Apply when you catch yourself writing the same instruction a second time, or notice a recurring correction. Encode the rule as a lint, metadata flag, runtime check, or script instead of more text.
Collected from public GitHub. Every version is saved exactly as it was and never changes. Install it at an exact version with the mdr tool, and every file is checked before it reaches your agent. The main file is checked against the SHA-256 fingerprint recorded here, and the others against the fingerprints GitHub keeps for its source commit. The automatic checks below grade the latest version, and the same checks always give the same file the same grade.
What the file says
# Encode Lessons in Structure
Encode recurring fixes in mechanisms (tools, code, metadata, automation) instead of textual instructions. Every error, human correction, and unexpected outcome is a learning signal. Capture it, route it, and close the loop.
**Why:** Textual instructions are easy to miss. They require the reader to notice, remember, and comply. Structural mechanisms (lint rules, metadata flags, runtime checks, automation scripts) enforce the rule without cooperation.
**Pattern:**
When you catch yourself writing the same instruction a second time:
1. Ask: can this be a lint rule, a metadata flag, a runtime check, or a script?
2. If yes, encode it. Delete the instruction
3. If no (genuinely requires judgment), make the instruction more prominent and add an example of the failure mode
**Pick the strongest rung.** When more than one mechanism would work, choose the strongest the situation allows (an unrepresentable state that cannot compile, then a lint or banned API that fails CI, then a canonical helper, then a runtime check), because agents copy whatever the surrounding code already does and a weaker guard becomes the next template.
…
The line at the top of this page pins the label git:20260825.c0551cc, which is what most people want. This one pins the sha256 fingerprint of the contents instead, so it survives a label being moved. Either way the exact version is written to mdr.lock, and mdr install downloads and checks those contents again, so it installs them exactly or stops with an error.
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_b7shi7vwkwuhyoqo
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=edbertchan/catstack/principle-encode-lessons-in-structure
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/21122234b1c57b5e7c5dc680eb63dcf17271bc2c627959d4fb7f21ae349cc39e
Your AI assistant does the legwork. You hear about the deals worth your word. Hand yours the standing instructions at modelranch.com and it joins the network that reads files like this one.
edbertchan/catstack · corpus/skills/cat-mode/SKILL.md · Edbert's personal working conventions, mined from real session history across his projects. Use when Edbert asks to…
edbertchan/catstack · corpus/skills/principle-assert-invariants-not-last-bug/SKILL.md · Apply after a bug ships past review or a passing grade/check: assert the general class of failure instead of patching…
edbertchan/catstack · corpus/skills/principle-bind-to-named-inventory/SKILL.md · Apply after an audit, scoring review, or a request for a "real classifier" / "less arbitrary weights" when existing…
edbertchan/catstack · corpus/skills/principle-build-the-lever/SKILL.md · Apply to any non-trivial work, not just bulk work: edits, migrations, analyses, checks. Build the tool that does it or…
edbertchan/catstack · corpus/skills/principle-experience-first/SKILL.md · Apply when product, UX, or feature-scope tradeoffs come up. Choose user delight over implementation convenience; ship…
edbertchan/catstack · corpus/skills/principle-fix-root-causes/SKILL.md · Apply when debugging. Trace each symptom to its root cause and fix it there; reproduce first, ask why until you reach…
edbertchan/catstack · corpus/skills/principle-flag-your-own-corrections/SKILL.md · Apply whenever you are about to admit fault in any wording — a fact, number, claim, or check you already stated turns…
edbertchan/catstack · corpus/skills/principle-generalize-from-rejection/SKILL.md · Apply when a mechanical gate — a lint, validator, blocked-command guard, or CI check — rejects your output for the same…
edbertchan/catstack · corpus/skills/principle-guard-the-context-window/SKILL.md · Apply when context is filling up: large outputs, long files, repeated reads, fan-out planning. Route bulk to subagents…
cursor/plugins · pstack/skills/principle-encode-lessons-in-structure/SKILL.md · Apply when you catch yourself writing the same instruction a second time, or notice a recurring correction. Encode the…
cursor/plugins · harness/pstack/claude-code/skills/principle-encode-lessons-in-structure/SKILL.md · Apply when you catch yourself writing the same instruction a second time, or notice a recurring correction. Encode the…
michael-denyer/pstack-claude · plugins/pstack/skills/principle-encode-lessons-in-structure/SKILL.md · Apply when you catch yourself writing the same instruction a second time, or notice a recurring correction. Encode the…
backnotprop/pstack · skills/principle-encode-lessons-in-structure/SKILL.md · Apply when you catch yourself writing the same instruction a second time, or notice a recurring correction. Encode the…
j-star-films-studios/vibecode-protocol-suite · assets/.agent/skills/engineering-principles/encode-lessons-in-structure/SKILL.md · Apply when you catch yourself writing the same instruction a second time, or notice a recurring correction. Encode the…
creedants/pstack-t3 · skills/principle-encode-lessons-in-structure/SKILL.md · Apply when you catch yourself writing the same instruction a second time, or notice a recurring correction. Encode the…
arjitj2/open-pstack · plugins/pstack/skills/principle-encode-lessons-in-structure/SKILL.md · Apply when you catch yourself writing the same instruction a second time, or notice a recurring correction. Encode the…
painhardcore/pstack · .opencode/skills/principle-encode-lessons-in-structure/SKILL.md · Apply when you catch yourself writing the same instruction a second time, or notice a recurring correction. Encode the…
