Conventions

These conventions define formatting, naming, and repository structure.

Applicability

• Every section of this file applies to every task.
• The capability conventions live in prompts/capabilities/artifacts/ and prompts/capabilities/execution/ and apply only when the project uses that capability; a project that does not use a capability ignores those rules, and a task that does not touch the capability does not load them.
  • artifacts/01-generated-documentation.md
  • artifacts/02-version-information.md
  • artifacts/03-generated-data-products.md
  • artifacts/04-release-and-publishing.md
  • artifacts/05-pinned-dependencies.md
  • execution/06-execution-boundary.md
  • execution/07-session-log.md
  • execution/08-delegation-authority.md
  • execution/09-failure-attribution.md

1. Formatting

• Use 4-space indents in code and Markdown when the format supports configurable indentation.
• Use spaces where the format allows a choice.
• Use one sentence per line in Markdown, so git diff is easier to read.
• Render a series of more than two one-sentence paragraphs as an unordered list when the sentences are parallel points that could be reordered.
• Keep prose for narrative progression, introductions, and sentences that lead into a following list.
• Break long quoted lists in shell scripts to one item per line, so git diff is easier to read.
• Use UPPERCASE names for shell variables that stay constant once defined.
• Use whole words in shell variable names; do not abbreviate.
• Give shell constants at least two words in semantic-sort order, broad first.
• Prefix shell variable names with the type word, like file_input.
• Use short, concise sentences in the style of Douglas Adams.
• Apply sentence-per-line rules to prose only.
• Write one independent statement per physical line.
• Follow the target language’s formatter and syntax rules.
• Follow the target language’s brace and block syntax.
• Language and framework conventions override generic rules when required for correctness.

1.1 Comparison Conventions

• Compare constants first, on the left: write 5 == a, never a == 5.
• An assignment where a comparison was intended becomes 5 = a, which the compiler flags as an error.
• Write relational comparisons lesser-to-greater: write 5 < a, never a > 5.
• Reading comparisons in one consistent order makes a reversed operator harder to miss.
• Combine both conventions when the constant is the lesser value: write 5 < a, never a > 5.
• When the variable is the lesser value, keep it on the left: write a < 5, never 5 > a.
• Use <= and >= only when the strict form is wrong; apply the same lesser-on-the-left order.

2. Directory Naming

The required directories, their purposes, and the placement rule are listed once, in prompts/01-contract.md section 7. This section adds no directory of its own.

3. Filename Structure

• Feature numbers must be unique and must match the task, TODO item, or feature dependency.
• Use the established feature name.
• Do not invent a new feature name.
• Use whole words in directory and filenames.
• Do not use abbreviations in directory and filenames.
• Scripts use semantic-sort names such as site-build.sh and site-sync.sh.
• Script names order components from broad meaning to narrow meaning: <domain>-<role>.sh.
• Source modules use names such as aspect_facet_category.ext.

3.1 Filename Authority

• Use an existing filename when the task identifies an existing file.
• Before creating a file, reuse an established filename pattern.
• A filename is valid only if it is:
  • explicitly named by the task.
  • already present in the repository.
  • required by an established language, framework, or tool convention.
  • required by a referenced feature specification.
  • free of spaces and non-ASCII characters.
• Do not invent filenames from an informal description.
• Do not create synonymous, abbreviated, pluralized, or alternative filenames for an existing concept.
• If more than one filename is plausible, ask for clarification.
• If the required filename cannot be determined from the task, repository, or conventions, ask instead of guessing.
• Do not rename an existing file unless the task explicitly requests it.

4. Identifier Naming

• Apply the rules in prompts/flavors/01-semantic-sort-naming.md.
• Language-specific naming rules live in prompts/flavors/.

5. Documentation

• Document public APIs, non-obvious behavior, invariants, side effects, and externally visible formats.
• Do not add comments that merely restate the code.
• Include comments only when requested or when they explain non-obvious behavior.
• Customize a shared rule by extending, not forking: a project-specific rule goes in a local prompt file numbered after the shared ones, and an override quotes the rule it replaces. scripts/rules-check.sh fails on an edited vendored file, so a fork cannot survive an upgrade.

6. Repository Hygiene

• Maintain .gitignore rules for generated output and logs.
• Preserve required empty directories with placeholder files.
• Identify every generated file as generated.
• Edit a generated file only when the task explicitly requests it.
• Write generated output only to its designated output directory.
• Generated build trees are path-bound: clean them when the repository is reached through a different path.
• Keep source, prompt, and generated files in their own directories.
• Commit messages use one line in imperative mood with a conventional prefix (feat:, fix:, docs:, test:, chore:, refactor:) and a short summary.
• A commit contains one task’s files and that task’s status updates; an outcome record is a separate commit (see prompts/02-workflow.md §7.1).
• Commit source, prompts, records, and configuration only.
• Live-state facts in hand-written documents carry a verification date: verified 2026-08-22.
• Prefer generated documents over hand-written ones for anything that reflects live state.
• Run the publish sanitization gate (scripts/leak-gate.sh) over generated output before publishing.
• Keep the sanitization patterns in one source (scripts/sensitive-patterns.sh) and never inline them in another script or test.
• A served static asset is requested under a URL that changes when its bytes change: derive one content token from the interdependent asset set and append it to every URL, including transitive module imports; fail the build when the stamp does not land.
• Committed tool configuration uses workspace-relative paths (for example ${workspaceFolder}), never an absolute home path; an absolute path is both a leak and a portability bug.

6.1 Third-Party Checkouts

A cloned third-party repository is host material, not project material. It is an input a task may read, never a directory the project commits.

• Clone a third-party repository under the host checkout root $HOME/sources/, never inside the project working tree.
• The host checkout root is a host path and is not the repository’s sources/ directory; the two share a name and nothing else.
• Write it environment-relative as $HOME/sources/; a literal absolute home path is refused by the committed-path rule in prompts/01-contract.md section 7.
• A project whose host checkout root differs declares it in its project section.
• Pin a checkout the project depends on, per prompts/capabilities/artifacts/05-pinned-dependencies.md.
• A checkout found inside the working tree is a defect: move it to the host checkout root and remove the in-tree copy.

7. File Operations

Every task must identify each file operation as one of:

• create
• modify
• delete
• rename
• inspect

Also:

• A file listed as existing is not automatically authorized for modification.
• For every create, rename, or delete operation, the task must identify the exact source and target filename.
• A directory name alone does not authorize creating a file with an invented name.

7.1 Unattended Scripts

A script must complete without a human at the terminal.

• A script must not block on standard input. A prompt that waits for an answer hangs an unattended run instead of failing it.
• When a script needs a choice, take it from an environment variable or an explicit command-line flag.
• The unattended default must fail closed: refuse, exit nonzero, and state the reason.
• A prompt is permitted only in a script the caller has explicitly marked interactive.
• scripts/install.sh is the worked example: it refuses when it cannot verify, names the environment variable that overrides the refusal, and never prompts.

8. Output

• The output rules are in prompts/01-contract.md section 5; the scope rules are in prompts/common/01-universal-rules.md.
• Praise and affirmation filler are output defects: they raise confidence without adding information.