| name | skyline-development |
| description | ALWAYS load when working in pwiz_tools/Skyline, on GitHub issues labeled 'skyline', or TODOs referencing Skyline code. |
Skyline Development Context
When working on any Skyline/ProteoWizard task, consult these documentation files for essential context.
Starting Work on a TODO
When starting a new TODO or sprint, read ai/todos/STARTUP.md first. It provides:
- Essential context files to read (CRITICAL-RULES.md, MEMORY.md, WORKFLOW.md)
- Git branch workflow (create from master, copy TODO to active/)
- TODO lifecycle (backlog → active → completed)
Continuing Work on Current Branch
When asked to continue work on the current branch or its TODO:
- Call
mcp__status__get_project_status() to get branch name (e.g., Skyline/work/20251126_files_view)
- Extract date and feature name from branch (e.g.,
20251126_files_view)
- Read the TODO file at
ai/todos/active/TODO-{date}_{feature}.md
- The TODO contains: objective, PR link, completed tasks, remaining work, and context
Core Files (Read for Every Code Task)
Read these files to understand project constraints and patterns:
- ai/CRITICAL-RULES.md - Absolute constraints (NO async/await, resource strings only, CRLF line endings, naming conventions)
- ai/MEMORY.md - Project context (900K LOC, 17 years, 8 devs, critical gotchas)
- ai/WORKFLOW.md - Git workflows, TODO system, commit message format
- ai/STYLEGUIDE.md - C# coding conventions for Skyline
- ai/TESTING.md - Testing rules (translation-proof, test structure)
When to Read What
- Before writing code: Read CRITICAL-RULES.md, STYLEGUIDE.md
- Before writing tests: Read TESTING.md, ai/docs/testing-patterns.md
- Before committing: Read WORKFLOW.md (commit message rules, Co-Authored-By attribution)
- Before building/testing: Read ai/docs/build-and-test-guide.md
- For detailed patterns: Read files in ai/docs/
Key Constraints (Quick Reference)
- NO
async/await - Use ActionUtil.RunAsync() instead
- ALL user-facing text in .resx files - No string literals
- NEVER English text in test assertions - Use resource strings
- Line endings: CRLF - Windows standard
- Private fields:
_camelCase - Not m_ prefix
- Always include
Co-Authored-By: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com> in commits
- CLI args must work via MCP
RunCommand() - Every SkylineCmd argument is also driven by an LLM through the in-process Skyline MCP, which saves via the GUI path (SkylineFiles.SaveDocument), not CommandLine's. Don't thread per-invocation state through the SaveDocument/Serialize* signatures (the MCP path drops it); use a scoped ambient override set in CommandLine.RunInner and read at the convergence point all save paths share (DocumentWriter → CompactFormatOption.Effective). See PR #4288.
Slash Commands Available
Type /pw- to see all project-specific commands. Key ones:
/pw-context - Full context reload/pw-rcrw - Review critical rules and workflow/pw-pcommitfull - Pre-commit with TODO update/pw-help - Full command reference
