docs: add 'When to Activate' sections to 14 skill definitions

Add activation triggers to skills that were missing them, helping
Claude Code determine when to load each skill contextually.

skills/backend-patterns/SKILL.md

@@ -7,6 +7,16 @@ description: Backend architecture patterns, API design, database optimization, a
 
 Backend architecture patterns and best practices for scalable server-side applications.
 
+## When to Activate
+
+- Designing REST or GraphQL API endpoints
+- Implementing repository, service, or controller layers
+- Optimizing database queries (N+1, indexing, connection pooling)
+- Adding caching (Redis, in-memory, HTTP cache headers)
+- Setting up background jobs or async processing
+- Structuring error handling and validation for APIs
+- Building middleware (auth, logging, rate limiting)
+
 ## API Design Patterns
 
 ### RESTful API Structure

skills/clickhouse-io/SKILL.md

@@ -7,6 +7,15 @@ description: ClickHouse database patterns, query optimization, analytics, and da
 
 ClickHouse-specific patterns for high-performance analytics and data engineering.
 
+## When to Activate
+
+- Designing ClickHouse table schemas (MergeTree engine selection)
+- Writing analytical queries (aggregations, window functions, joins)
+- Optimizing query performance (partition pruning, projections, materialized views)
+- Ingesting large volumes of data (batch inserts, Kafka integration)
+- Migrating from PostgreSQL/MySQL to ClickHouse for analytics
+- Implementing real-time dashboards or time-series analytics
+
 ## Overview
 
 ClickHouse is a column-oriented database management system (DBMS) for online analytical processing (OLAP). It's optimized for fast analytical queries on large datasets.

skills/coding-standards/SKILL.md

@@ -7,6 +7,15 @@ description: Universal coding standards, best practices, and patterns for TypeSc
 
 Universal coding standards applicable across all projects.
 
+## When to Activate
+
+- Starting a new project or module
+- Reviewing code for quality and maintainability
+- Refactoring existing code to follow conventions
+- Enforcing naming, formatting, or structural consistency
+- Setting up linting, formatting, or type-checking rules
+- Onboarding new contributors to coding conventions
+
 ## Code Quality Principles
 
 ### 1. Readability First

skills/continuous-learning-v2/SKILL.md

@@ -8,6 +8,14 @@ version: 2.0.0
 
 An advanced learning system that turns your Claude Code sessions into reusable knowledge through atomic "instincts" - small learned behaviors with confidence scoring.
 
+## When to Activate
+
+- Setting up automatic learning from Claude Code sessions
+- Configuring instinct-based behavior extraction via hooks
+- Tuning confidence thresholds for learned behaviors
+- Reviewing, exporting, or importing instinct libraries
+- Evolving instincts into full skills, commands, or agents
+
 ## What's New in v2
 
 | Feature | v1 | v2 |

skills/continuous-learning/SKILL.md

@@ -7,6 +7,14 @@ description: Automatically extract reusable patterns from Claude Code sessions a
 
 Automatically evaluates Claude Code sessions on end to extract reusable patterns that can be saved as learned skills.
 
+## When to Activate
+
+- Setting up automatic pattern extraction from Claude Code sessions
+- Configuring the Stop hook for session evaluation
+- Reviewing or curating learned skills in `~/.claude/skills/learned/`
+- Adjusting extraction thresholds or pattern categories
+- Comparing v1 (this) vs v2 (instinct-based) approaches
+
 ## How It Works
 
 This skill runs as a **Stop hook** at the end of each session:

skills/django-verification/SKILL.md

@@ -7,6 +7,14 @@ description: "Verification loop for Django projects: migrations, linting, tests
 
 Run before PRs, after major changes, and pre-deploy to ensure Django application quality and security.
 
