Outline-Driven Development for Claude Code

Formerly known as the ODIN Claude Plugin. The repo URL stays the same; the brand has matured.

Outline-Driven Development (nicknamed ODIN) — Advanced code agent system for Claude Code with surgical precision, diagram-first engineering, and comprehensive workflow automation.

Methodology: outline-driven-development  ·  Codex CLI: odin-codex-plugin  ·  Gemini CLI: odin-gemini-cli-extension  ·  Site: outlinedriven.github.io

Overview

ODIN is a professional-grade Claude Code plugin that transforms Claude into a sophisticated code agent with 46 specialized agents across 11+ programming languages, comprehensive workflow automation, and rigorous engineering methodology.

Key Capabilities:

• 🤖 46 Specialized Agents - Language experts, architects, analyzers, and domain specialists
• 📐 Diagram-First Engineering - Architecture, concurrency, memory, data flow, optimization
• 🎯 Surgical Code Editing - AST-based transformations with ast-grep
• 🧠 Confidence-Driven Execution - Adaptive behavior based on complexity and risk
• 🔍 Deep Investigation - Mandatory file reading before code modifications
• 🔒 Atomic Commits - Conventional Commits protocol with incremental approvals

Installation

Prerequisites

• Claude Code installed and running
• Git (for marketplace installation)

Full Install Script (Recommended)

wget -O ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md https://raw.githubusercontent.com/OutlineDriven/odin-claude-plugin/refs/heads/main/CLAUDE.md && claude plugin marketplace add OutlineDriven/odin-claude-plugin && claude plugin install odin@odin-marketplace

Verify Installation

# List available agents
/agents

# View all commands
/help

# See the installed plugins
/plugin

Core Philosophy

ODIN follows strict engineering principles:

1. Investigate Before Acting - Never speculate about code you haven't read
2. Diagram-First Design - Five mandatory diagrams before any implementation
3. Surgical Precision - Minimal, targeted changes using AST-based tools
4. Atomic Commits - One logical change per commit, properly typed
5. Confidence-Driven - Adapt behavior based on familiarity and risk
6. Tool Selection - ast-grep > native-patch > ripgrep (never sed for edits)

Five Required Diagrams

Before any non-trivial implementation:

1. Architecture - Components, interfaces, contracts, dependencies
2. Data Flow - Sources, transformations, sinks, state transitions
3. Concurrency - Threads, synchronization, happens-before relationships
4. Memory - Ownership, lifetimes, allocation patterns, safety guarantees
5. Optimization - Bottlenecks, targets, complexity bounds, resource budgets

Agents

Language Specialists (15 agents)

Modern Languages:

• rust-pro / rust-pro-ultimate - Rust Edition 2024, zero-cost abstractions, ownership
• typescript-pro - Strict mode, discriminated unions, no any/unknown
• python-pro - Type hints, asyncio, pathlib, dataclasses
• golang-pro - Context-first, goroutines, structured concurrency
• java-pro - Java 21+, records, virtual threads, sealed classes
• kotlin-pro - K2, coroutines, null safety, immutability

Systems Programming:

• cpp-pro / cpp-pro-ultimate - C++20+, RAII, smart pointers, ranges
• c-pro / c-pro-ultimate - Modern C, memory safety, systems programming

Web & Enterprise:

• javascript-pro - ES6+, async patterns, Node.js
• php-pro - Modern PHP, generators, SPL structures
• csharp-pro - C# latest, async/await, LINQ

Architecture & Design (7 agents)

• architect - System architecture, technical decisions, scalability
• backend-architect - Backend systems, APIs, service architecture
• graphql-architect - GraphQL schemas, resolvers, federation
• docs-architect - Technical documentation, API references, architecture guides
• ui-ux-designer - Interface design, user experience, design systems
• artistic-designer - Visual design, aesthetics, branding elements
• branding-specialist - Brand identity, visual language, corporate identity

Code Quality (8 agents)

• code-reviewer - Expert code review, quality, security, maintainability
• criticizer - Systemic post-implementation critique, severity-driven analysis
• devil-advocate - Pre-decision adversarial challenge, assumption dismantling
• debugger - Root cause analysis, error resolution, incident investigation
• refactoring - Full refactoring lifecycle: assess debt, plan, execute, modernize
• test-writer - Comprehensive test suites, unit/integration testing
• test-designer-advanced - Edge cases, chaos engineering, property-based testing
• analyzer - Codebase health metrics, dependency graphs, pattern detection

Performance (3 agents)

• performance - Holistic performance optimization, profiling, benchmarking
• concurrency-expert - Thread safety, synchronization, parallel patterns
• memory-expert - Memory optimization, leak detection, allocation analysis

Specialized Domains (9 agents)

Machine Learning & Data:

• ml-engineer - ML pipelines, model serving, feature engineering
• mlops-engineer - ML infrastructure, experiment tracking, model registries
• data-engineer - ETL pipelines, data warehouses, streaming architectures
• quant-researcher - Financial models, trading strategies, market analysis
• trading-system-architect - HFT systems, market making, order execution

Security:

• security-auditor - Vulnerability review, OWASP compliance, secure authentication

Database & Migration:

• database - SQL queries, schema design, optimization, analytics
• migrator - System migrations, cross-platform porting, version upgrades

Development Tools:

• prompt-engineer - LLM prompts optimization, AI features

Frontend & Mobile (4 agents)

• react-specialist - React components, hooks, state management
• flutter-specialist - Flutter widgets, state management, platform channels
• ios-developer - Swift/SwiftUI, UIKit, Core Data, App Store optimization
• mobile-developer - React Native/Flutter, offline sync, push notifications

Infrastructure (1 agent)

• terraform-specialist - IaC best practices, modules, state management

Skills (25 total)

Skills are invokable workflows that extend ODIN with process- and domain-specific protocols. Invoke with /<skill-name>; many also trigger on natural language cues described in their frontmatter.

