill if you are a developer or tech lead who wants risky technical decisions researched and written down in a consistent Markdown template inside your repository. Skip it for quick questions, or if you do not work with software architecture, since the template will feel heavy and the output will assume that background.
Download the skill