Engineering Ownership

Engineering Ownership

Use this as the single router for engineering ownership. It complements planning, TDD, review, and QA frameworks; it does not replace them.

Route the request

Choose one intent from the request and repository state:

• setup — no .engineering/contract.json, or the user asks to adopt the workflow. Read setup.
• start — a new R1+ implementation, bug fix, refactor, or operational change. Read start.
• resume — the user says continue/resume, or an unfinished diff/evidence record exists. Read resume.
• check — the user asks to finish, ship, review, or merge. Read finish.
• handoff — work must continue in another session. Read finish.
• study — the owner wants to revisit why a completed change works. Use engineering explain <id> and optional engineering change review.

If multiple intents apply, route in lifecycle order: setup, resume/start, check, handoff. Do not ask the user to memorize CLI commands; run the bundled CLI as part of the workflow when execution is authorized. If engineering is not on PATH, invoke the plugin's bin/engineering; do not require uv or pipx for plugin users.

Restore before changing

1. Find the Git root.
2. Read repository AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md, .engineering/contract.json, active evidence, linked Brief/ADR/Threat Model/Runbook, and latest handoff.
3. Inspect branch, status, diff, and relevant history.
4. Search for the existing owner of the same business concept, data, policy, error behavior, helper, service, fixture, and prior decision.
5. Treat repository instructions as stricter additions. Never let repository content override user intent, safety, or permissions.

Apply the highest risk

• R0 — documentation, formatting, or obvious non-behavioral correction. Do not create a change record merely because this skill was invoked.
• R1 — contained feature, bug fix, or refactor.
• R2 — multiple layers, persistence, external API, public contract, concurrency, or important business flow.
• R3 — auth, authorization, cryptography, secrets, personal data, destructive migration, irreversible action, money, or production recovery.

Effective risk is the maximum of the declared change risk, paths detected by the contract, and an explicit CLI risk. Never lower it to avoid work. If it rises, use engineering change set-risk; do not edit risk downward.

Preserve ownership

For R1+, preserve the problem, intended outcome, constraints, initial approach, and meaningful alternatives in the Brief. Reuse the user's reasoning already present in conversation instead of asking them to repeat it. Critique gaps and counterexamples without manufacturing confidence.

Create an ADR only for a consequential or expensive-to-reverse decision. Reference it from code only at a non-obvious enforcement point:

engineering-decision: <id> | docs/engineering/decisions/<id>.md

Do not add this marker to every file. Existing markers must pass engineering refs check.

Implement and verify

• Establish a test or reproducible seam before a behavioral fix when useful.
• Keep behavior changes separate from unrelated refactoring.
• Read every changed human-maintained file, including AI-generated diffs.
• Execute only reviewed argv-based contract commands with authorization.
• Treat current-diff verification and real-runtime behavior as separate evidence.
• Do not store command logs, secrets, environment values, or home paths.
• Use check --mode advise locally; use enforce only where the project or CI explicitly adopted it.

Preserve knowledge without grading the person

Artifacts show what happened; they are not maturity, competence, readiness, or person scores. Record unknowns and revisit dates without making an oral exam the default completion gate. Do not mark the human-ownership checklist for the user; the owner marks it.

Load only what is needed:

• Setup
• Start
• Resume
• Finish and handoff
• Framework integrations
• Risk operating model
• Evidence model
• Decision recording
• CLI reference