Planning & Exploration (4 skills)

• askme - Verbalized Sampling protocol for deep intent exploration before planning
• plan - Thorough read-only planning before any action
• contexts - Coordinate context sweep before coding
• init - Analyze a codebase and create or improve AGENTS.md

Working Posture (1 skill)

• duet - Two-party posture: user as director, agent as executor. Surfaces every fork via AskUserQuestion with structural framing and a recommended default. Eliminates the review-bottleneck and prevents codebase-understanding debt. Pair with the Duet output style.

Engineering Methodologies (6 skills)

• test-driven - TDD with 10-language support
• type-driven - Type-driven development (Idris 2, with 10-language support)
• proof-driven - Proof-driven development (Lean 4, with property-based testing fallback and 10-language support)
• design-by-contract - DbC with 10-language support and verification dispatch
• validation-first - Validation-first (Quint spec) with 10-language support
• tests-purge-unneeded - Delete tests that don't catch real bugs (the inverse of TDD); load-bearing principles, static-vs-dynamic carve-out, language-specific examples

Tooling (2 skills)

• ast-grep - Structural code search, analysis, and refactoring
• srgn-cli - Grammar-aware scoped regex transforms

Execution (3 skills)

• proceed - Execute an implementation plan with surgical precision
• parallel-launch - Decompose a task into independent concerns and execute via agents
• tests-adversarial - Adversarial tests that stress failure paths

Review & Resolution (2 skills)

• review - Review code changes on the current branch
• resolve - Resolve code review comments with validity checks

Cleanup & Refactoring (2 skills)

• refactor-break-bw-compat - Refactor by removing backward-compatibility and legacy layers (public API surface)
• cleanup-codebase - Internal micro-hygiene: dead fields, redundant wrappers, stale config flags, identity passthrough — applied while touching nearby code, not as standalone PRs

GitHub Integration (5 skills)

• pr-review - Review code on a GitHub PR using gh
• pr-merge-base - Merge PRs into the base branch with queue-like sequencing
• pr-merge-temporal - Merge multiple PRs into a temporal integration branch first
• gh-address-comments - Help address review/issue comments on the current PR
• gh-fix-ci - Inspect failing CI checks, pull logs, propose fixes

Output Styles (3 total)

Output styles shape how the agent communicates. Switch via Claude Code's /config or by setting outputStyle in settings.json.

• ODIN - Default. Professional objectivity, scope discipline, systematic skepticism, no reflexive validation.
• Builder - For non-technical builders (PMs, founders, designers, no-code users). Outcome-first, plain-language, progressive disclosure.
• Duet - Companion to the duet skill. Decisions before prose, structural/taste framing first, jargon on demand, silent mechanics / loud forks. Enforces duet skill invocation.

Configuration

Settings.json

ODIN includes comprehensive settings.json with:

• Tool Permissions - Pre-approved tools (ast-grep, fd, rg, cargo, npm, git, etc.)
• MCP Integration - Time, browser, git, context7, tavily, and more
• Security - Denied operations (sed -i, force push, destructive commands)
• Hooks - Event-driven automation
• Defaults - Bypass permissions mode, always thinking enabled

CLAUDE.md

Global instructions defining:

• ODIN methodology and principles
• Tool selection mandates (ast-grep preferred)
• Git commit strategy (Conventional Commits)
• Diagram-first engineering requirements
• Language-specific guidelines
• UI/UX design principles
• Verification and refinement patterns

Methodology

Surgical Editing Workflow

1. Find - Use ast-grep (code), ripgrep (text), fd (files)
2. Copy - Extract minimal context with precise offsets
3. Paste - Apply surgically with AST-based transformations

Confidence-Driven Execution

Confidence = (familiarity + (1-complexity) + (1-risk) + (1-scope)) / 4

• High (0.8-1.0): Direct action → Verify
• Medium (0.5-0.8): Iterative action → Expand → Verify
• Low (0.3-0.5): Research → Plan → Test → Expand
• Very Low (<0.3): Decompose → Propose → Seek guidance

Atomic Commit Protocol

Conventional Commits v1.0.0:

<type>[optional scope]: <description>

[optional body]

[optional footer(s)]

Types: feat, fix, build, chore, ci, docs, perf, refactor, style, test

Rules:

• One logical change per commit
• Never mix types or scopes
• Each commit must build and pass tests
• Independently testable and reversible

Tool Selection Mandate

Discovery → Text search → Structural search → Transform:

1. fd - File discovery (NEVER use find)
2. git grep - Primary text search within the repo (respects .gitignore, fast)
3. rg (ripgrep) - Text-search fallback when outside git or for richer flags
4. ast-grep - Structural/AST search and rewrite (metavariable patterns)
5. srgn - Grammar-aware scoped regex transforms (AST-scoped, multi-language)
6. native-patch / Edit - Final precise edits when Find → Transform → Verify converges
7. eza - Directory listing (NEVER use ls)
8. bat -P -p -n - File display (NEVER use cat)

Tool Permission Issues

Check settings.json for tool permissions. ODIN pre-configures safe tool usage.

License

See LICENSE file for details.

Support

• Issues: https://github.com/OutlineDriven/odin-claude-plugin/issues
• Repository: https://github.com/OutlineDriven/odin-claude-plugin

Acknowledgments

Built on Claude Code's powerful plugin system with focus on professional software engineering practices, surgical precision, and comprehensive workflow automation.

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Outline-Driven Development for Claude Code — outlinedriven.github.io