+## When to Activate
+
+- Before opening a pull request for a Django project
+- After major model changes, migration updates, or dependency upgrades
+- Pre-deployment verification for staging or production
+- Running full environment → lint → test → security → deploy readiness pipeline
+- Validating migration safety and test coverage
+
 ## Phase 1: Environment Check
 
 ```bash

skills/eval-harness/SKILL.md

@@ -8,6 +8,14 @@ tools: Read, Write, Edit, Bash, Grep, Glob
 
 A formal evaluation framework for Claude Code sessions, implementing eval-driven development (EDD) principles.
 
+## When to Activate
+
+- Setting up eval-driven development (EDD) for AI-assisted workflows
+- Defining pass/fail criteria for Claude Code task completion
+- Measuring agent reliability with pass@k metrics
+- Creating regression test suites for prompt or agent changes
+- Benchmarking agent performance across model versions
+
 ## Philosophy
 
 Eval-Driven Development treats evals as the "unit tests of AI development":

skills/frontend-patterns/SKILL.md

@@ -7,6 +7,16 @@ description: Frontend development patterns for React, Next.js, state management,
 
 Modern frontend patterns for React, Next.js, and performant user interfaces.
 
+## When to Activate
+
+- Building React components (composition, props, rendering)
+- Managing state (useState, useReducer, Zustand, Context)
+- Implementing data fetching (SWR, React Query, server components)
+- Optimizing performance (memoization, virtualization, code splitting)
+- Working with forms (validation, controlled inputs, Zod schemas)
+- Handling client-side routing and navigation
+- Building accessible, responsive UI patterns
+
 ## Component Patterns
 
 ### Composition Over Inheritance

skills/iterative-retrieval/SKILL.md

@@ -7,6 +7,14 @@ description: Pattern for progressively refining context retrieval to solve the s
 
 Solves the "context problem" in multi-agent workflows where subagents don't know what context they need until they start working.
 
+## When to Activate
+
+- Spawning subagents that need codebase context they cannot predict upfront
+- Building multi-agent workflows where context is progressively refined
+- Encountering "context too large" or "missing context" failures in agent tasks
+- Designing RAG-like retrieval pipelines for code exploration
+- Optimizing token usage in agent orchestration
+
 ## The Problem
 
 Subagents are spawned with limited context. They don't know:

skills/java-coding-standards/SKILL.md

@@ -7,6 +7,14 @@ description: "Java coding standards for Spring Boot services: naming, immutabili
 
 Standards for readable, maintainable Java (17+) code in Spring Boot services.
 
+## When to Activate
+
+- Writing or reviewing Java code in Spring Boot projects
+- Enforcing naming, immutability, or exception handling conventions
+- Working with records, sealed classes, or pattern matching (Java 17+)
+- Reviewing use of Optional, streams, or generics
+- Structuring packages and project layout
+
 ## Core Principles
 
 - Prefer clarity over cleverness

skills/jpa-patterns/SKILL.md

@@ -7,6 +7,15 @@ description: JPA/Hibernate patterns for entity design, relationships, query opti
 
 Use for data modeling, repositories, and performance tuning in Spring Boot.
 
+## When to Activate
+
+- Designing JPA entities and table mappings
+- Defining relationships (@OneToMany, @ManyToOne, @ManyToMany)
+- Optimizing queries (N+1 prevention, fetch strategies, projections)
+- Configuring transactions, auditing, or soft deletes
+- Setting up pagination, sorting, or custom repository methods
+- Tuning connection pooling (HikariCP) or second-level caching
+
 ## Entity Design
 
 ```java

skills/springboot-patterns/SKILL.md

@@ -7,6 +7,15 @@ description: Spring Boot architecture patterns, REST API design, layered service
 
 Spring Boot architecture and API patterns for scalable, production-grade services.
 
+## When to Activate
+
+- Building REST APIs with Spring MVC or WebFlux
+- Structuring controller → service → repository layers
+- Configuring Spring Data JPA, caching, or async processing
+- Adding validation, exception handling, or pagination
+- Setting up profiles for dev/staging/production environments
+- Implementing event-driven patterns with Spring Events or Kafka
+
 ## REST API Structure
 
 ```java

skills/springboot-security/SKILL.md

@@ -7,6 +7,16 @@ description: Spring Security best practices for authn/authz, validation, CSRF, s
 
 Use when adding auth, handling input, creating endpoints, or dealing with secrets.
 
+## When to Activate
+
+- Adding authentication (JWT, OAuth2, session-based)
+- Implementing authorization (@PreAuthorize, role-based access)
+- Validating user input (Bean Validation, custom validators)
+- Configuring CORS, CSRF, or security headers
+- Managing secrets (Vault, environment variables)
+- Adding rate limiting or brute-force protection
+- Scanning dependencies for CVEs
+
 ## Authentication
 
 - Prefer stateless JWT or opaque tokens with revocation list

skills/springboot-verification/SKILL.md

@@ -7,6 +7,14 @@ description: "Verification loop for Spring Boot projects: build, static analysis
 
 Run before PRs, after major changes, and pre-deploy.
 
+## When to Activate
+
+- Before opening a pull request for a Spring Boot service
+- After major refactoring or dependency upgrades
+- Pre-deployment verification for staging or production
+- Running full build → lint → test → security scan pipeline
+- Validating test coverage meets thresholds
+
 ## Phase 1: Build
 
 ```bash