Architecture Impact

Architecture Impact Analysis

Analyze a PR's architectural impact. Produces a decision-maker-friendly document with visual before/after diagrams, business impact framing, and honest risk assessment.

Audience and Principles

The output targets decision makers: engineering leads, PMs, and stakeholders.

Core principles:

• Outcomes over implementation. Lead with what changes for users, teams, and the roadmap, not what was refactored internally.
• "So what?" test. Every section must answer: why should a PM care about this?
• Progressive disclosure. TL;DR first. Technical details exist for those who want them, but aren't required to understand the impact.
• Newspaper test. If a PM read only the title, would they understand why it matters? "Enable independent deployments per framework" passes. "Extract fetch handler into core module" fails.
• One diagram = one question. Write the question as the diagram title. If it answers multiple questions, split it.
• Honest tradeoffs. PMs respect acknowledged risks far more than false reassurance. Always present what was rejected and why.

Input

This skill accepts PRs only.

1. Matches GitHub URL or #\d+ pattern -> PR
2. No argument -> ask: "Which PR should I analyze? Provide a PR URL or number."
3. Anything else -> "This skill analyzes PRs only. Provide a PR URL or number."

Process Flow

digraph architecture_impact {
    rankdir=TB;
    "Resolve PR" [shape=box];
    "Phase 1: Analyze" [shape=box];
    "Architectural?" [shape=diamond];
    "Phase 2: Visualize" [shape=box];
    "Phase 3: Write" [shape=box];
    "Phase 4: Review" [shape=box];
    "Approved?" [shape=diamond];
    "Phase 5: Output" [shape=box];
    "Brief note" [shape=box];

    "Resolve PR" -> "Phase 1: Analyze";
    "Phase 1: Analyze" -> "Architectural?";
    "Architectural?" -> "Phase 2: Visualize" [label="yes"];
    "Architectural?" -> "Brief note" [label="no"];
    "Brief note" -> "Phase 5: Output";
    "Phase 2: Visualize" -> "Phase 3: Write";
    "Phase 3: Write" -> "Phase 4: Review";
    "Phase 4: Review" -> "Approved?";
    "Approved?" -> "Phase 3: Write" [label="revisions"];
    "Approved?" -> "Phase 5: Output" [label="yes"];
}

Do NOT skip phases. If the user bundles multiple answers, accept them and skip ahead.

Phase 1: Analyze

Step 1 - Read the PR

Check PR size first with gh pr view --json files,title,body,comments,reviews.

Read: title, description, review comments (for decision rationale), commit messages, files changed.

For the diff: <20 files: read full diff. 20+ files: selectively read structural changes only (new/deleted/renamed files, changed interfaces, config, dependency files). Skip test files and minor edits.

Step 2 - Read broader codebase context

Scope to packages the PR touches. Read directory tree (names only), README/architecture docs, dependency files. Goal: understand the architecture before the PR.

Step 3 - Classify the changes

Architectural (changes how components relate to each other):

• New modules, moved boundaries, new layers
• New/removed connections between modules
• Changed data flow paths or API surfaces
• New design patterns introduced or replaced

Implementation (changes what happens inside a component):

• Refactored helpers, renamed variables, added error handling, updated dependencies

Step 4 - "So what?" framing

Before proceeding, complete this sentence:

"We are doing [technical change] so that [business outcome], which matters because [strategic goal]."

If you cannot complete this sentence, dig deeper into the PR description and review comments until you can. This sentence becomes the spine of the entire analysis.

Step 5 - Market impact

Go beyond internal engineering impact. Ask:

• New users: What user segments were blocked before that are unblocked now? Who couldn't use the product that can now? Be specific about communities, ecosystems, and their approximate size.
• New partners: What companies, platforms, or ecosystems can the product now integrate with? What would those partnerships look like (templates, marketplace listings, co-marketing, ecosystem features)?
• Reduced adoption friction: How does this change the adoption conversation? What did prospects have to do before vs now? (e.g., "migrate your backend" vs "add 3 lines to your existing server")
• Competitive positioning: Does this close a gap with competitors, or open a lead?

Not every PR has market impact. Skip this step for internal-only changes. But for platform expansion, new integrations, or API surface changes, this is often the most valuable part of the analysis.

Step 6 - Present understanding

Present in business language, not implementation language:

What changed: [one sentence, outcome-focused] Why it matters: [business impact] What it enables: [new capabilities] What it costs: [tradeoffs, risks, migration burden] Who this unlocks: [new user segments, new partners] (if applicable)

"Does this capture the intent? Anything I'm missing?"

