Is this skill only for game development?

No. While common in games, these patterns are highly effective for any complex software involving plugin architectures, command handlers, or polymorphic data structures.

How does capability composition differ from inheritance?

Capability composition allows entities to opt-in to specific behaviors (like collision or persistence) via configuration rather than being forced into a rigid, deep class hierarchy.

What is data-oriented architecture?

It is a design pattern that separates pure data (entities) from behavior (definitions) and uses a central registry for dispatching logic, improving maintainability and extensibility.

How does this skill handle new entity types?

It promotes a registry-based approach where adding a new type requires only one new entry in the registry, involving zero changes to existing consumer logic.

Data-Oriented Architecture

Name: Data-Oriented Architecture
Author: rbergman

byrbergman

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Developer Tools

Implements registry-based patterns and capability composition to create extensible, type-safe entity systems.

About

The Data-Oriented Architecture skill provides Claude with advanced patterns for designing systems where behavior is separated from data. By replacing scattered switch statements and rigid inheritance hierarchies with centralized registries and optional capability configurations, it solves the 'expression problem.' This approach allows developers to add new entity types and operations without modifying existing consumer code, making it an essential strategy for building scalable plugin systems, game engines, and complex domain-driven applications.

Key Features

Layered definition interfaces for domain-specific extensibility
1 GitHub stars
Capability composition via optional configurations and type guards
Compile-time exhaustiveness enforcement for entity type handling
Registry-based polymorphism to eliminate fragile switch-statement chains
Infrastructure-first development workflow for cleaner system design

Use Cases

Refactoring monolithic if/else chains into a modular registry system
Building game entity systems with diverse and overlapping behaviors
Designing extensible plugin or handler architectures for complex backends

About

Key Features

Layered definition interfaces for domain-specific extensibility
1 GitHub stars
Capability composition via optional configurations and type guards
Compile-time exhaustiveness enforcement for entity type handling
Registry-based polymorphism to eliminate fragile switch-statement chains
Infrastructure-first development workflow for cleaner system design

Use Cases

Refactoring monolithic if/else chains into a modular registry system
Building game entity systems with diverse and overlapping behaviors
Designing extensible plugin or handler architectures for complex backends