Overview
before-you-build is an open-source workflow skill for Claude Code and compatible agents, published by wshobson. Its author describes it as: “Pre-build product and feature risk review for founders, product managers, and AI-assisted builders. Use this skill when the user is about to build a landing page, MVP, SaaS product, internal tool, agent workflow, or m…”. The project has 39k stars on GitHub and is available under the MIT license. Add it to your setup with `/plugin marketplace add wshobson/agents`.
What before-you-build does
Run a compact pre-mortem before implementation. The goal is not to block building; it is to identify the highest-risk assumption, the smallest validation step, and the build scope that should be delayed until evidence improves.
What’s inside
The SKILL.md for before-you-build is organised into these sections:
- When To Use
- Risk Checklist
- Output Format
- Guidance
Installation
Add before-you-build to your agent with:
/plugin marketplace add wshobson/agentsReview a skill’s source before installing it — skills can instruct your agent to run commands. This command comes from the skill’s public repository, which is the source of truth for setup steps. New to skills? Read how to install Claude Code skills.
Supported agents
- Claude Code — ships a claude code plugin marketplace
- Codex — declared in the repository topics
- Cursor — declared in the repository topics
- OpenCode — declared in the repository topics
- GitHub Copilot — declared in the repository topics
- Antigravity — declared in the repository topics
License
before-you-build is published under the MIT license.
Strengths
- Clear MIT license — safe to read and adapt within its terms
- Ships in wshobson/agents, an established project with 39,066 GitHub stars
- Works with Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, OpenCode, GitHub Copilot, Antigravity
- Actively maintained — repository updated in the last 90 days
- Its repository gained 669 GitHub stars over the last 24 days
Author
Topics
Frequently asked questions
- What does before-you-build do?
- Pre-build product and feature risk review for founders, product managers, and AI-assisted builders. Use this skill when the user is about to build a landing page, MVP, SaaS product, internal tool, agent workflow, or major feature and needs to check demand, positioning, monetization, retention, trust, distribution, and adoption risk before implementation starts.
- How do I install before-you-build?
- Run /plugin marketplace add wshobson/agents in your agent, then reload your skills. Review the source at https://github.com/wshobson/agents before installing.
- Is before-you-build free to use?
- Yes. before-you-build is free and open source under the MIT license, so you can read, run, and adapt it within that license's terms.
- Which agents does before-you-build work with?
- before-you-build lists Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, OpenCode, GitHub Copilot, and Antigravity — named in its SKILL.md, its plugin marketplace or its repository topics. Skills use the portable SKILL.md format, so other agents that read that format may load it too.
- Where does before-you-build come from?
- before-you-build ships inside wshobson/agents, a repository that contains 54 catalogued skills in total. The repository's 39,066 GitHub stars apply to that whole collection, not to this skill on its own.