{"slug": "iluvatar-classifies-an-app-idea-into-cs-terms-before-any-tech-gets-named", "title": "Iluvatar – classifies an app idea into CS terms before any tech gets named", "summary": "RudVlad473 released iluvatar, a Claude Code skill that classifies an app idea into computer-science terms before any technology is named, emitting a schema-validated HIGH-LEVEL-ARCHITECTURE.md file that names archetypes and cross-cutting concerns but never a specific tool. The skill runs a 15-point classification pass covering state, failure, concurrency, and compliance, and requires Python 3.9+ with no pip installs. It is designed to complement Matt Pocock's grill-with-docs skill, which pressure-tests the idea first.", "body_md": "*Conceives the world before anything is built.*\n\nAsk an AI agent to architect your app and it names a tech stack before it's named the problem — Postgres, Redis, and a queue appear before anyone's asked what happens when two writes race, or what the app does when the network is down.\n\niluvatar is a Claude Code skill that forces the boring questions first.\nGive it a one-sentence app idea and it runs a 15-point classification\npass — state, failure, concurrency, compliance, the stuff that gets\nskipped — and emits `HIGH-LEVEL-ARCHITECTURE.md`\n\n: a frozen,\nschema-validated contract that names archetypes and cross-cutting\nconcerns but never a single technology. No tool gets picked until the\nshape is settled.\n\nIn Tolkien's legendarium, Ilúvatar conceives Middle-earth in thought, complete, before the Ainur ever sing it into being. That's the whole pitch: architecture before creation, not architecture as an afterthought to \"which framework.\"\n\n**As a Claude Code plugin:**\n\n```\n/plugin marketplace add RudVlad473/iluvatar\n/plugin install iluvatar@RudVlad473\n```\n\n**Or copy it directly** — works anywhere, no plugin system required.\nRequires Python 3.9+ on PATH (stdlib only, nothing to `pip install`\n\n).\n\n```\ngit clone https://github.com/RudVlad473/iluvatar\nmkdir -p ~/.claude/skills\ncp -r iluvatar/skills/iluvatar ~/.claude/skills/          # available in every project\n```\n\nOr scoped to one project only:\n\n```\ngit clone https://github.com/RudVlad473/iluvatar\nmkdir -p /path/to/your/project/.claude/skills\ncp -r iluvatar/skills/iluvatar /path/to/your/project/.claude/skills/\n```\n\nOn Windows (PowerShell):\n\n```\ngit clone https://github.com/RudVlad473/iluvatar\nNew-Item -ItemType Directory -Force -Path \"$HOME\\.claude\\skills\"\nCopy-Item -Recurse iluvatar\\skills\\iluvatar $HOME\\.claude\\skills\\\n```\n\nThen just describe your app idea, or say \"run iluvatar.\"\n\niluvatar classifies whatever idea you hand it — it doesn't sharpen a\nvague one first. Best served after Matt Pocock's\n[ grill-with-docs](https://github.com/mattpocock/skills): a relentless\ninterview that pressure-tests the idea and produces docs (ADRs, a\nglossary) as it goes, so iluvatar has something more complete to\nclassify by the time it runs.\n\n```\n/plugin marketplace add mattpocock/skills\n/plugin install mattpocock-skills@mattpocock\n```\n\nGive it: *\"Paste a URL, get a clean readable version saved for later,\nwith a weekly email digest of what I haven't read yet. I want to\nself-host it on one small server. No browser extension or mobile app for\nnow.\"*\n\niluvatar returns `HIGH-LEVEL-ARCHITECTURE.md`\n\n, classifying it as\n`etl-pipeline`\n\n+ `crud-service`\n\n+ `background-jobs`\n\n, deriving a 10-stage\nflow spine across write, read, and scheduled paths, and running real\nnumbers instead of adjectives:\n\n```\narchetypes: [etl-pipeline, crud-service, background-jobs]\nprimary_artifact: a saved article (URL in, extracted text stored)\nbudget_notes: \"~7 saves/day, ~639MB total storage over a 5-year\n  retention window (botec.py), single self-hosted server...\"\n```\n\n...and a flow spine that starts:\n\n```\n1. submit-url — user-entered URL → validated, canonicalized URL\n2. fetch — canonicalized URL → raw HTML (or a recorded fetch failure)\n3. extract — raw HTML → title + readable text + metadata\n   ...