Does it work with MCP servers?

Yes, the skill specifically checks for available Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers and existing local skills before proposing new functionality.

When is the best time to trigger Search-First?

You should trigger it when starting a new feature, adding an integration, or before creating a new utility helper or abstraction in your project.

How does this skill prevent reinventing the wheel?

By using a structured decision matrix, it evaluates existing solutions on npm, PyPI, and GitHub, recommending adoption or extension of maintained libraries instead of custom code.

What is the Search-First skill for Claude Code?

It is a specialized capability that forces Claude to perform a research phase before starting implementation, looking for existing tools and libraries that solve the problem.

Search-First Development

Name: Search-First Development
Author: flatrick

byflatrick

0•

Productivity & Workflow

Systematizes a research-before-coding workflow to identify existing libraries, patterns, and tools before implementing custom code.

The search-first skill transforms the development process by enforcing a systematic research phase before any code is written. By leveraging specialized researcher agents to scan ecosystems like npm, PyPI, MCP servers, and GitHub, it ensures that Claude identifies high-quality, battle-tested solutions before proposing a custom build. This approach significantly reduces technical debt, minimizes boilerplate, and optimizes performance by favoring community-maintained packages and existing internal utilities over 'reinventing the wheel.'

Key Features

01Candidate scoring based on maintenance status, community support, and licensing

02Parallel search capabilities across local skills and global repositories

03Standardized decision matrix for adopting, extending, or building code

04Automated ecosystem searching across npm, PyPI, GitHub, and MCP servers

05Integration with general-purpose researcher subagents for deep analysis

060 GitHub stars

Use Cases

01Auditing internal codebases for reusable abstractions before creating new utilities

02Evaluating third-party library candidates for new feature requirements

03Discovering and configuring Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers for specific tasks

What are Skills?·How to Install

Install with 🐟 Skill.Fish

npx skillfish add flatrick/mdt search-first

For use in Claude.ai and ChatGPT