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EGM Goldfish Design Review

Runs a five-phase AI review of a design document using separate reviewer subagents

Source Download skill
Repository
google/elephant-goldfish-model
Stars
9,965
Licence
Apache-2.0
Files
2 files

What it does

When installed, this skill tells an AI agent (such as Claude Code) to review a design document in five phases: an initial high-level check, a comprehension check, a critical design critique, an intermediate high-level check, and an implementation readiness check. The agent spawns separate subagents, each defined by a persona file, and asks them to review the document in a fresh context with no prior conversation. The agent writes reports to files, asks the user for choices through chat prompts, and is told to stress-test the document and avoid flattery.

Great for

  • Teams using the EGM Goldfish design process who want a structured review of a design document
  • Developers who want a second, adversarial read of a design before implementation
  • People who already know the EGM protocol and its persona files

Skip it if

  • Anyone without the EGM repository files: the skill points to other docs and persona files that are not included here, so it will not run on its own
  • Quick informal feedback: the protocol spawns multiple subagents and writes several reports, which takes time and uses significant model tokens
  • Environments without a subagent tool: the skill says to stop in that case rather than run a single-context review

Try asking

  • “Review my design doc at docs/feature-plan.md using the EGM Goldfish review protocol”
  • “Run the interactive EGM review on this design document and ask me which stage to run”
  • “Start an implementation readiness review of my spec at designs/payments.md”
Step-by-step guide: how to use EGM Goldfish Design ReviewInstall, first run, examples, tips and FAQs

Install in 3 steps

  1. 1

    Download the skill

    The ZIP contains the 2 original files, the Apache-2.0 licence and an attribution note.

    egm-review.zip
  2. 2

    Add it to your agent

    Claude Code (all projects)

    mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && unzip egm-review.zip -d ~/.claude/skills/

    Claude Code / Agent SDK (this project only)

    mkdir -p .claude/skills && unzip egm-review.zip -d .claude/skills/

    Claude apps (web/desktop): Settings → Capabilities → Skills → Upload skill, and choose the ZIP.

  3. 3

    Ask for the task

    No special command needed — the agent reads the skill's description and loads it when your request matches. Try one of the prompts above.

Get better results

  • Clone the full google/elephant-goldfish-model repository so the linked persona and doc files exist before invoking the skill
  • Pass the Step parameter (for example interactive or a stage number) to skip the preset menu when you already know which stages you want
  • Read the generated report files rather than relying on the chat summary, since the skill is designed to write reports to files

What's inside

  • agents/openai.yaml
  • SKILL.md

Redistributed unmodified from google/elephant-goldfish-model under the Apache-2.0 licence. The assessment was drafted with AI from the skill's files on 2026-11-02. Skills can instruct your agent to run code — read SKILL.md and any scripts before installing.