Style Standards

[H1][STYLE-STANDARDS]

Dictum: Style consistency maximizes agent comprehension.

Govern file creation and modification in monorepo.

Tasks:

1. Read index.md — Reference file listing for navigation
2. Read keywords.md — Canonical keyword list; all Markers use official terms
3. (taxonomy) Read taxonomy.md — Lexicon, references, stati definitions
4. (voice) Read voice.md — Grammar, ordering, comments, constraints, naming, density
5. (formatting) Read formatting.md — Structure, typeset, spacing, examples
6. Apply standards — Implement per domain Guidance and Best-Practices
7. Validate — Quality gate; see §VALIDATION

Scope:

• Documentation: Markdown structure, headers, lists, tables, Dictums, separators.
• Code: Comments, headers, section dividers, naming conventions, file organization.

Domain Navigation:

• [TAXONOMY] — Terms, markers, cross-references. Load for: sigils, stati, lexicon definitions.
• [VOICE] — Tone, grammar, comments, naming. Load for: imperative phrasing, headers, code naming.
• [FORMATTING] — Layout, separators, spacing. Load for: header structure, dividers, whitespace rules.

[REFERENCE]: index.md — Reference file listing

[1][TAXONOMY]

Dictum: Vocabulary anchors structure; Markers encode state.

Signals intent for agent execution. Leverage terms for document traversal.

Guidance:

• Dictum - Read Dictum + headers first—rapid file mapping.
• Qualifier - [ALWAYS] respect inline directives when encountered.
• Preamble - Signals section-wide imperative.
• Terminus - Signals task-specific imperative; isolated effect.
• Corpus - Read after Preamble/Terminus orientation.
• Gate - [CRITICAL] Finalize checklist items prior to proceeding; use [VERIFY] for Gate checklists.
• Directive - Lists require strict adherence; polarity set by Modifier.
• Stati - Replace emoji.

Best-Practices:

• Markers: Hard limit: 10 per file. Strategic placement maximizes compliance.
  • Preamble/Terminus - 0–4 markers per file maximum.

[REFERENCE]: →taxonomy.md — Lexicon, references, stati

[2][VOICE]

Dictum: Universal standards for LLM-optimized context, documentation, and agentic instructions.

Applies to documentation and comments. Scope: tone, list semantics, ordering primacy, grammar, syntax, modals, visuals, comment standards, keywords.

Guidance:

• Voice - Active voice: 56% token reduction.
• Tone - Mechanical, domain-specific. No hedging, no self-reference.
• Syntax - Simple sentences: 93.7% accuracy vs 46.8% nested.
• Punctuation - Attention sinks—absorb 20-40% weight despite minimal semantic content.
• Ordering - [CRITICAL] Primacy effects peak at 150-200 instructions; 5.79× attention for early items.
  • Critical-First - Highest-priority constraints at sequence start.
  • Middle Burial - Middle positions suffer U-shaped attention loss.
• Comments - Front-load architectural decisions where attention peaks.
• Density - Tables: >2 entities, >2 dimensions. Diagrams: >3 steps or >2 hierarchy levels.

Best-Practices:

• Comments - Incorrect: 78% accuracy loss—omit if uncertain. Why > What: intent = signal, logic = noise.
• Constraints - 6+ simultaneous: <25% satisfaction. Max 3-5 per level.
• Delimiters - Consistency over choice. 18-29% variance per change.
• Stopwords - Remove the, a, an, please, kindly.
• Tone - Actions: imperative. Context/facts: declarative.
• Naming - Prohibited: utils, helpers, misc, config, cfg, opts, params, Data, Info, Manager, Service.

[REFERENCE]: →voice.md — Grammar, ordering, comments, constraints, naming, density

[3][FORMATTING]

Dictum: Whitespace and separator rules for document structure.

Separators encode hierarchy. Whitespace: semantic, not cosmetic. Patterns enable rapid reference.

Guidance:

• Dictum - Place first after H1/H2. State WHY, not WHAT. Format: >**Dictum:** *statement*
• Depth - H1: File Truth. H2: Smallest agent read unit. H3: Nesting limit. [CRITICAL] H4+ requires new file.
• Lists - Use numbered 1. for sequence/priority. Use bullet - for equivalence/sets.
• Labels - Format parent: **Bold:** with colon. Format child: *Italic:* for contrast.
• Separators - Use --- for hard boundaries (H2 → H2, H3 → H3). Use <br> for soft transitions (H2 → H3).
• Spacing - Place 1 blank after header. Place none after ---. Place none between list items.
• Dividers - Pad code separators // --- [LABEL] --- to column 80.
• Tables - Include [INDEX] first column. Format headers as [HEADER] sigil. Align: center index, right numeric, left prose.

Best-Practices:

• Separator Prohibitions - --- between H2 and first H3 prohibited. <br> between sibling H3s prohibited.
• List Prohibitions - Single-item lists prohibited—use prose. Bullet - only; */+ prohibited. Parallel grammar required.
• Header Integrity - Level skipping prohibited. H1 → H2 → H3 strictly sequential.
• Thresholds - Lists: 2-7 items. Items: <100 chars. Nesting: 2 levels max.
• Sigils - UPPERCASE, max 3 words, underscores for compound. Exception: .claude/ infrastructure (skills, commands, agents) use hyphens matching file/folder name.
• Soft Breaks - <br> required after Dictum and Preamble. Groups 2-3 related definitions inline.
• Case Taxonomy - UPPERCASE: sigils, rubrics, keywords, section labels. Title Case: table cells. kebab-case: files.
• Directive Ordering - [IMPORTANT]: precedes [CRITICAL]:. Within list: [ALWAYS] precedes [NEVER].
• Table Styling - First column bold for category anchoring.

[REFERENCE]: →formatting.md — Structure, typeset, spacing, example

[4][VALIDATION]

Dictum: Gates prevent non-compliant output.

[VERIFY] Completion:

• Structure: Nesting ≤H3, critical constraints at sequence start.
• Voice: Active voice, no stopwords, no hedging, no self-reference.
• Formatting: Separators correct, spacing rules applied.
• Consistency: All markers use canonical keywords.

[REFERENCE] Operational checklist: →validation.md