Wayne Sutton Builder Skills - Setup Guide¶
Source: waynesutton/builder-skills via skills.sh - 37.6K combined installs across 18 indexed listings; first seen Oct 11, 2026 (evening sweep)
GitHub: waynesutton/builder-skills (406 stars, Apache-2.0 license; pushed Sep 28, 2026; skills/<name>/SKILL.md layout; 17 skills plus 2 starter templates)
Category: Backend Platform (BaaS) / Developer Workflow
Quality Tier: 🟡 Beta - opinionated single-maintainer suite (406 stars, Apache-2.0); active Sep 2026; all sampled verdicts Pass
Wayne Sutton ships 17 skills for builders working on Convex, the TypeScript-first backend platform. Thirteen teach an agent the documented Convex patterns - validators on every function, indexes over filters, idempotent mutations, signature-verified webhooks, zero-downtime migrations - each pointing at docs.convex.dev/llms.txt and pushing depth into references/ so the agent only loads what the task needs. The other four run the project: write a PRD before touching code, keep task.md, changelog.md, and files.md true from git evidence, avoid scope creep, and never run a git command that can destroy uncommitted work.
This is a distinct, opinionated set: the README says so directly ("This repo is my opinionated set, tuned for how I build"). The skills ship through three channels - skills.sh, a Claude Code plugin marketplace, and an npm CLI - and work with Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, OpenCode, and anything that reads a SKILL.md.
Installation¶
Install with skills.sh (files land in your repo and stay editable):
npx skills add waynesutton/builder-skills
# later, pull author updates
npx skills update
Claude Code plugin (managed, auto-updating):
claude plugins marketplace add waynesutton/builder-skills
claude plugins install builder-skills@waynesutton
Or from inside a Claude Code session:
/plugin marketplace add waynesutton/builder-skills
/plugin install builder-skills@waynesutton
npm CLI (default target is .claude/skills; use --target codex|cursor|opencode for others):
npx @waynesutton/builder-skills install-all
npx @waynesutton/builder-skills install-templates
What It Provides¶
Install counts from the Oct 11, 2026 skills.sh snapshot:
| Skill | Installs | Use For |
|---|---|---|
| convex | 5,669 | Router for any Convex task; the rules that apply everywhere (validators, indexes, idempotency) |
| convex-best-practices | 3,894 | Production patterns and the rules the @convex-dev/eslint-plugin enforces |
| convex-functions | 3,175 | Queries, mutations, actions, and internal functions with arg and return validators |
| convex-schema-validator | 3,017 | Schema design: tables, validators, indexes, and relationships |
| convex-realtime | 2,877 | Reactive UIs: live queries, optimistic updates, pagination, and presence |
| convex-cron-jobs | 2,789 | Cron jobs and scheduled functions, batching, and cancellation |
| convex-http-actions | 2,728 | Webhooks with signature checks, REST-style routes, CORS, and streaming responses |
| convex-security-check | 2,718 | Ten-minute pre-merge security pass over a Convex backend |
| convex-file-storage | 2,645 | Upload URLs, blob storage, serving, metadata, and deletion |
| convex-migrations | 2,584 | Zero-downtime schema changes: optional fields, batched backfills, validator flips |
| convex-security-audit | 1,549 | Deep launch review: authorization model, per-table access paths, rate limiting |
| convex-agents | 1,457 | AI agents on the Convex agent component: threads, tools, streaming, and RAG |
| avoid-feature-creep | 1,247 | Keeps a change scoped; moves "while we are here" edits to a suggestions list |
| convex-component-authoring | 1,144 | Reusable components with defineComponent, client wrappers, and npm publish setup |
The remaining 4 indexed listings range from 1 to 68 installs (convex-eslint at 68 has no counterpart in the current tree; project-workflow, project-docs, and git-safety at 1 each).
