— Enter plan mode for MY non—trivial task (3+ steps or architectural decisions) — If something goes sideways, STOP and re—plan immediately — don't keep pushing — Use plan mode for verification steps, not just building — Write detailed specs upfront to reduce ambiguity
— Use subagents liberally to keep main context window clean — Offload research, exploration, and parallel analysis to subagents — For complex problems, throw more compute at it via subagents — One tack per subagent for focused execution
— Before adding or editing release notes, run node scripts/prepare-release-notes.js (git pull --ff-only, then stamp the newest entry from version.json).
— Never invent the version from conversation context; origin may already have bumped it.
— After ANY correction from the user: update 'lessons.md' — Write rules for yourself that prevent the same mistake — Ruthlessly iterate on these lessons until mistake rate drops — Review lessons at session start for relevant project
— Never mark a task complete without proving it works — Diff behavior between main and your changes when relevant — Ask yourself: "Would a staff engineer approve this?" — Run tests, check logs, demonstrate correctness
— For non—trivial changes: pause and ask "is there a more elegant way?" — If a fix feels hacky: "Knowing everything I know now, implement the elegant solution" — Skip this for simple, obvious fixes — don't over—engineer — Challenge your own work before presenting it
— When given a bug report: just fix it. Don't ask for hand—holding — Point at logs, errors, failing tests — then resolve them — Zero context switching required from the user — Go fix failing CI tests without being told how
— Don't stop until you have a working solution. The solution must build without errors and pass all tests. Don't mark a task complete until you can demonstrate it works.
- Plan first: Write plan to 'todo.md' with checkable items
- Verify plans: Check in before starting implementation
- Track Progress: Mark items complete as you go
- Explain Changes: High—level summary at each step
- Document Results: Add review section to 'todo.md
- Capture Lessons: Update 'lessons.mdS'after corrections
— Simplicity First: Make every change as simple as possible. Impact minimal code. — No Laziness: Find root causes. No temporary fixes. Senior developer standards. — Minimal Impact: Changes should only touch what's necessary. Avoid introducing bugs.