Build Right Engineering Principles

Build Right Engineering Principles

Use this skill as a cross-cutting engineering standard for Build Right projects. It is not a lifecycle phase. It is a review and design lens that other Build Right skills may load when architecture, contracts, implementation boundaries, or engineering-quality tradeoffs matter.

Required Reading

• Read references/principles.md before making or reviewing changes that touch technology or storage choices, architecture or service boundaries, public interfaces, contracts, provider adapters, generated code, package ownership, side effects, errors, observability, security, testing strategy, over-engineering risk, or enforceable policy.
• Do not load the reference for routine product capture, backlog grooming, or narrow content-only updates unless those topics raise engineering-risk questions.

Operating Mode

1. Identify the changed or proposed engineering surface: requirement basis, architecture, module responsibility, dependency direction, contract, adapter, state shape, side effect, failure path, test, evidence, or policy.
2. Apply the review checklist from references/principles.md.
3. Separate guidance from enforceable authority. Markdown principles are guidance until backed by code, checks, tests, schemas, policy, or evidence.
4. Prefer the smallest correction that preserves local patterns and reduces real risk. Do not introduce abstraction only because a principle names one.
5. When repeated findings expose a process gap, recommend an enforcement surface instead of adding more prose.
6. For a consequential public interface, run the Design It Twice workflow in the reference before implementation.
7. Record significant architecture or public-contract choices in the target repo's normal decision surface.

Closeout

End with the engineering result that matters:

Principles applied: <areas reviewed>
Required changes: <none | concise list>
Enforcement gap: <none | check/test/schema/policy/docs evidence needed>
Residual risk: <none | concise risk>

Automatic Action Boundary

Never automatically commit, push, merge, publish, deploy, or abort or resolve an existing Git operation. Perform those actions only when the user explicitly authorizes the exact action and target.

User-Visible Status Badge

End every final response with exactly one status badge block:

✅ [DONE] Status: DONE
Decision: <decision/result>
Next action: <next action or none>
Needs user input: <none | concise ask>
Blocked by: <none | blocker>

Use this status map:

• ✅ [DONE] Status: DONE when there are no required changes and no enforcement gap.
• 🟢 [GREEN] Status: ALL GREEN when the reviewed direction is safe to continue but implementation is not complete.
• 🟡 [YELLOW] Status: NEEDS INPUT when a user or owner architecture, contract, security, or policy decision is needed.
• 🟠 [ORANGE] Status: NEEDS WORK when AI-owned corrections, tests, docs, or enforcement work remain.
• 🔵 [BLUE] Status: WAITING EXTERNAL for external proof, credentials, production access, publishing, indexing, or third-party state.
• 🔴 [RED] Status: BLOCKED for unresolved conflicts, failed validation, source mismatch, invalid state, or enforcement blockers.