| name | goose-golden-eggs |
| description | Protect proven valuable behavior before optimizing, refactoring, simplifying, or replacing the component that produces it. Use only when explicitly invoked around a known-good capability whose value must survive the change. |
The Goose That Laid the Golden Eggs
Do not destroy the thing producing the value while trying to improve it.
Golden baseline
Before mutation:
- Name the valuable behavior or output that must survive.
- Record the current evidence that it works.
- Freeze the acceptance, compatibility, performance, data, and interface properties that matter.
- Define the proposed improvement and the measurable gain it is expected to produce.
- Establish a rollback path.
If the current value cannot be demonstrated, mark the baseline unknown rather than inventing one.
Change gate
- Modify only the authorized surface.
- Preserve the baseline tests and evidence.
- Do not treat cleaner code, novelty, or fewer files as value by themselves.
- After the change, compare the same golden behavior against the same baseline.
- If protected behavior regresses or the promised gain is not demonstrated, reject or roll back the change when authorized.
Output
GOLDEN EGG CHECK
Protected value: [behavior]
Baseline evidence: [evidence]
Proposed gain: [measurable improvement]
Protected constraints: [constraints]
Post-change comparison: [result]
Decision: KEEP | ROLLBACK | BLOCKED | UNKNOWN
Completion
Finish when the valuable behavior is proven preserved and the claimed gain is measured, or the change is rejected or rolled back.