Why This Matters for Hermes Agents¶
Most platform skill sets are either the vendor's official library or a loose prompt dump; this one is a working developer's opinionated narrowing of a platform, and that shape has three lessons for agent builders. First, the rules-first design: every skill leads with the failure it prevents (filter instead of withIndex, missing returns validator, api. instead of internal., Date.now() inside a cached query) and then points at the live docs for the current API, which keeps the skills from rotting as the platform changes. Second, the workflow skills encode a complete unattended loop - PRD, task tracking, changelog and file docs synced from git evidence, and a git-safety gate that forbids destructive commands without an explicit yes - and that loop is portable to any project an agent works on, Convex or not. Third, the packaging: seventeen small router skills with progressive disclosure beat one large prompt, and the same SKILL.md folders install across Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, and OpenCode. If you run agents against a Convex backend, this suite is a direct quality lift; if you do not, the four workflow skills still earn their place.
Usage¶
| You say | What happens |
|---|---|
| "Add a webhook endpoint that verifies signatures" | convex-http-actions builds the convex/http.ts route with signature checks and CORS |
| "Review this backend before we merge" | convex-security-check runs a ten-minute pass: public functions, missing auth, unvalidated args |
| "Change this live table's schema without downtime" | convex-migrations: optional field, batched backfill, validator flip, cleanup |
| "Write a PRD before touching this feature" | project-workflow triages first, writes the PRD in prds/, and tracks it in task.md |
| "Sync the changelog with what actually shipped" | project-docs reads git log and the working tree, then updates changelog.md, files.md, and task.md |
| "Build a support agent with streaming and RAG" | convex-agents sets up threads, tool calls over queries and mutations, and vector search |
| "The agent keeps adding refactors I did not ask for" | avoid-feature-creep moves the extra edits to a suggestions list and keeps the change scoped |
Verification¶
# In the project where you installed: confirm the skills landed
ls .claude/skills
# Review the router skill from GitHub before installing (path verified Oct 11, 2026)
curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/waynesutton/builder-skills/main/skills/convex/SKILL.md | head -40
Security¶
skills.sh verdicts for sampled skills (verified Oct 11, 2026) - re-check the security pages on skills.sh before production use:
| Skill | Gen Agent Trust Hub | Socket | Snyk |
|---|---|---|---|
| convex | Pass | Pass | Pass |
| convex-realtime | Pass | Pass | Pass |
| convex-security-check | Pass | Pass | Pass |
Integration with CorpusIQ¶
CorpusIQ is the connector layer that lets AI assistants read the systems a business already runs on - accounting, payments, CRM, email, files and analytics - and answer with the source named. It is read-only by design: it retrieves data and never writes to, or acts in, a connected system, which is what makes it safe to point at live accounts.
This page is part of the CorpusIQ directory, the reference we maintain for the MCP server and agent-skill ecosystem. Run alongside CorpusIQ, a third-party server like this one can be combined with a company's own business data in a single answer.
Limitations¶
- Convex-specific for 13 of the 17 skills; the workflow set (project-workflow, project-docs, git-safety, avoid-feature-creep) applies to any project.
- Independent set, not the official get-convex library: the README positions it as the author's opinionated tuning; review the patterns before adopting them wholesale.
- The install index outruns the tree slightly: convex-eslint is indexed on skills.sh (68 installs) with no matching directory in the current repo tree.
- install-templates writes starter files into your project root (AGENTS.md, task.md, changelog.md, files.md, prds/) and two editable skills; it does not overwrite existing files.
- Snapshot data, verified Oct 11, 2026: 37,564 combined installs across 18 indexed listings; 406 GitHub stars; Apache-2.0; last pushed Sep 28, 2026. Counts drift over time.
Related¶
- Convex Agent Skills - Backend Platform (BaaS) Setup - the official Convex skill set; this guide's set is the independent, workflow-focused companion
- Neon Agent Skills - Serverless Postgres Setup - serverless database skills for a different backend stack
- Supabase Agent Skills - Backend Platform Setup - alternative backend-as-a-service skill set
- Skills Catalog | Skills Marketplace
Pro Tips¶
- Start with the convex router skill; it routes to the correct builder skill and carries the platform-wide rules.
- Pair the security skills: run convex-security-check before every merge and convex-security-audit before launch.
- Run install-templates once per project to get the PRD loop (prds/, task.md, changelog.md, files.md) plus the two editable house-style skills.
- Update later with npx skills update; the installed files stay yours to edit.
- The four workflow skills are not Convex-bound - reuse them on any repo you run agents against.
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