Wait for confirmation before proceeding.

Phase 2: Visualize

Diagram selection

Pick the diagram type that matches the question the audience is asking:

For most PRs, generate 2-3 diagrams: a before/after comparison (always) and one of the others based on what best communicates the change.

For customer-facing output, prefer:

• Fan-out diagram: Product at center, supported targets radiating out. Communicates "one integration, many platforms." This is the headline visual.
• Before/after as value table, not architecture diagram. Show what changed for the user (supported platforms, adoption effort, lock-in), not internal module structure.
• 3-step code snippets as visual proof: Install, Create, Mount on your server. Show the same product code with different one-line server wrappers.

Abstraction level

Diagrams are for decision makers. Show how pieces talk to each other, not internal structure.

5-second test: Show the diagram to someone for 5 seconds. Can they tell you what the system is, who uses it, and roughly what it does? If not, simplify.

Semantic color system

Use consistently across all diagrams. Always include a legend.

classDef added fill:#C8E6C9,stroke:#2E7D32,stroke-width:3px,color:#1B5E20
classDef removed fill:#FFCDD2,stroke:#C62828,stroke-width:2px,stroke-dasharray:5 5,color:#B71C1C
classDef modified fill:#FFF3E0,stroke:#E65100,stroke-width:2px,color:#BF360C
classDef unchanged fill:#FAFAFA,stroke:#BDBDBD,stroke-width:1px,color:#616161
classDef focus fill:#E3F2FD,stroke:#1565C0,stroke-width:3px,color:#0D47A1

Always pair color with a secondary signal (dashed border for removed, thick border for added) so the diagram works for color-blind readers.

Before/after technique

The most effective technique for communicating architectural change:

1. Draw the current state as a clean diagram
2. Duplicate it with identical element positioning
3. On the duplicate, make only the actual changes
4. Use the semantic colors: gray (unchanged), green (added), red+dashed (removed)
5. Place side-by-side or sequential with labels "Current" and "After this PR"

Critical: Keep layout identical between before and after. If you rearrange elements, the viewer wastes cognitive effort mapping old positions to new instead of understanding the change.

Impact radius diagram (SVG)

For changes with broad blast radius, generate a concentric-circle SVG showing what's directly affected vs transitively affected. Save as a separate .svg file and link from the markdown.

<svg viewBox="0 0 500 400" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">
  <style>
    text { font-family: system-ui, sans-serif; text-anchor: middle; }
    .ring { fill-opacity: 0.15; stroke-width: 2; }
    .label { font-size: 13px; fill: #424242; }
    .center-label { font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold; fill: #1B5E20; }
    .ring-label { font-size: 11px; fill: #757575; font-style: italic; }
  </style>
  <!-- Outer ring: transitively affected -->
  <ellipse cx="250" cy="200" rx="230" ry="180" class="ring"
           fill="#FFF3E0" stroke="#E65100"/>
  <!-- Inner ring: directly affected -->
  <ellipse cx="250" cy="200" rx="150" ry="120" class="ring"
           fill="#E3F2FD" stroke="#1565C0"/>
  <!-- Center: the change -->
  <ellipse cx="250" cy="200" rx="70" ry="55" class="ring"
           fill="#C8E6C9" stroke="#2E7D32"/>
  <text x="250" y="205" class="center-label">Changed Component</text>
  <!-- Labels positioned around the rings -->
  <text x="250" y="45" class="ring-label">Transitively affected</text>
  <text x="250" y="110" class="ring-label">Directly affected</text>
</svg>

Populate with actual component names. This diagram type has no good Mermaid equivalent, so always use SVG.

Format and rendering

Primary format: Mermaid in fenced code blocks. Renders natively in VS Code, GitHub, Notion, GitLab, and most doc platforms.

Secondary format: SVG files for custom visuals (impact radius, custom layouts). Reference with ![description](./diagram.svg).

Writing to file

Diagrams don't render visually in the terminal. Write them to the output file (see Phase 5 for path). After writing:

"I've written the diagrams to <path>. Open in a markdown previewer to see them rendered. Do they accurately represent the change?"

Wait for confirmation.

Phase 3: Write

Write the full analysis into the output file. Pick the document structure based on the audience. If the PR has market impact (Step 5 produced new users/partners), default to the customer-facing structure. For internal-only changes, use the internal structure.

