astro-developer

name: astro-developer description: Comprehensive guide for developing in the Astro monorepo. Covers architecture, debugging, testing, and critical constraints. Use when working on features, fixes, tests, or understanding the codebase structure.

Astro Developer Skill

Context-loading skill for AI agents and developers working in the Astro monorepo. Loads relevant documentation based on your task.

Quick Decision Matrix

What are you doing? → Read these files:

Task	Primary Docs	Supporting Docs
Adding a core feature	architecture.md, constraints.md	testing.md
Fixing a bug	debugging.md	architecture.md
Writing/fixing tests	testing.md	constraints.md
Creating an integration	Explore `packages/integrations/` for examples	testing.md
Understanding architecture	architecture.md	-
Dealing with errors	debugging.md, constraints.md	testing.md
Understanding constraints	constraints.md	architecture.md

Critical Warnings

Before you start, be aware of these common pitfalls:

Prefer Unit Tests: Write unit-testable code by default. Use integration tests only when necessary → testing.md
Node.js API Restrictions: Cannot use Node.js APIs in runtime/ code → constraints.md
Test Isolation: Must set unique outDir for each integration test → testing.md
Runtime Boundaries: Core vs Vite vs Browser execution contexts → architecture.md
Prerelease Mode: Changesets target origin/next branch (check .changeset/config.json)

Quick Command Reference

# Development
pnpm install                                    # Install (root only)
pnpm run build                                  # Build all packages
pnpm run dev                                    # Watch mode
pnpm run lint                                   # Lint codebase

# Testing
pnpm -C packages/astro exec astro-scripts test "test/**/*.test.js"  # All tests
pnpm -C packages/astro exec astro-scripts test -m "pattern"         # Filter tests
pnpm run test:e2e                               # E2E tests
node --test test/file.test.js                   # Single test

# Examples
pnpm --filter @example/minimal run dev          # Run example

# Changesets
pnpm exec changeset --empty                     # Create changeset, no interactive mode

Key File Paths

packages/astro/src/
├── core/              # Node.js execution context (build/dev commands)
├── runtime/
│   ├── server/        # Vite SSR execution context
│   └── client/        # Browser execution context
├── virtual-modules/   # Virtual module entry points
├── content/           # Content layer system
├── vite-plugin-*/     # Vite plugins
└── types/             # Centralized TypeScript types

packages/integrations/  # Official integrations
examples/              # Test your changes here
test/fixtures/         # Test fixtures

Note: Error stack traces in node_modules/ map to source in packages/. See architecture.md for details.

Usage

This skill loads relevant context—it doesn't orchestrate workflows. After loading appropriate docs:

Read the recommended files for your task
Apply the patterns and constraints described
Use the commands and file paths provided
Search docs for error messages if you encounter issues

Architecture Quick Summary

Three Execution Contexts:

core/ → Node.js, build/dev commands, avoid Node APIs except in Vite plugins
runtime/server/ → Vite SSR, CANNOT use Node APIs
runtime/client/ → Browser, CANNOT use Node APIs at all

Five Pipeline Types:

RunnablePipeline → astro dev with Vite loader system
NonRunnablePipeline → astro dev without runtime module loading (Cloudflare adapter)
BuildPipeline → astro build + prerendering
AppPipeline → Production serverless/SSR
ContainerPipeline → Container API

See architecture.md for complete details.

Testing Quick Summary

Philosophy: Prefer unit tests over integration tests. Write unit-testable code by default.

Unit tests (fast, preferred):

Test pure functions and business logic
Extract business logic from infrastructure
Use dependency injection

Integration tests (slow, use sparingly):

Only for features that cannot be unit tested (virtual modules, full build pipeline)
Always set unique outDir to avoid cache pollution

See testing.md for complete patterns and examples.

When NOT to Use This Skill

Bug triage: Use the triage skill instead
GitHub Actions analysis: Use the analyze-github-action-logs skill
Simple questions: Just ask directly, don't load this skill