instincts

Use when about to show any prose a human will read - docs, README, commit bodies, UI copy, store text.

Use when building any mechanic that could fail on a machine out of reach - a shipped product, a CLI a user runs, a server.

Use when doing any work in a project that has the instincts plugin installed

Use when touching build scripts, release or packaging steps, publish flows, or CI config.

Use when about to build something someone proposed, especially when the proposer sounds confident and the idea sounds obviously fine.

Use when adding any cross-cutting change - a new gate, limit, permission check, or rule that must apply everywhere.

Use when about to build or agree to build a feature, test, or check, especially when the request sounds big or clever.

Use when a bug surfaces while building on one's own shared code - a library, base class, SDK, or component.

Use when fixing any bug, especially one that surfaces far from where the bad state was created.

Use when about to call complex or shippable work done, or before merging.

Use when adding a case, check, or branch to a function that already exists, especially after jumping straight to the insertion point.

Use when noticing an incidental correctness problem - a stale comment, a wrong doc line, a drifted reference - in the area already being edited.

Use when writing code that runs per item, per frame, or per event, or building a cache or lookup over a collection that can grow large.

Use when about to write an implementation plan, scope a multi-step change, or enter plan mode - before any plan text exists. Also fires when reviewing a plan that states what code does without evidence behind it.

Use when adding or changing a feature, a data model, or any action that creates, edits, or removes state.

Use when several well-reasoned fixes on the same hypothesis have all failed, or when a symptom looks impossible.

Use when writing or reviewing any test, or when about to accept "tests pass" as evidence.

Use when finishing anything that depends on external state a person controls - a file, a record, a folder.

Use when building or changing anything a user interacts with - a control, a screen, a flow.

Use when about to assert any factual claim about what code or a product does - in an answer, a doc, a commit message, or anything a user will see.