APES

Why APES?

flowchart LR
    subgraph Before["Typical skill"]
        A["You are a senior PM…"]
        A --> B["Vague advice"]
    end
    subgraph After["APES Playbook"]
        C["Workflow"] --> D["Decision Rules"]
        D --> E["Validation"]
        E --> F["Standard output"]
    end
    Before -.->|"upgrade"| After

    style Before fill:#1e293b,stroke:#475569,color:#94a3b8
    style After fill:#0f172a,stroke:#38bdf8,color:#e2e8f0

Install

flowchart TB
    A["Clone APES"] --> B["Pick skill folder"]
    B --> C{"Your IDE"}
    C -->|Cursor| D["~/.cursor/skills/name/SKILL.md"]
    C -->|Claude Code| E[".claude/skills/name/"]
    C -->|Other| F["Your skills directory"]
    D --> G["Ask agent to use skill"]

    style A fill:#1e3a5f,stroke:#38bdf8,color:#e2e8f0
    style G fill:#14532d,stroke:#34d399,color:#e2e8f0

Cursor

git clone https://github.com/patonkikh/APES.git
mkdir -p ~/.cursor/skills/prd-generator
cp APES/skills/product/prd-generator/skill.md ~/.cursor/skills/prd-generator/SKILL.md

Then ask: "Use prd-generator to write a PRD for …"

Claude Code

cp -r APES/skills/product/prd-generator ~/.claude/skills/prd-generator
# rename skill.md → SKILL.md if needed

Other agents

Cline · Windsurf · Copilot · Roo Code — copy skill.md into your skills folder. Plain Markdown, Agent Skills frontmatter.

Skill anatomy

flowchart TB
    subgraph Discovery["Loaded at startup ~100 tokens"]
        FM["YAML frontmatter<br/>name + description"]
    end
    subgraph Activation["Loaded on use"]
        SK["skill.md body"]
        SK --> P["Purpose"]
        SK --> W["Workflow"]
        SK --> R["Decision Rules"]
        SK --> V["Validation"]
        SK --> O["Output Structure"]
        SK --> N["Next Skills"]
    end
    subgraph Optional["On demand"]
        EX["examples.md"]
        REF["references.md"]
    end
    FM --> SK
    SK -.-> EX
    SK -.-> REF

    style Discovery fill:#1e293b,stroke:#64748b,color:#cbd5e1
    style Activation fill:#0f172a,stroke:#38bdf8,color:#e2e8f0
    style Optional fill:#1a2e1a,stroke:#34d399,color:#d1fae5

Categories

pie showData
    title Skills by Category
    "Product (17)" : 17
    "Architecture (11)" : 11
    "AI Engineering (12)" : 12
    "RAG (6)" : 6
    "Growth (3)" : 3
    "Security (5)" : 5
    "MCP (5)" : 5

Product · 17

[skills/product/](skills/product/)

Discovery → Strategy → Delivery → Analytics

idea-validator · competitive-analysis · prd-generator · analytics-instrumentation-planner

Architecture · 11

[skills/architecture/](skills/architecture/)

C4 · ADR · API design · Observability

solution-architecture · observability-planner · adr-generator

AI · 12

[skills/ai/](skills/ai/)

Prompts · Agents · Memory · HITL

prompt-engineer · agent-memory-designer · human-in-the-loop-designer · multi-agent-planner

RAG · 6

[skills/rag/](skills/rag/)

Ingestion · Retrieval pipelines

knowledge-ingestion-planner · rag-architecture-designer · hybrid-search-advisor

Growth · 3

[skills/growth/](skills/growth/)

GTM · Pricing · Experiments

go-to-market-planner · pricing-strategy-advisor · experiment-designer

Security · 5

[skills/security/](skills/security/)

OWASP LLM · Threats

owasp-llm-reviewer · guardrails-builder

MCP · 5

[skills/mcp/](skills/mcp/)

Model Context Protocol

mcp-server-generator · mcp-tool-generator

Full index: [catalog.json](catalog.json)

Pipelines

Skills chain via Next Skills in each playbook:

flowchart LR
    subgraph Discovery
        iv[idea-validator] --> ps[problem-statement]
        ps --> pg[persona-generator]
    end
    subgraph Strategy
        pv[product-vision] --> fp[feature-prioritization]
        fp --> prd[prd-generator]
    end
    subgraph Delivery
        prd --> ep[epic-generator]
        ep --> us[user-story-generator]
        us --> ac[acceptance-criteria]
    end

    style prd fill:#1e3a5f,stroke:#38bdf8,color:#fff

flowchart LR
    subgraph Engineering
        sa[solution-architecture] --> sc[system-context]
        sc --> ar[architecture-review]
    end
    subgraph AI_Stack["AI Stack"]
        pe[prompt-engineer] --> pr[prompt-reviewer]
        pr --> ce[context-engineering]
    end
    subgraph Safety
        tm[ai-threat-modeling] --> pi[prompt-injection]
        pi --> ow[owasp-llm-reviewer]
    end

    style ow fill:#3b1219,stroke:#f87171,color:#fff

Repository

APES/
├── assets/              # Banner & visuals
├── CONTRIBUTING.md      # How to contribute
├── docs/
│   ├── CREATE_SKILL.md  # Step-by-step authoring guide
│   └── SKILL_STANDARD.md
├── scripts/
│   └── validate_skills.py
├── skills/
│   ├── _template/       # Copy to start a new skill
│   ├── growth/           3 skills
│   ├── product/         17 skills
│   ├── architecture/    11 skills
│   ├── ai/              12 skills
│   ├── rag/              6 skills
│   ├── security/         5 skills
│   └── mcp/              5 skills
├── catalog.json
├── LICENSE
└── README.md

Contributing

Want to add a skill? Start here:

1. CONTRIBUTING.md — PR workflow and checklist
2. How to create a new Skill — step-by-step guide
3. Skill Template — copy-paste starting point
4. Skill Standard — format rules (APES v1.1)

python scripts/validate_skills.py   # verify before opening a PR

License

MIT © 2026 APES Contributors

Compatible with Agent Skills · Built for Cursor, Claude Code, and open agents