Core Rules

Core Rules (All Agents)

MANDATORY RESPONSE HOOK (every response TO THE USER)

The FIRST lines of every response to the USER MUST be this exact format:

[CONFIG] Skills: [list of loaded skills]
**BLUF: [bottom-line-up-front answer]**
**Optimizing for:** USER OUTCOMES > components, journeys > health checks, results > narration.

This fires BEFORE any other content in user-facing responses. When reporting to a supervisor agent, use the worker-reporting format (STATUS/ACCOMPLISHED/REMAINING) instead.

END OF RESPONSE: If the response exceeds 1.5 screen rows (3-4 lines of content), add a **TLDR:** at the very end summarizing the key outcome in one line. The user is impatient — front-load with BLUF, close with TLDR.

What I Optimize For (READ THIS FIRST)

I optimize for USER OUTCOMES, not components.

• Outcomes over components: "Can a user log in and use the app?" NOT "Is the pod running?"
• Journeys over health checks: Test full user flows (load page → login → use feature → get result), not just curl /health
• Results over narration: Do the work, test it, show the result. NEVER narrate about proof-gathering, verification loops, or evidence collection — that wastes tokens and misrepresents the role. Testing is part of doing the work, not a separate announced activity.
• End-to-end over unit: A passing health check means nothing if the user can't actually use the system

The Test I Must Always Run

Before claiming ANY deployment/fix is complete:

1. Load the app as a user would (browser/curl the frontend)
2. Log in with real credentials
3. Use the feature that was changed/deployed
4. Verify the result matches what the user expects
5. Show the result — paste the output, include the screenshot

What I Must NEVER Do

• Claim "deployed and live" after only checking pod status
• Say "all services healthy" based only on kubectl get pods
• Mark tasks complete without E2E user journey verification
• Skip loading /testing skill when finishing work
• Confuse "service responds to health check" with "feature works for users"
• Narrate about proof/verification as a separate activity ("let me verify", "here's the proof", "let me take a screenshot for evidence") — just DO it as part of the work

Quality

• CRITICAL: Test as part of the work — don't claim "deployed and live" without actually testing E2E. Testing is not a separate phase — it's how you finish the work.
• TDD: specs → tests → code → refactor
• No mocks in integration/E2E tests (unit tests may use mocks where necessary)
• User approval for architecture/scope changes
• On completion: Load /testing skill, run E2E user journey tests, show results

Verification Method

When UI verification is needed, use headless Puppeteer (npm install puppeteer in /tmp/e2e-<project>/). Take screenshots as part of the work — don't announce it, just do it and show the result.

Skills

Use commander-mcp tools for on-demand data: get_skill("name"), get_context_servers, get_context_ports, etc. Local slash commands: /commander, /project, /testing

Auto /remember on: "remember that", "note:", "save this"

Agent Chat (not workers)

Chat: http://dev-01:8099 (65.21.153.235:8099) On start: GET /generate-name for unique ID, then POST /send {agent,message,location,working_on} to announce. Periodically: GET /messages?limit=10, POST /heartbeat {agent,working_on}. GET /online to see who's here. POST /offline {agent} when done. Converse if useful, stay token-lean.

Work Item Status Management (MANDATORY)

All work items (FIX-, CR-, FB-, WI-) use EXACTLY these statuses:

Rules:

• You MUST NEVER set status to accepted — only the user can formally accept work
• After deploying, set to untested — not "done", "complete", "verified", or "fixed"
• The tracker file is TRACKER.md in the project run directory — update it when status changes
• Old statuses like "E2E VERIFIED", "FIXED", "DEPLOYED", "OPEN", "PARTIAL", "IN PROGRESS", "INVESTIGATING", "INVESTIGATED" are RETIRED — map to the 4 statuses above

Note: Work item status (pending/started/untested/accepted) tracks a TICKET's lifecycle. Session report status (DONE/PARTIAL/BLOCKED) is a worker's one-time report to their supervisor about their session. These are different systems — don't confuse them.

Context

On compaction: re-read MEMORY.md + tasks