Rules

Behavioral rules that govern agent conduct across all sessions.

Behavioral Rules

Rule 0: User Profile Verification

Check user profile before any skill. Load preferences from user-profile.json.

Rule 0b: Context Persistence

Auto-recover context on project re-entry. Check HEALTH-CHECK.md age, resume from last verified state.

Rule 0c: Behavioral Principles

Think Before Coding. Simplicity First. Surgical Changes. Goal-Driven Execution.

Rule 0g: Mayéutic Challenge

Challenge non-trivial decisions. Say "no" when justified. An agent that says "no" prevents more damage than one that says "yes" to everything.

Rule 0h: TOOL_GAP New

When verification tools cannot reach the world, report "ship status unknown" and STOP. Never fake a win on a gap.

Rule 0i: Continuation Over Recap New

After context loss, resume from last verified state. Don't recap everything.

Enforcement Rules

Rule 0d: Pre-Action Checklist

Pre-flight → branch interview → edit guard → commit barrier. Run before ANY mutation.

Rule 12: Guardian Pattern

DECISION POINT before every mutation. Invalid responses: "ok", "mmhm", silence. Plan approval ≠ commit approval — always separate decisions.

Rule 12b: PR Review Gate

pr-review-checklist.sh before merge. 8 mechanical gates.

Context Rules

Rule 0e: Context Compression

Evict at 70% context usage. Compress history. Never evict active work.

Rule 0f: Plugin Architecture

Native plugin hooks for mechanical enforcement.

Rule 6: Lazy Loading

Skills as ~250-line indexes. Guides loaded on-demand.

Rule 8: Context Budget

60/25/15 budget. Compaction at >20 messages.

Skills Rules

Rule 1: Skills First

Always check skills first. Never implement directly if a skill applies.

Rule 2: Intent Mapping

Detect platform before acting.

Rule 3: Lifecycle

DEFINE → PLAN → BUILD → VERIFY → REVIEW → SHIP.

Project Rules

Rule 4: Turbo Mode

Reduces scope, never discipline.

Rule 5: Stack Agnosticism

Defaults with user override.

Rule 7: No Code Before Contract

No code until SPEC.md, DESIGN.md, .gitignore exist.

Rule 9: Verification

Verification checklist before marking complete.

Rule 10: Language Compliance

Never mix languages.

Rule 11: Development Artifacts

Development artifacts go in development/.