feature-development

name	feature-development
description	Comprehensive skill for implementing new features in the Golem RAG System, following a structured 3-phase workflow with planning, confirmation, and quality gates.

Feature Development Skill

Description

Comprehensive skill for implementing new features in the Golem RAG System, following a structured 3-phase workflow with planning, confirmation, and quality gates.

Prerequisites

• Basic Rust programming knowledge
• Understanding of Git version control
• Familiarity with command-line tools

Skill Levels

Beginner (Contributor Level)

Can complete with guidance:

• Simple bug fixes and documentation updates
• Adding tests for existing functionality
• Following detailed implementation plans
• Running quality gate checks

Intermediate (Feature Developer)

Can complete independently:

• Implement well-defined features
• Design and implement tests
• Follow the complete workflow process
• Maintain code quality standards

Advanced (System Designer)

Can lead complex work:

• Design new components and architecture
• Define requirements and technical approach
• Mentor other contributors
• Improve development processes

Core Capabilities

Phase 1: Planning

• Requirements Analysis: Breaking down complex requirements
• System Design: Component interaction, data flow
• Risk Assessment: Identifying potential blockers
• Task Breakdown: Creating actionable implementation steps
• Technical Writing: Clear, comprehensive documentation
• Template Usage: Following structured templates

Phase 2: Confirmation

• Technical Communication: Explaining complex concepts clearly
• Peer Review: Giving and receiving constructive feedback
• Stakeholder Management: Getting appropriate approvals
• Consensus Building: Aligning team on approach

Phase 3: Implementation

• Clean Code: Readable, maintainable code
• Pattern Following: Consistent with existing codebase
• Error Handling: Robust error management
• Logging: Appropriate logging for debugging
• Test Design: Comprehensive test coverage
• Test Automation: Automated quality gates
• Edge Case Testing: Boundary conditions and error paths
• Integration Testing: Component interaction testing

Technical Knowledge Areas

Rust Programming

Essential Skills:

• Rust Fundamentals: Ownership, borrowing, lifetimes, traits
• Async Programming: tokio, async/await patterns
• Error Handling: Result, Option, anyhow, thiserror
• Testing: Unit tests, integration tests, mocks
• Build System: Cargo, workspaces, dependencies

Golem-Specific Skills:

• Golem Cloud: Component development, RPC calls
• WASM Target: wasm32-wasip2 compilation
• cargo-component: Component building and deployment

Database Skills

PostgreSQL + pgvector:

• SQL: Complex queries, joins, indexing
• pgvector: Vector operations, similarity search
• Migrations: Schema changes, data migration
• Connection Pooling: Database connection management

S3 & Storage

S3-Compatible Storage:

• S3 API: Object storage operations
• Authentication: IAM roles, access keys
• Multi-bucket: Organization across buckets
• Content Types: File type detection and handling

DevOps & Infrastructure

Container & Deployment:

• Docker: Containerization, docker-compose
• Environment Management: .env configuration
• Shell Scripting: Bash automation scripts
• Git Hooks: Pre-commit quality gates

Quality Standards

Code Quality Requirements

• rustfmt: Code formatting standards
• clippy: Linting rules and best practices
• Warning-Free Code: Zero compilation warnings
• Documentation: Code comments and API docs

Build & Deployment

• Build Automation: Makefile usage and maintenance
• CI/CD: Continuous integration principles
• Version Control: Git best practices
• Release Management: Deployment procedures

Domain-Specific Knowledge

RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation)

Vector Search:

• Embeddings: Vector representations and similarity
• Hybrid Search: Combining semantic and keyword search
• Reciprocal Rank Fusion: Result combination algorithms
• Search Relevance: Ranking and threshold tuning

Document Processing:

• Content Extraction: PDF, HTML, markdown parsing
• Text Chunking: Document segmentation strategies
• Metadata Management: Document organization
• Content Type Detection: File type handling

API Development

REST API Design:

• HTTP Methods: Proper RESTful design
• JSON Handling: Serialization/deserialization
• Error Responses: Consistent error formats
• API Documentation: Clear endpoint documentation

Workflow Integration

Commands & Tools

# Quality gate verification
make quality-check

# Individual quality gates
make build          # Build all components
make fmt-check      # Check formatting
make lint           # Run clippy
make test           # Run tests

# Format code
make fmt

# Pre-push validation
make pre-push

Templates & Checklists

• Feature Planning: templates/feature-plan.md
• Workflow Guide: docs/feature-implementation-workflow.md

Quality Gates as Skill Verification

• Build success = Technical competence
• Format compliance = Attention to detail
• Lint passing = Code quality understanding
• Test coverage = Testing proficiency

Learning Path

For New Contributors

1. Start with documentation and simple fixes
2. Learn the codebase through existing components
3. Practice the workflow process
4. Progress to independent feature development

For Skill Improvement

• Code reviews with experienced developers
• Study existing implementation patterns
• Contribute to increasingly complex features
• Participate in architecture discussions

Onboarding Checklist

Setup Requirements

• Development environment configured
• Quality gates installed and tested
• Workflow templates reviewed
• Codebase structure understood

First Contribution

• Choose a beginner-appropriate task
• Follow the complete workflow process
• Request code review and feedback
• Reflect on lessons learned

This skill enables structured, high-quality feature development with proper planning, confirmation, and quality assurance processes.