Read ENGINEERING.md. It is the governing engineering policy. Older packet and runtime instructions cannot restore heavier process defaults.
Read the current frontier and the owning packet. The execution contract owns program metadata and delivery details. Choose the next observable user capability and implement one coherent slice through the real application.
Use the workspace and execution environment authorized for the task. Reuse the current checkout and handoff when provided. Inspect live Git and preserve dirty work before editing. Keep one writer per shared file.
Use existing implementations and tests. Run the cheapest relevant checks, exercise the actual application, fix failures, and review the diff. Use another reviewer when the risk or complexity warrants it.
Before unusually heavy work, check memory and disk. Keep one heavy job active, bound runaway processes, and clean up task-owned servers, browsers, and children. Normal tests need ordinary timeouts and cleanup.
Invoke high-assurance mode only for a named dangerous failure. Select controls for that risk.
Follow CONTRIBUTING.md. Branch from current remote dev,
use a typed topic branch, and integrate through a PR with the required CI and
review gates. Never push directly to protected dev or legacy prod.
Make small, coherent, reviewed commits. Preserve unrelated work, accepted evidence, and historical budgets. Keep private handoffs, credentials, transcripts, and machine-specific continuity notes outside public source and Git history. Private source hosting does not establish agent-session capture.
Use the user's existing authorization. Complete reversible preparation before requesting any missing approval for pushes, PR creation, merges, publication, account changes, paid calls, scheduled activation, outbound messages, or destructive actions. A material scope or authority change needs alignment before that action. Do not modify the read-only source repositories loam, braincheck, throughline, or flywheel.
Follow the release workflow when release operations apply. Source implementation and passing tests do not establish publication. README.md owns shipped behavior.
Use the source map when work crosses project identity, root custody, runtime, or project writes. Read the architecture when a design decision needs it. Reuse existing Native owners and installed dependencies. Review relevant deny-lists and advisories before adding packages.
Update durable docs when behavior, architecture, contracts, or lasting constraints change. Give each fact one owner and refresh generated views when their inputs change. Keep the existing handoff concise. Failed or unrun verification remains incomplete regardless of a policy change.