Mint using-mint

Pre-modification gate for projects using the mint development framework. Ensures the mint skill is invoked before any file write, edit, or delete — routing tasks to the correct execution mode with quality gates enforced. Use when a .mint/ directory is present in a project, when starting any coding task, or when about to modify files in a mint-managed repository.

install

source · Clone the upstream repo

git clone https://github.com/3li7alaki/mint

Claude Code · Install into ~/.claude/skills/

T=$(mktemp -d) && git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/3li7alaki/mint "$T" && mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && cp -r "$T/skills/using-mint" ~/.claude/skills/3li7alaki-mint-using-mint && rm -rf "$T"

manifest: skills/using-mint/SKILL.md

source content

<MANDATORY-RULE> For ANY task that writes, edits, or deletes files — invoke `mint` FIRST. You CANNOT use Write, Edit, or Bash (for file ops) tools until mint is invoked. </MANDATORY-RULE>

Using mint

The Rule

Invoke mint BEFORE modifying any file. mint auto-routes to the right mode based on task complexity. You do not decide the workflow — mint does.

How to Invoke

Use the Skill tool to invoke

mint

with the user's task description:

Skill({ skill: "mint", args: "Add dark mode toggle to the settings page" })

mint will auto-detect the right mode, announce the routing decision, and execute with quality gates and disciplined delegation.

When mint Applies

Task	Mode
Feature implementation	plan or ship
Bug fix	quick or plan
Refactor	plan
Config change (≤3 files)	quick
Research / investigation	research
Check quality gates	verify
Pure conversation / reading files	No — mint not needed

If you're tempted to skip mint ("this is just a small fix", "I'll edit one file directly") — that's exactly when mint matters most. Small fixes use quick mode. mint enforces gates even on single files.

What mint Provides

Auto-routing — quick/plan/research/ship/verify based on complexity
Quality gates — lint + types + tests enforced before every commit
Multi-stage review — spec review, then parallel audit (quality, security, conventions, tests, business)
Learning loop — past failures become future prevention via issues.md
Context protection — main context stays clean, heavy work delegated to subagents

Configuration

mint expects

.mint/config.json

in the project root. If it doesn't exist, mint will prompt to run init.

Override

The user can always override mint's routing:

"No, just quick-fix it" → switches to quick mode
"Actually plan this out" → switches to plan mode
"Skip mint, just do X" → respect the override, but warn about skipped gates