\n```\n\nEvery number is tagged with where it came from — a script run, something\nthe user stated, or an explicit assumption — so nothing in the document\nreads as more certain than it is. The full worked example, all six\nphases, is at\n[ skills/iluvatar/references/example-output.md](/RudVlad473/iluvatar/blob/master/skills/iluvatar/references/example-output.md).\n\n| Tool | What it does | How iluvatar differs |\n|---|---|---|\n| BMAD Method (Analyst→PM→Architect) | Narrative `architecture.md` with tech-stack decisions already baked in, for a coding agent to read |\nNever names a technology; output is a schema-validated classification a tool parses by section name, not prose for an agent to interpret |\n| GitHub Spec Kit | Captures requirements (what/why); deliberately excludes architecture | Sits downstream of what Spec Kit deliberately skips — the architecture classification, not another requirements pass |\n| C4 model / Structurizr | Machine-parseable architecture models — but a human has to already know and author the model | Derives archetypes and cross-cutting concerns from a one-line idea; nothing to hand-author first |\n| AI requirements-elicitation tools (Visure, Copilot4DevOps Elicit) | Extract structured requirements/user stories from raw input | Same upstream distinction as Spec Kit — requirements, not architecture classification |\n\nNo live tool was found (verified 2026-08-12) that takes a free-text idea\nand emits a stable, schema-validated, downstream-parseable classification\nthis way. Re-verify before leaning on this claim long after that date.\nFull reasoning, sources, and caveats: [ COMPARISON.md](/RudVlad473/iluvatar/blob/master/COMPARISON.md).\n\nThe 15-invariant checklist itself isn't invented from vibes, either — it\nstarted as a domain-agnostic synthesis, then got audited clause-by-clause\nagainst five named frameworks (ISO/IEC 25010:2023, arc42, the AWS\nWell-Architected Framework, DDD strategic design, the Google SRE\nproduction-readiness taxonomy), closing three real gaps the audit found.\nDetails and citations: [ COMPARISON.md](/RudVlad473/iluvatar/blob/master/COMPARISON.md#grounded-in-named-standards-not-invented).\n\nPhase 1's requirements scoping and capacity estimation (the `botec.py`\n\ncalculator behind the numbers above) aren't original either — they're\nvendored from\n[ proyecto26/system-design-skills](https://github.com/proyecto26/system-design-skills)\n(MIT, pinned at a specific audited commit — see\n\n[).](/RudVlad473/iluvatar/blob/master/skills/iluvatar/references/vendor/VENDOR.md)\n\n`skills/iluvatar/references/vendor/VENDOR.md`\n\n**Never names a technology**— not a database, not a framework, not a language — anywhere except a`Known Constraints`\n\nline the user imposed themselves. Classification, not selection.**Never writes code.****Never skips a concern silently**— every one of its 15 invariants is marked relevant or deferred-with-a-reason; an unlisted concern is a decision some later tool would otherwise make alone.**Gates on a validator, not just a read-through**— a script checks the output's structure before a human ever reviews the content, because a section a downstream parser can't find is a defect a human review won't catch.\n\nMIT — see [LICENSE](/RudVlad473/iluvatar/blob/master/LICENSE).", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/iluvatar-classifies-an-app-idea-into-cs-terms-before-any-tech-gets-named", "canonical_source": "https://github.com/RudVlad473/iluvatar", "published_at": "2026-08-13 19:16:33+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-08-13 19:43:53.778680+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["developer-tools", "ai-tools", "ai-agents"], "entities": ["RudVlad473", "Claude Code", "iluvatar", "Matt Pocock", "grill-with-docs"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/iluvatar-classifies-an-app-idea-into-cs-terms-before-any-tech-gets-named", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/iluvatar-classifies-an-app-idea-into-cs-terms-before-any-tech-gets-named.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/iluvatar-classifies-an-app-idea-into-cs-terms-before-any-tech-gets-named.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/iluvatar-classifies-an-app-idea-into-cs-terms-before-any-tech-gets-named.jsonld"}}