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Skill Reference

PAS Code is delivered with a set of skills for AI coding assistants. Every project that you create with pas new contains these skills, and your assistant uses them for the tasks of the PAS Code development workflow, from the specification of a change to the review of the result.

Where to Find the PAS Code Skills

The skills of PAS Code are part of the package @pas/dev-guidelines. After npm install, you find skills in your project in these locations:

Location

Content

node_modules/@pas/dev-guidelines/skills

The skills that PAS Code ships. Each skill has its own folder with a SKILL.md file.

.claude/skills or .agents/skills

The linked copies that your AI coding assistant reads. The folder depends on the assistant.

.pas/skills

The skills that you write for your own project.

Read the skills to see which procedure your assistant follows. Do not edit the linked copies.

For further details on skill availability, skill sources and how to link skills, refer to Working With Skills.

PAS Code Skills in the Development Workflow

The default development workflow of PAS Code is spec-driven development. It has three phases in a fixed order, and each phase ends with your explicit approval. The following table assigns the skills to the phases and to the steps around them:

Phase/Step

What Happens

Skills

Entire workflow

The skill runs the three phases in order and asks for your approval at the end of each phase.

pas-spec-driven-development

Specification

You and your assistant write the SPEC.md file that describes what the code must achieve.

pas-generate-specification

Code

Your assistant implements the approved specification.

  • pas-generate-code

  • pas-integrate-openapi

Code: Scaffolding

Your assistant creates a project, a service, an app, an agent, or a bundle deployment with the PAS CLI.

  • pas-generate-project

  • pas-generate-service

  • pas-generate-app

  • pas-generate-agent

  • pas-generate-bundle-deployment

Documentation

Your assistant writes the README.md and AGENTS.md files that describe how the code is used.

pas-generate-documentation

Local Setup and Start

Your assistant checks the Node.js and npm versions, installs the dependencies, and points you to pas start.

pas-project-startup

Review

Your assistant reviews the pending changes against the governing SPEC.md files and the PAS rules, and ends with a merge-readiness verdict.

pas-code-review

Commit and Push

Your assistant writes commit messages according to the PAS git rules and pushes a branch to an explicitly named destination.

pas-git

Keep the following points in mind:

  • pas-spec-driven-development calls pas-generate-specification, pas-generate-code, and pas-generate-documentation in their phases.

  • Each scaffolding skill requires an approved SPEC.md file before it runs a pas command. Scaffolding is therefore part of the code phase.

  • pas-integrate-openapi applies when the code concerns the OpenAPI documentation endpoint of a PAS NestJS service. pas-generate-code points to it.

  • Local setup and start, review, and commit and push are not phases of the workflow. Your assistant loads their skills when your request matches the skill description, for example when you ask to start the project, to review your changes, or to push your branch.

  • A push happens only when you ask for it.

Example

The skill pas-spec-driven-development carries the default development workflow of PAS Code. It shows the typical structure of a skill: a folder that is named like the skill, with a SKILL.md file and a reference folder.

pas-spec-driven-development/
  SKILL.md
  reference/
    workflow.md

The following excerpt shows the beginning of the SKILL.md file. The mark [...] replaces passages that are omitted here:

---
name: pas-spec-driven-development
description: Use for ANY request to add, extend, modify, refactor, rename, or clean up a feature in this monorepo — the default development workflow. The spec MUST be written and approved before any code. Load before pas-generate-code / any code-writing. Also applies in Plan Mode (first plan step = create/update SPEC.md).
---

# Spec-Driven Development

This skill drives feature work through a strict three-phase workflow —
**SPEC → CODE → DOCUMENTATION** — where each phase ends with an explicit user approval gate.

[...]

- **Step 1 (SPEC)** → `pas-generate-specification` (its `reference/specification-rules.md`).
- **Step 2 (CODE)** → `pas-generate-code` (its `reference/` topic files, indexed by its `SKILL.md`).
- **Step 3 (DOCUMENTATION)** → `pas-generate-documentation` (its `reference/documentation-rules.md`).

[...]

The parts of the skill have the following purpose:

Part

Content in This Skill

name in the front matter

pas-spec-driven-development. The name matches the name of the skill folder.

description in the front matter

The requests that select the skill: any request to add, extend, modify, refactor, rename, or clean up a feature. Your assistant compares your request with this text.

Body of SKILL.md

The procedure: the three phases, the skill that owns the rules of each phase, and the operating rules for your assistant.

reference/workflow.md

The complete workflow: the approval rules, every step, and the handling of your remarks. Your assistant reads this file when the skill applies.

When your assistant loads the skill, it behaves as follows:

  • It loads the skill before any feature work, including work that starts as a plan. A plan starts with the step to create or update the SPEC.md file.

  • It names the skill and the current step.

  • It calls the skill of each phase, so the rules of the phase are in context.

  • It never advances a phase without your explicit approval.

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