THIS IS NOT OPTIONAL. Skills tell you HOW to explore and WHAT to look for. You cannot rationalize your way out of this.
The Rule
Elixir/Phoenix/OTP task → Invoke skill FIRST → Then explore/research → Then write codeSkills come before exploration. The skills tell you what patterns to look for, what questions to ask, and what anti-patterns to avoid. Exploring without the skill means you don't know what you're looking for.
Skill Triggers
| Trigger Phrases | Skill to Invoke |
|---|---|
| code, implement, write, design, architecture, structure, pattern | elixir-thinking |
| LiveView, Plug, PubSub, mount, channel, socket, component | phoenix-thinking |
| context, schema, Ecto, changeset, preload, Repo, migration | ecto-thinking |
| GenServer, supervisor, Task, ETS, bottleneck, Broadway | otp-thinking |
| Oban, workflow, job queue, cascade, graft, background job, async job | oban-thinking |
Red Flags
These thoughts mean STOP—invoke the skill:
| Thought | Reality |
|---|---|
| "Let me explore the codebase first" | Skills tell you WHAT to look for. Invoke first. |
| "Let me understand the code first" | Skills guide understanding. Invoke first. |
| "But first, let me..." | No. Skills come first. Always. |
| "I'll add a process to organize this" | Processes are for runtime, not organization. |
| "GenServer is the Elixir way" | GenServer is a bottleneck by design. |
| "I'll query in mount" | mount is called twice. |
| "Task.async is simpler" | Use Task.Supervisor in production. |
| "I know Elixir well enough" | These skills contain paradigm shifts. Invoke them. |