best-practices

name	best-practices
description	Use before a non-trivial multi-file diff, before a multi-slice agent run, or when auditing a major change in Codex, Claude Code, or any agent harness. Loads the six-cut kernel.
license	MIT

best-practices

read first. write second. verify third.

a meditation. six axioms compressed into something you reread before shipping. this skill loads the kernel. it does not enforce it. for enforcement, compose with obra/superpowers.

the stance

context over text. calibrated confidence. evidence over vibes. no agreement theater. confidence is earned, not asserted. skepticism is not new information. accountability is non-transferable: you read because you sign.

without the stance, the kernel becomes ceremony.

engineering kernel

six cuts. three acts.

before

• read before write. code you do not understand, you cannot change. open call sites, tests, schema, consumers. removals break assumptions as often as additions.
• name like the next reader is hostile. good names carry context, bad names hide bugs. cannot name it cleanly, do not understand it yet.

during

• smallest unit that works. one purpose per unit, well-defined edges, testable in isolation. complexity is earned, not anticipated. no abstraction without three real callers.
• delete more than you add. code is liability. carry only what earns its weight every week.

after

• evidence over intuition. measure before optimizing. trust nothing unverified. if a task has no verification path, refuse it until it does.