Reuse Before Generate

```
```

---
name: reuse-before-generate
description: Check for existing open-source repositories, packages, models, container images, and SaaS competitors before building from scratch. Trigger on /reuse-before-generate or whenever checking existing alternatives.
---
# Reuse Before Generate

Intercept new project scaffolding to discover existing open-source codebases, ecosystem packages, and commercial alternatives.

## Workflow

1. **Generate 2–4 Technical Query Angles**:
   Convert the user's request into precise technical keywords maintainers use (e.g. `["gnome speech to text", "gnome whisper dictation", "linux offline voice typing"]`).
2. **Query Code Registries**:

   - **If MCP tool (`check_before_building`) is available:**
     Call `check_before_building` with the generated queries:
     ```json
     {
       "queries": ["query 1", "query 2", "query 3"]
     }
     ```
   - **If MCP is NOT installed:**
     1. Prompt the user briefly with how to install it and refresh:
        > 💡 *`reuse-before-generate` MCP is not installed. To add it, put this in your MCP configuration and restart your session:*
        >
        > ```json
        > "reuse-before-generate": {
        >   "command": "npx",
        >   "args": ["-y", "reuse-before-generate@latest"]
        > }
        > ```
        >
     2. In the meantime, run CLI fallback (`npx -y reuse-before-generate "..."`) or targeted web searches (`site:github.com ...`) to continue answering.
3. **Execute Deep Web Search**:
   Use built-in web search to check for:

   - Commercial SaaS products and hosted services
   - Reddit / Hacker News discussions and comparisons
   - Self-hosted / indie tools and awesome-lists
4. **Present Findings & Deliverables (Keep Analysis Concise & Show All Fetched Hits)**:

   - **Recommendation (Short & Direct)**: 2–3 sentences on whether to reuse an existing tool, fork/extend one, or build from scratch.
   - **Top Alternatives Highlight**: Brief summary of the top 2–3 direct solutions found across web search and code registries.
   - **Fetched Registry Hits Table (Mandatory at end)**: Always output a structured markdown table summarizing the fetched discoveries directly from the tool output so the user sees all exact hits without wading through AI prose:
     | Project / Package | Source / Ecosystem                       | Stars / Metric      | Description         |
     | ----------------- | ---------------------------------------- | ------------------- | ------------------- |
     | [owner/repo](url)  | GitHub / GitLab                          | ★ 4,200            | Concise description |
     | [app-name](url)    | Flathub / F-Droid / GNOME                | App ID / Downloads  | Concise description |
     | [pkg-name](url)    | PyPI / npm / Crates / Brew / AUR / Conda | Version / Downloads | Concise description |