per-repo-conventions

name

per-repo-conventions

description

Use when starting work in any repository, and again at each work-phase transition (design, coding, debugging, verification, opening a PR). Loads the canonical per-repo-conventions guidance from foundation:docs/PER_REPO_CONVENTIONS.md — the discovery pattern for AGENTS.md, PR templates, CONTRIBUTING.md, and contextual files (VISION.md, PRINCIPLES.md, SMOKE_TESTS.md, KNOWN_ISSUES.md), plus the re-read cadence, the verification gradient, the steering pattern for repos with a governing contract, and the pre-publication leak defense for repos that publish publicly.

Per-Repo Conventions

Before writing code, debugging, verifying, or opening a PR in any repository, discover and honor that repo's local conventions. You are a guest — read the house rules before changing the furniture.

Read foundation:docs/PER_REPO_CONVENTIONS.md and follow it. Re-read the relevant parts at each major shift in what you are doing (design → implementation, investigation → fix, coding → verification → PR): earlier reads fall out of context, and each file reads differently through the lens of the current objective.

That document is the single source of truth. It covers discovery order (repo root + subdirectory walk, most-specific-wins), the always-loaded files (AGENTS.md, .github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md, CONTRIBUTING.md, README.md), the contextual files (VISION.md, PRINCIPLES.md, SMOKE_TESTS.md, KNOWN_ISSUES.md), when to read and re-read them, the verification gradient, how a repo with a governing contract steers against it, how a repo that publishes publicly defends against leaks before the push, and author guidance.