shadcn/improve
Source repo for the
improveagent skill: audit a codebase, vet findings, and write self-contained implementation plans for other agents to execute.
Routing Summary
Use shadcn/improve when the expensive work is diagnosis, prioritization, or plan authorship. It should create auditable improvement plans that cheaper agents can execute later, then hand completed work to Security and Review Skills and Security and Review Skills for hardening.
What it is
shadcn/improve is the upstream source for Kevin's installed Frontend and Design Skills skill. Its core move is Borrowed Intelligence (Drain It into Plans): use the strongest model for understanding, judgment, prioritization, and plan writing; hand execution to cheaper agents later. The skill writes to plans/ and deliberately does not implement source changes itself.
The follow-up bookmark adds the model-risk rationale. Shadcn framed /improve as a hedge after a frontier model was pulled: the best model today may disappear, be priced differently, or be replaced tomorrow. The durable move is to convert temporary model advantage into repo-specific plans, issues, and backlog artifacts while the model is available. Source: X/@shadcn, 2026-06-13
Install shape:
npx skills add shadcn/improve
Routing
| Need | Route |
|---|---|
| Audit a repo and bank high-leverage plans | /improve / Frontend and Design Skills |
| Scope to current branch | /improve branch |
| Focus on security, perf, tests, bugs, etc. | /improve security, /improve perf, etc. |
| Execute a banked plan | Browser Testing Skills or /improve execute <plan> with review |
| Strict final PR review | Security and Review Skills then Security and Review Skills |
The boundary matters: improve is for plan creation and plan governance. It is not a replacement for the implementation loop or review doctors.
Version Snapshot
| Field | Snapshot |
|---|---|
| Repo | shadcn/improve |
| Release status | No GitHub releases observed as of 2026-07-04 |
| Package status | Installed through npx skills add shadcn/improve; no npm package used as version authority |
| License | MIT |
| Repo status | 6,823 stars / 274 forks / 10 open issues as of 2026-07-04 |
| Last repo push checked | 2026-06-15 |
| Default-branch HEAD | 03369ee6d7cafbfcecc4346539b05b3dc0a603bb |
Source: GitHub API and README, 2026-07-04
Plan Quality Invariants
Every accepted plan should be:
- self-contained enough for a weaker executor
- stamped to a git commit for drift checking
- explicit about files, current state, steps, verification, and STOP conditions
- scoped so the executor does not improvise product decisions
- reconciled later so stale plans do not accumulate
Kevin Stack Placement
In Kevin's stack, shadcn/improve lives before PRD/code for broad codebase improvement and after initial domain/context discovery. Pair it with Frontend and Design Skills for architecture questions, Agent Self-Improvement Eval Library when improving the agent loop itself, and Security and Review Skills when the resulting implementation is ready to harden.
Timeline
- 2026-07-04 | Source-reviewed Shadcn's model-volatility follow-up and refreshed repo state: no release tags, MIT, HEAD
03369ee6, 6,823 stars, 274 forks, 10 open issues. The follow-up strengthens Borrowed Intelligence (Drain It into Plans) as a hedge against model churn. Source: X/@shadcn, 2026-06-13; GitHub API, 2026-07-04 - 2026-06-29 | Added a dedicated tool page for the upstream
shadcn/improvesource and wired it into planning/tool routing. Source: User request, 2026-06-29; GitHubshadcn/improve - 2026-06-13 | The pattern was captured as Borrowed Intelligence (Drain It into Plans) and the local Frontend and Design Skills skill route. Source: User request, 2026-06-13; GitHub
shadcn/improve