Ask the user if unclear: "This PR has market impact. Should I frame it for external stakeholders (customers, partners) or internal team?"

Customer-facing structure

Use when the change expands who can use the product, unlocks new platforms/ecosystems, or changes the adoption story. The focus is value, market expansion, and adoption friction, not internal engineering tradeoffs.

# <Value-first title, no PR number>
(e.g., "Run Anywhere: New Users, New Partners, No Lock-in")

## The One-Liner
[One sentence: what changed and why anyone should care.
Zero jargon. A developer browsing the website would nod.]

## Why This Matters
[The "so what" paragraph. Frame as market expansion, not
technical achievement. Use an analogy if it helps.
State where the analogy breaks down.]

[Fan-out diagram: the product at center, new targets radiating out.
This is the headline visual.]

## New Users This Opens Up
[Table: Segment | Why they were blocked | Opportunity size.
Be specific about communities and ecosystems.]

## New Partner Opportunities
[Table: Partner | What the partnership looks like.
Concrete: templates, marketplace listings, co-marketing.]

## How Adoption Works Now
[3-step pattern: Install, Create, Mount.
Show the same product code with different one-line server mounts.
The message: "Your stack doesn't change. You just add [product]."]

## Before and After
[Comparison table framed as value, not architecture:
Supported platforms, adoption requirement, lock-in, etc.
No file names, no internal module structure.]

## The Value in One Sentence
[One bold sentence that captures the market impact.
e.g., "Every developer with a JS backend is now a potential
customer, with zero migration cost."]

Internal structure

Use for changes that matter to the team but don't change the external story (refactors, internal tooling, CI improvements, performance work).

# Architecture Impact: PR #<number> - <business-outcome title>
**Repo:** <owner/repo>  |  **Date:** <today>  |  **PR:** <link>

## TL;DR
- [What's changing, in outcome terms]
- [Why now / what triggered this]
- [What it costs: time, coordination, risk]

## Business Context
[One paragraph: what problem this solves and why it matters.
Complete the "so what" sentence from Phase 1 Step 4.]

## Before
[How the affected area was structured and what the pain points were.
Use an analogy if it helps.]

## After
[What changed and how it's structured now.
Ground the analogy.]

## What This Enables
[Concrete capabilities unlocked. Use bullets. Each bullet should
pass the newspaper test -- would a PM nod?]

## Impact Assessment

### Six Questions

| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| **Will this break anything?** | [Honest risk + mitigation] |
| **Timeline impact?** | [What slows down, for how long] |
| **New capabilities?** | [What's possible now that wasn't] |
| **Velocity impact?** | [Short-term cost vs long-term gain] |
| **Other teams affected?** | [Who needs to do what] |
| **Reversible?** | [Rollback plan and time to execute] |

### Tradeoffs

| What we gain | What it costs |
|---|---|
| [Concrete gain] | [Concrete cost] |

## Diagrams

[Before/after comparison -- always included]
[Additional diagrams as selected in Phase 2]
[Impact radius SVG if applicable]

[Legend -- always included when using color coding]

Writing rules

• Lead with outcomes, not implementation. The first paragraph should contain zero jargon.
• Name by role, not by file. "The request handler", "the Express adapter", not "fetch-handler.ts".
• Describe how pieces talk, not what happens inside. "All adapters now delegate to a shared core" is architectural. "The handler calls matchRoute which returns a discriminated union" is implementation.
• Use one analogy, then ground it in specifics. State where it breaks down.
• Quantify where possible. "Velocity dips ~30% for 3 weeks" beats "might slow things down."
• Never use em-dashes in the generated content. Use commas, colons, periods, or parentheses.
• Short paragraphs, scannable. No wall of text.
• Include the baseline. What happens if we do nothing?

Phase 4: Review

"The complete analysis is at <path>. Open in a markdown previewer to review with rendered diagrams. Want any changes?"

Wait for approval. Apply changes by editing the file.

Phase 5: Output

Path resolution

Default: docs/architecture/PR-<number>-impact.md

Ask early (start of Phase 2): "I'll write the analysis to docs/architecture/PR-<number>-impact.md. Want a different location?"

If SVG diagrams were generated, place them alongside: docs/architecture/PR-<number>-impact-radius.svg

Print a brief terminal summary (title + one-line + path). Do NOT print the full document to terminal.

Error Handling

• gh not available -> cannot proceed, inform user
• Invalid PR -> ask user to verify
• PR too large -> focus on structural changes, note what was skipped