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Decide

Research industry best practice and decide autonomously or escalate with context—never ask 'X or Y?' back.

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What it does

/decide is a Claude Code slash command that researches current industry best practice and makes confident technical decisions on your behalf. Instead of bouncing ambiguous choices back to you (“which would you prefer?”), it investigates the consensus, decides when standards are clear, and escalates with factual-context questions when they aren’t.

How it works

Invoke /decide <question> or let it extract a pending decision from your prior message. The skill searches WebSearch, GitHub, and context to identify industry consensus. If sources converge on a best practice, it decides autonomously and cites sources. If sources diverge due to explainable project variables (e.g., data ownership, team size), it asks a single factual-context question—never a generic “X or Y?”—that lets it decide based on your answer.

Use cases

  • Choosing between competing libraries or architectural patterns when you lack domain expertise
  • Validating or resolving technical disagreements with source links
  • Making reversible decisions (code layout, tooling, documentation structure) without friction
  • Escalating irreversible decisions (deployments, migrations, package installs) with explicit confirmation

Who benefits

Product managers, designers, and generalist engineers building projects outside their specialty. Built for teams that trust Claude’s research but need sourced decisions, not questions.

Frequently asked questions

How do I install /decide?
Copy `SKILL.md` to your Claude Code skills directory: `mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills/decide && cp SKILL.md ~/.claude/skills/decide/SKILL.md`. The skill auto-loads in your next Claude Code session. Verify it appears in `/help`.
What happens if there's no clear industry standard?
The skill escalates with a single factual-context question about your project (e.g., "Does this project require user data ownership?"). Never a generic "X or Y?"—always tied to a real variable that explains why sources diverge.
Does /decide ask for confirmation before making changes?
Yes, for irreversible actions: deployments, deletions, migrations, and package installs require explicit confirmation. Reversible changes (file edits, new code, docs) proceed autonomously with sourced reasoning.
Can /decide be wrong or hallucinate sources?
Every clear-standard decision includes 2–3 source URLs you can verify. The skill treats web content as untrusted, defends against SEO spam, and uses GitHub adoption (not star count) as a tiebreaker. You retain final judgment.
What's the difference between /decide and asking Claude directly?
Claude's default behavior: ask you to pick between options. `/decide`'s behavior: research industry consensus, decide if one exists, escalate with factual context if it doesn't. Built for non-experts who need research, not a choice menu.
How do I use /decide with an existing conversation?
Either invoke `/decide <explicit question>` or simply type `/decide` and the skill extracts the pending decision from your prior message. No need to repeat yourself.
Does /decide work for personal or aesthetic decisions?
No. It's designed for technical best-practice questions with measurable industry consensus (e.g., project structure, auth patterns, dependencies). Aesthetic or project-specific choices depend on your values, not research.
What sources does /decide check?
WebSearch (always), documentation and GitHub context (if relevant), and GitHub adoption metrics (tiebreaker only). Priority: official guides (PyPA, MDN, etc.), recent blog posts from recognized practitioners, and flagship project adoption.

Glossary

Reversible actions
Changes that can be safely undone: file edits, new code, documentation updates. `/decide` proceeds autonomously. Contrast with irreversible actions (deletions, migrations, deployments).
Factual-context question
A question about your project's constraints or requirements (e.g., 'Does user data stay in your database or can it go to a third party?'), not a generic preference question ('X or Y?'). Allows `/decide` to resolve contested cases.
Best practice
A technical approach or pattern that the industry consensus—measured across official guides, flagship projects, and recent adoption—validates as optimal for typical cases in that domain.
Source URL
A web link backing up a decision (e.g., official documentation, GitHub repository, blog post by recognized practitioners). Mandatory for every autonomous decision so you can verify reasoning.

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