git:20261012.f6f85ee to git:20261019.8cf82ad

# AI agent rules — Front Porch AI

**Read [CLAUDE.md](CLAUDE.md) before writing code.** That file is the

project's engineering law. This file exists because many tools look for

`AGENTS.md` first. The two must not contradict. If they ever do, CLAUDE.md

wins and this file is stale.

Humans: [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md). Driving agents without reading

Dart: [docs/maintainer-agent-playbook.md](docs/maintainer-agent-playbook.md).

## What you must believe

- **No sidecars.** TTS, STT, embeddings, expression, Draw Things run

in-process. Do not spawn helper processes. Waifu Coder may manage an

OpenCode binary the way the app manages Kobold — that is not a chat sidecar

and not a Dart coding loop.

- **File size.** Handwritten Dart under `lib/` stays **under 500 lines**.

That is CI via `test/hygiene/god_file_ratchet_test.dart` (`kGodFileBar`

is 500, empty `test/baselines/god_files.json`). Do not add baseline

leftovers — extract a class or widget. Generated `.g.dart` (including

`lib/database/database.g.dart`) is excluded from that ratchet and owned

by `test/hygiene/generated_dart_size_test.dart` / Drift

`generate_manager: false`. Do not invent a second 500-line gate.

Splitting into `part` files does not count: extract a real class or

widget (`test/hygiene/part_file_ratchet_test.dart`).

- **Style.** DRY, readable Dart, few comments. `dart format` the files you

already edited. Never `dart format .`. Touched code must be analyzer-clean.

- **Chat contracts.** `resolveMouthSpeech`: a closed think-only body is

spoken; an unclosed cut-off stays tagged. Continue does **not** tick the

story clock. Continue `asContinuation` keeps the turn's `pockets_before`.

Pockets **hide**, they do not erase. `objectivesActive` is a **live AND**

of the per-chat switch and the global switch.

- **Path-complete chat work** for generation, Continue, regen/swipe/delete,

Realism, Needs, Journal, Growth, Pockets, RAG, or group orchestration. Fill

[docs/design/path-complete-chat-work.md](docs/design/path-complete-chat-work.md).

Continue is not regen-lite. Journal rewrite twins Growth. 1:1 twins group.

- **Web/desktop parity.** User-visible work ships in Flutter **and**

`web_ui/` (including settings/toggles), or the maintainer defers that item

in the current conversation.

- **Realism/Needs 1:1 ↔ group.** Observable behaviour for a character is the

same in both modes. Orchestration may differ; results may not.

- **Tests.** Put a new guard in its feature's existing test file; adding

whole tests there (nothing deleted) or a new test file is fine. Editing or

deleting an existing test, golden, baseline, workflow, or

`analysis_options.yaml` needs the maintainer's `approved-test-change`

label. Do not quietly edit a test to make CI green. A new guard must be

proven red, then green.

- **No stub tests.** Network pins hit a real server or skip when env is

missing — never FakeStoopServer, toy HttpServer JSON, or HttpClient 400

stubs. See CLAUDE.md ## Testing.

- **Public text.** No personal names in user-facing copy, release notes, or

docs that ship to users.

- **Never** edit the version in `pubspec.yaml`, run destructive git restore

(`git checkout --`, `git restore`) on files, or imply a sandbox launch

happened when it did not.

## Done means

Path-complete checklist when chat/realism/memory is in scope. A 2–5 step

poke script. `flutter analyze` clean on touched Dart. Web shipped or

explicitly deferred. Green suite is not ship.