Help

Studio Help Skill for Happycapy Skills Platform

The "Help" skill is a guidance utility designed for the Happycapy Skills platform, specifically tailored to assist users navigating the design and development pipelines of game projects. It answers the common question, "What do I do next?" by analyzing the current state of your project and providing actionable next steps. This article details what the "Help" skill does, why you should use it, how to invoke it, when it is most useful, and key considerations to ensure optimal usage.

What Is the Help Skill?

The "Help" skill is a read-only assistant for project workflow navigation. Its primary function is to analyze your project's current state and your query to offer relevant advice on what to do next in your workflow. The skill is lightweight and does not perform a full audit or gap analysis. Instead, it provides immediate, actionable guidance based on the project's latest progress, referencing your workflow catalog and recent project files.

This skill leverages the workflow catalog defined in .claude/docs/workflow-catalog.yaml to determine the ordered phases and steps of your project. It then compares your current project state against this catalog to suggest the next logical actions. It is specifically designed for moments when you feel stuck, are unsure about the next step, or want confirmation on your progress.

Why Use the Help Skill?

In collaborative game development environments, it is common to lose track of workflow steps or become uncertain about which tasks remain. The "Help" skill streamlines this process by:

• Reducing Uncertainty: It pinpoints your current stage and offers clear recommendations, minimizing context-switching and confusion.
• Saving Time: Instead of manually reviewing documentation and task lists, the skill delivers direct, context-aware advice.
• Ensuring Consistency: By referencing the canonical workflow catalog, it helps teams follow standardized processes across design and development phases.
• Supporting Stuck Users: It is especially useful when you feel blocked or are unsure how to proceed after completing a major task or phase.

How to Use the Help Skill

The "Help" skill is user-invocable, meaning any user on the Happycapy platform can call it directly. It does not modify files or project state; it only reads and reports findings. The skill accepts an optional argument that describes what you just finished or where you are stuck, enhancing the specificity of its advice.

Invocation Example

Suppose you have just finished a design review and are unsure what to do next. You can invoke the skill as follows:

/help finished design-review

Alternatively, if you are stuck on architectural decision records (ADRs):

/help stuck on ADRs

The argument is optional, but providing context (such as what you just finished) enables more targeted advice.

How It Works Internally

1. Context Gathering: The skill collects the current project state, including:
   • The current stage from production/stage.txt
   • The latest sprint file in production/sprints/
   • The first five lines of production/session-state/active.md
2. Workflow Catalog Parsing: It reads .claude/docs/workflow-catalog.yaml to understand all phases, steps, and completion indicators for your project.
3. Skill Inventory: It identifies all installed skills by globbing .claude/skills/*/SKILL.md and extracting their name: fields.
4. Advice Generation: Based on your position (from context files) and the catalog, the skill determines the most relevant next step and reports it to you.

Supported Tools

The skill is strictly read-only and leverages the following tools:

• Read for file contents
• Glob for pattern-based file discovery
• Grep for searching within files

When to Use the Help Skill

Use the "Help" skill in the following scenarios:

• After Completing a Step: When you finish a major workflow step and need guidance on what comes next.
• When You Are Stuck: If you are uncertain, blocked, or overwhelmed by choices, invoke this skill for actionable suggestions.
• During Onboarding: New team members can use it to familiarize themselves with the standardized workflow.
• To Confirm Project State: If you want to verify your progress relative to the official workflow catalog.

Important Notes

• Read-Only Nature: The skill does not write or alter any files. Its advice is based purely on reading the current state and workflow definitions.
• Not a Full Audit: For comprehensive gap analysis and workflow audits, use /project-stage-detect instead. The "Help" skill is optimized for quick, contextual guidance, not exhaustive reporting.
• Argument Usage: While optional, providing an argument (such as what you just finished) can significantly improve the relevance of the advice.
• Workflow Catalog Dependency: The skill relies on an up-to-date .claude/docs/workflow-catalog.yaml file. Ensure this file is accurate for the skill to function correctly.
• Design Category: The skill primarily targets design workflow navigation, but its principles apply broadly to structured project pipelines.

The "Help" skill is an essential tool for any team member seeking clarity on their next steps within a structured workflow. By leveraging the authoritative workflow catalog and real-time project state, it provides accurate, immediate, and actionable advice, keeping your project moving forward efficiently.