Open Source / Personal · Product Manager · Developer Tooling · 2026
ask-brian-skills
Published Claude Code Skills Hub
“Tokens are money. Every word in context is a cost. I packaged the solution.”
outcomes
- Published: npx skills add bwash105/ask-brian-skills
- 8 skills shipped across 4 categories
- Router pattern: ask-brian dispatches to sub-skills
- Used across every project in this portfolio
pm skills
Problem
Claude Code is powerful. Most users never unlock its configurability. Token waste, context bloat, and ad-hoc prompting kill productivity and compound across every session. There was no opinionated, battle-tested skill library built by someone who ships real projects with the tool daily.
What I Built
A published, installable skills library for Claude Code. One install command. Usable across any project.
| Category | Skills | Job-to-be-Done |
|---|---|---|
| Token Economy | token-budget-audit, compress-and-continue, context-hygiene | Recover session quality without starting over |
| Project Onboarding | claude-md-mastery, project-kickoff | Get a new project configured in minutes |
| Workflow | feature-dev, bug-triage | Structured execution on real tasks |
Approach
Every skill exists because I hit the problem it solves on an actual project. Context-hygiene came from bloated sessions killing output quality. Token-budget-audit came from not knowing where cost was going. Compress-and-continue came from losing work at context limit.
The router pattern matters. ask-brian dispatches to sub-skills so you don't need to remember skill names mid-task. It's a navigation decision, IA for a CLI product.
Distribution was a first-class requirement from day one. Not a repo to clone, a package to install.
PM Skills Applied
DX is a product. Each skill has a job-to-be-done. The taxonomy is an IA decision, it shapes discoverability. The router pattern reduces cognitive load. Publishing via npx forces you to think about the install experience, not just the usage experience.
Technical Depth
Claude Code skills system, YAML-defined skill specs, router dispatch pattern, token-budget scoring automation, context-compression with session handoff, CLAUDE.md generation and audit workflows.
Lessons
| Lesson | Why It Matters |
|---|---|
| "Tokens are money" is a product principle | It changes every design decision |
| Router patterns reduce friction | Power tools with multiple sub-skills need navigation |
| npx distribution forces install-UX thinking | Not just usage UX |
The Story
Every project in this portfolio was built using these skills. That's the proof of concept: a tooling product that powers its own creator's workflow. The meta-story is that building better AI workflows is itself a PM skill, knowing how to instrument, audit, and optimize an LLM-powered development process is exactly what an AI Solutions Manager needs to demonstrate.