Tech Radar Entry Creation

Creates opinionated tech radar entries that provide actionable guidance on technology adoption decisions.

When to Use

Activate this skill when users ask to:

• Add a technology to the radar
• Assess or evaluate a tool, framework, or platform
• Document technology recommendations
• Compare technologies for adoption decisions
• Update an existing radar entry's ring position

Required Information

Gather these before generating:

1. Title - Technology name (e.g., "Bun", "htmx", "Kubernetes")
2. Description - Brief description (1-2 sentences)
3. Quadrant - Technology category (see below)
4. Ring - Recommendation level (see below)

Optional Information

• Tags - Technology categorization tags
• Date - Assessment date (defaults to today)
• Context - Specific context for the recommendation

Ring Definitions

Rings represent adoption recommendations with specific implications:

Ring	Meaning	User Action	Content Tone
adopt	Production-ready, proven	Use confidently for new projects	Confident, encouraging
trial	Promising, worth piloting	Evaluate for specific use cases	Cautiously optimistic
assess	Emerging, worth watching	Research and experiment only	Exploratory, measured
hold	Avoid or migrate from	Plan migration, no new adoption	Direct but fair

Ring-Specific Analysis Focus

ADOPT:

• Implementation best practices
• Production deployment guidance
• Long-term maintenance considerations
• Team training resources
• Success patterns from the ecosystem

TRIAL:

• When and where to pilot
• Success criteria for evaluation
• Comparison with established alternatives
• Risk mitigation strategies
• Fallback plan recommendations

ASSESS:

• Key questions to answer before adoption
• Evaluation criteria and metrics
• Community and ecosystem health indicators
• Research and prototyping guidance
• Timeline for reassessment

HOLD:

• Reasons for the hold recommendation
• Migration path to alternatives
• Risk assessment for existing usage
• Security and maintenance concerns
• Recommended replacements

Quadrant Examples

Quadrant	Description	Examples
techniques	Development practices and methodologies	TDD, pair programming, GitOps, IaC, trunk-based development
tools	Development and operations tools	Bun, Vite, Webpack, CI/CD platforms, linters
platforms	Infrastructure and deployment platforms	AWS, Kubernetes, serverless, edge computing
languages-and-frameworks	Programming languages and frameworks	Rust, TypeScript, React, Next.js, htmx

Generation Process

Step 1: Gather Requirements

Ask the user for the required information. If they provide a technology name without other details, research and propose appropriate values.

Step 2: Generate Opinionated Analysis

Create content that is:

• Opinionated - Take a clear position on the technology
• Balanced - Acknowledge both strengths and weaknesses
• Evidence-based - Support opinions with ecosystem signals
• Actionable - Provide concrete next steps

Content Sections to Generate:

1. Overview (ring-specific framing)
2. Key Features (factual capabilities)
3. Strengths (what it does well)
4. Weaknesses (honest limitations)
5. Use Cases (where it shines)
6. Ring Recommendation (with justification)
7. Ecosystem Assessment (community health)
8. Adoption Considerations (practical guidance)
9. Conclusion (maturity + future outlook)

Step 3: Create Hugo Bundle

Create content at content/tools/technology-slug/index.md:

Frontmatter (BYOR-compatible):

---
title: "Technology Name"
date: YYYY-MM-DD
draft: true
description: "Brief description for SEO and radar display"
quadrant: "quadrant-slug"
ring: "ring-slug"
tags:
  - tag1
  - tag2
---

Step 4: Review

Present the draft to the user for review. Never auto-publish - always keep draft: true until explicit approval.

Writing Guidelines

Tone: Opinionated but balanced and informed

Do:

• Provide technical depth and context
• Consider practical adoption implications
• Assess maturity and ecosystem support
• Be forward-looking but realistic
• Use evidence from real-world usage
• Acknowledge when context matters

Don't:

• Be purely opinionated without evidence
• Use hype-driven language
• Ignore potential drawbacks or limitations
• Be overly negative about technologies
• Make absolute statements without qualification
• Dismiss legitimate use cases

Vocabulary:

• adopt, trial, assess, hold
• maturity, ecosystem, production-ready
• trade-offs, considerations, implications
• community, governance, long-term viability

Example Frontmatter

---
title: "htmx"
date: 2025-12-26
draft: true
description: "Lightweight library for AJAX, CSS transitions, and WebSockets directly in HTML"
quadrant: "languages-and-frameworks"
ring: "trial"
tags:
  - javascript
  - html
  - hypermedia
  - ajax
---

Validation

After generation, verify:

• Required frontmatter fields present
• Quadrant is valid value
• Ring is valid value
• Description is concise but informative
• Content has all required sections
• No H1 heading in content (title comes from frontmatter)

Voice Learning

Record user feedback to improve future analysis:

Feedback location: .cody/project/library/style-docs/tech-radar-style.json

Record positive feedback for good patterns.
Record negative feedback for issues to avoid.

File Locations

• Tech radar entries: content/tools/{technology-slug}/index.md
• Style guidelines: .cody/project/library/style-docs/tech-radar-style.json
• Agent implementation: src/agents/tech-radar/tech-radar-agent.ts

Example Interaction

User: Add Bun to the tech radar

Response Flow:

1. Acknowledge the request
2. Ask which ring (or propose one with justification)
3. Confirm quadrant (likely "tools")
4. Ask for any specific context or tags
5. Generate the entry
6. Present for review with explanation of the analysis